Mediatization of Contemporary Fashion Shows

Digital media have brought about a paradigm shift not only in daily life but also in the fashion industry. Changes are occurring in areas such as fashion production, consumption, and distribution, which have been explained by Rocamora (2016) using the concept of mediatization. Fashion brands are exploring the opportunities for media development through their fashion shows, increasing those shows’ commercialization by opening them up to purchase in real-time, and presenting collections that express brands narratives through digital modes such as fashion films. The purposes of this study are to examine how fashion shows have changed as digital media have developed and to analyze how they have become mediatized. There are four key research findings. First, brands communicate, interact, and share experiences with the public in real-time online. Second, as fashion shows have expanded into a virtual spaces, the scenography of fashion’s mediatization has centered on the runway. Third, in order to generate buzz on social media, brands stage a highly visible and spectacular fashion shows, which become mediatized when content from these events is uploaded to social media. Fourth, the establishment of the See Now Buy Now system, has brought brands and consumers into direct contact, allowing brands to meet consumer needs immediately and permitting brands to introduce seasonless items, in a move away from the previous practices. In these ways, fashion shows reveal brands’ responses to social changes and demands driven by digital media. The mediatization of those fashion shows extends their reach to fragmented and diverse audiences, and they are transformed in the metaspace.