Luxury brands embraced bloggers who translated niche goods for mass consumers

Evidence

Luxury brands quickly noticed how bloggers could translate niche designer goods into the vernacular of everyday consumers. Marc Jacobs was among the earliest advocates of this new class of influencers. After Bryanboy praised a green ostrich bag from Jacobs’s collection, the designer renamed it “BB” and invited Bryanboy to sit in the front row at his shows. In 2009, Bryanboy’s seat at Dolce & Gabbana—between representatives from Vanity Fair and Vogue—symbolized the shifting power dynamics within fashion media. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 401

Categorization

• XREF: Mechanism evidence: elite fashion institutions surrendered gatekeeping power to grassroots interpreters, illustrating the collapse of exclusion-based status that the omnivore monoculture thesis predicts. — connects to: Luxury brands profit mainly from cheap entry-luxury goods, not expensive items — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 289; Lifestyle blogging monetized into commercial blogging through sponsorships — Crystal Abidin, Internet Celebrity: Understanding Fame…, 221; Luxury influencer feeds erode the accessibility they once promised — Crystal Abidin, Internet Celebrity: Understanding Fame…, 267