How bloggers and influencers created the pandemic narrative: a new stage representing the (fake) everyday life

Abstract

As the Washington Post fashion critic Robin Givhan stated, the fashion narrative changed during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially for bloggers, influencers, digital ambassadors and all those professional figures focusing their work on the digital representation of self in their everyday life. Their stage has always been the online platform of publishing (Instagram, YouTube, TikTok) on which they built a new form of storytelling. They plan their life to represent the brands they made commercial agreements with. This representation is not staged in real life, it is, the representation of a fake, virtual life. The COVID-19 pandemic abruptly interrupted this storytelling and gave rise to a new way of representing all of us, especially influencers and bloggers, forced at home in our pajamas and comfort clothes. All forms of live storytelling on social networks reached a record peak during the COVID-19 pandemic. A pause and an objective reflection on this phenomenon are necessary since it is characterising a movement going in the opposite direction of the acceleration of fashion that characterized the last decades. The need to find a new rhythm for the fashion universe is now evident and it is to be interpreted as a call to action for all the persons involved.

Keywords

• digital fashion media
• influencers
• narrative
• covid-19
• giorgio armani