An Inside Perspective into the Lives of Fashion Figures during Quarantine
With lockdowns, quarantines and social isolation policies, we are all increasingly relying on social media as a source of entertainment; the vast variety of content for all tastes and constant updates keep our eyes stuck to them!
However, models, influencers, and fashion journalists all work in an industry that requires physical contact as opposed to isolation. How are they facing this challenge? Did their purposes change given our global health and economic crisis? How are these digital content producers adapting into our new reality where fashion, sometimes perceived as frivolous, is not a priority? To understand the answers to these questions and much more, I reached out to both Brazilian and American fashion figures to learn how they are coping with the situation.
Questions:
Can you talk a little bit about how your work as a digital influencer has changed in terms of content produced outside or at home? How has this transition been for you?
Interviewee: Paula Merlo, @paulimerlo, Editor in Chief of Vogue Brazil
I know I'm influencing other people, but I still see myself as a journalist and not as a digital influencer. What I've been seeing is the transition for the girls who work in fashion, digital influencing.: I think that at home, you don't have the photographers, your stylist, those amazing backgrounds… So I think that you have to work with whatever you have at home and make whatever you have at home very appealing, and not boring because you’ve been home for the past, I don't know, two months, three months, and you have to generate new content with a small space you've got so you have to be much more creative. So in terms of content produced at home, you have to be much more creative. And I think that I'm talking about Vogue, we have to be much more creative in the way we do our stories, our content, because again, we don't have the photographers, we cannot do fashion editorials or anything like that. And also, I think that you need to change a little bit your tone and understand what people want. People do not want to see, I don't know, high heels or stilettos. They want to know if they are obsessed or they're interested in fashion. They want to know what to wear if they're doing Zoom calls, what to cook for dinner tonight, what are they going to read, how will they entertain their children… so it's more than just fashion. Although Vogue is not only about fashion and what to wear, but we are talking more about fashion as culture. So whatever is fashion in music, in food and in the arts, we are talking about it in Vogue. So I think that we have transitioned because we have understood the sensibility in our consumer and our reader, the person; what people need and want right now in their homes.
What about the changes in sponsors and partnerships? How are companies handling those relationships during this time?
Interviewee: Madison Rae, @themadisonrae, NY, www.mraetendencies.com
This was a tough issue to navigate in the beginning. For a while I didn't even feel comfortable doing swipe ups. About one week after lock down started I ended up turning down a small partnership because promoting it just didn't feel right at the time. The first post I agreed upon was a giveaway that allowed someone to win something. That felt better to me because I wasn't asking anyone to buy anything. The latest one I did was a brand that needed content from their new product launch. They obviously couldn't hire models, so they sent me the product and allowed me to style it and shoot how I normally would for my own feed. There was no pressure in posting on my page, but they gave me a discount code for my followers and it was a product I believed in and thought my followers would love so I did it anyway!
Are your digital contents expanding into other areas besides your expertise? For instance, from fashion to cooking, pottery, art, etc.?
Interviewee: Julia Tiberio, @juliatiberio, Firenze & São Paulo, Brazil
About change in content, I don’t think it changed a lot. I am not in the mood of producing a lot right now and I am respecting that moment. I think that are influencers that are doing really nice works like Silvia Braz, who does a lot of Lives and brings a lot of relevant topics that are not even from her focus which are fashion, beauty and travelling and I think it’s being really cool and interesting. But I am facing that moment as a time to respect myself: if I am in the mood to produce I will, and if I am not, I won’t produce. I baked cakes, posted that some days, did beauty Lives which is something that I never done before and I wanted to do as in normal life I end up not having the time and patience to do it. I gave some book tips but I don’t also talk only about that. So a little bit but not much because again I am not forcing myself to talk about topics that are not my focus or that I am not in the mood of talking about.
Are you supporting (financially or promoting) any kind of philanthropic project right now?
Interviewee: Chrissy Rutherford, @chrissyford, NY & Jamaica
I participated in a second-hand clothing sale where all the proceeds were being donated to an organization that was supported undocumented immigrants affected by COVID-19 since they're not eligible for the stimulus package. I'm doing another online sale sometime this summer where I will be donating proceeds to charity. Otherwise I've been making small donations on my own.