Deep Mediatisation and the Datafication of Fashion

The chapter looks at deep mediatisation in the field of fashion. It brings Bourdieu’s field theory into dialogue with mediatisation theory, contributing to the small body of work that has started drawing conceptual links between the two theories. It does so through the notion of logic, turning in particular to the recent literature on deep mediatisation as a new stage of mediatisation. At the core of deep mediatisation is datafication, the process whereby everyday practices and experiences are increasingly turned into data. Drawing on critical data studies scholarship, the chapter explores manifestations of the datafication of fashion, and discusses datafication as a key logic of the field of fashion. In dialogue with Bourdieu’s conceptual framework, it reflects on the role of data as capital and on that of algorithms as key players and gatekeepers of the field of fashion.