(1) Discussion
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FinalCom100.pptxPresented By: Amanda Overbay COM100-Jan 2020 Final Project
We’ve all seen people at restaurants taking photos of the food that just arrived at their table. And odds are, we have all taken a selfie before. And what do we do with these photos? We post them on social media. And because they are photos and we don’t need to be wordy about it, we post them to Instagram.
1
The media channel I chose is Instagram, in the New Media category.
This presentation will explore how Instagram reflects culture through fashion, impacts culture through diverse representations of beauty, and has created its own culture through “instagramization” of the world.
Specific Media: Instagram
I chose Instagram because I used to love it. It was easier than writing a blog, quicker than a Facebook post, and I could be less witty than writing a Tweet. I only use it now to post things to keep my extended family up to date with my goings on because I just am not a fan of how people only show their best lives, or post to get attention because of their struggles. When I post, I don’t scroll. I just post and hop off. I like the idea of Instagram, but in practice it just doesn’t match who I am.
2
Instagram reflects culture by making all aspects of the fashion industry more visible.
“[Instagram] allows people to raise awareness,” Chen told Vogue, whether that’s acknowledging an act of plagiarism that would have otherwise gone unnoticed, or highlighting the injustices present in the industry.”
Main Point #1
https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/how-instagram-is-changing-fashion-eva-chen-interview
Instagram has led to an interesting change in the fashion industry. No longer are the fashion weeks kept behind closed doors; now, if there is one influencer in the audience, the show can be seen by thousands or millions of people either by being live streamed or within seconds by being uploaded to Instagram.
3
“Instagram Stories provides that real-time close up that you might only otherwise get as an industry insider” Read more: https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelarthur/2017/09/16/how-brands-used-instagram-stories-during-new-york-fashion-week/# 68e808202637
Support of Main Point #1
“Instagram played a role in initiating real change, with conglomerates such as LVMH and Kering signing a charter to safeguard models from abuse and create better standards for shoots and shows.”
Read more: https:// i-d.vice.com/en_us/article/bj9nkz/how-instagram-transformed-the- fashion-industry
Instagram has made the entire fashion industry more transparent. It allows regular people to see what happens backstage through Instagram Stories and helps bring to light abuses of power through the use of hashtags. When a former model gathered abuse stories from other models and published them with the hashtag #MyJobShouldNotIncludeAbuse, it inspired change within the fashion industry. While this change shows a way that Instagram has effected the culture of fashion, the change would not have happened without the transparency that Instagram has allowed.
4
Instagram has influenced culture by exposing the world to diverse representations of beauty.
Main Point 2
Before Instagram, the general public had only a few places they might hope to see a non model body shape in any kind of advertising. Now, with regular people having hundreds of followers, and influencers having maybe millions of followers, the likelihood of seeing any kind of body, hair, or skin color in any kind of ad is a lot more likely.
5
“Instagram has seen a shift in the type of content users are publishing, favouring 'realness' over 'flawlessness'.”
Read more: https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/fashion/style/a29145591/instagram-fashion-diversity/
Support of Main Point #2
https://www.thefashionspot.com/runway-news/828413-diversity-report-fall-2019-runways/
Instagram has helped redefine how people see beauty. Being inundated with unretouched photos of people who are of all different shapes, sizes, and ethnicities has shown the fashion industry that the public is ready to see “real” people on the runways and in advertising. What’s even better, is the fashion industry is listening and becoming more diverse. You can see in the graph here the stready increase of the percentage of models of color from Spring 2015 to Fall 2019 in the fashion weeks in New York, London, Milan, and Paris combined. Now people from all backgrounds, with all kinds of abilities are being shown as not only beautiful, but fully capable.
6
Instagram has created its own culture by “Instagramization” of the world.
Main Point #3
Instagramization is the strategic use of color and texture to enhance a photos likeability. It’s the exploitation of graffiti art to get people into an unknown town, so that town can become more well known. It’s the entire world-restaurants, cities, muesums-becoming more photo friendly so they can be seen and liked on social media. I like this cartoon because it shows exactly what I would do if I had a lemonade stand. People don’t necessarily care about the product itself, but being able to share the experience with others via social media is what makes the stand attractive.
7
“For things to sell these days, it has to be Instagrammable,” a Los Angeles restauranteur told the website Thrillist.”
Support of Main Point #3
“Club Med designers and architects are urged to design holiday resorts that are not necessarily beautiful or pleasant, but “instagramable” because today customers prefer places they can share on the social network”
Read more: https://medium.com/@paulvacca_58958/the-instagramization-of-the-world-34048a258611
Chefs have always tried to make their food visually appealing, but now they are having to step up their game to get noticed. The rainbow everything, the bacon wrapped anything, the stunning table set up. It’s all to get noticed by the people constantly taking photos of their food and posting it to social media sites and apps, like Instagram.
Museums, cities, and even hotels have all bought into Instagramization by making sure that there are photo ops everywhere. They advertise by telling consumers what great pics they will get, they ensure their restaurants and views are Insta-worthy. The entire world has become photograph-able, hashtag-able, and ready for social media.
8
This presentation explored how Instagram reflects culture through fashion, impacts culture through diverse representations of beauty, and has created its own culture through “instagramization” of the world.
If I were to research this subject further, I would look at whether or not Instagram has an effect on mental health. Depression, anxiety, and eating disorders have all blamed social media and I would like to see how those statistics look.
Conclusion
