‘Replikating’ celebrity fashion: how professionalizing the selfie through embodiment can lead to the attainment of micro-celebrity status

Logan-McFarlane, Ashleigh

Abstract

With the heightening proliferation of the selfie, a practice that has become norm thanks to societies prevailing obsession with capturing and circulating images, staging the image in ways that pertain to our idealised vision of the self or, the way in which we desire to be perceived by others, is now public preoccupation. This paper responds to Rokka and Canniford’s (2016) call to further explore the complex circles of mediation brought about by the production and circulation of the selfie. A three-year symbolic netnography on the Kate Middleton celebrity princess brand extends our understanding of the practices that lead to the professionalization of the selfie in pursuit of micro-celebrity status. Here we see how embodiment is not necessarily restricted to everyday practices of gender but can also extend to corporeal embodiment of celebrity fashion. The entrepreneurial creative practice of mastering the selfie enables the micro-Kate to articulate and govern the celebrity look. These insights should help practitioners better comprehend celebrity brand logics and the ways in which the selfie is used by consumers as a medium for building audience and visibility.

Citation

Logan-McFarlane, A. (2017, July). ‘Replikating’ celebrity fashion: how professionalizing the selfie through embodiment can lead to the attainment of micro-celebrity status. Paper presented at Academy of Marketing, Hull University Business School

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: Academy of Marketing
• Conference Location: Hull University Business School
• Start Date: Jul 3, 2017
• End Date: Jul 6, 2017
• Deposit Date: May 10, 2019
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/1793639