Why these Gen Z fashion critics are ripping up the rulebook

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And for Chabbi, it opens up an important dialogue, rather than top-down reporting. I have so many people that are like, I don’t agree with what you’re saying. That’s fine, but at least it’s a human with another human. It’s an open conversation, rather than a one-way conversation from magazine to person, for example.

Working with next-gen fashion commentators

Content-rich social media reviews can have benefits for brands. While styling can be easy to see and scroll past quickly, journalistic content requires more engagement from the audience leading to longer video view times, says Rob Jewell, chief growth officer at Power Digital, a tech-enabled growth marketing firm. Story-focused content ultimately helps generate more brand recall, he adds.

TikTokers like Lee are keen to move beyond the way brands traditionally work with fashion commentators the heres a product go buy it model. For this SS23 season, she is pivoting her content to a more editorial video series, rather than her more typical green screen videos, to differentiate from the growing community of critics on social media and potentially attract new brand partners.

The success of influencers like Lee is a clear indication that brands should provide influencers/creators with more than just product bringing them into behind-the-scenes moments, how products are made, history, and how people experience their brand to give them content to work with, Jewell says.

Brands can also harness the power of fashion critics as consultants, using their depth of knowledge to educate and inform strategy, Karassoulis says. Phin, for example, now consults for companies like fashion-tech app Idoru.

Coverage of critics and commentators often refers to talents like Hildreth and Lee as fashion outsiders. However, the majority of critics have experience in and links to the industry. I never want it to be insider versus outsider because what does that even mean? Lee says. I think using terms and thinking about TikTokers as outsiders is elitist. Platforms are powerful and even if I’m not working at Hearst or Cond Nast, I know that they are listening. (Vogue Business is owned by Cond Nast.)

Hildreth has now started working for Paper magazine on a freelance basis during NYFW as a writer, which she will do alongside posting her own commentary. For her, it was always her ambition to use the TikTok content as a springboard to traditional media. I definitely don’t wanna be controlled by sponsorships and stuff like that and not be able to say what I wanna say, she says. But, on the other hand, there is a power that comes with having a tenured magazine behind you.

Chabbi, on the other hand, believes in the power of the individual. There have been fashion commentators before us. And there have been platforms that speak about fashion to people, like Diet Prada. But I feel like today, we’re held to a level of accountability where people want to see your name, your face and your thoughts. People want to be able to define who’s behind these thoughts and contextualize them.

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