Abstract

This thesis examines how Luxury Fashion Influencers (LFIs) construct and communicate luxury fashion meaning on Instagram. It is situated within the transformation of fashion communication from a system historically shaped by editorial gatekeepers and institutional fashion authorities to one increasingly organised through platforms, algorithmic visibility, and influencer -led content. Within this shifting landscape, LFIs have emerged as important cultural intermediaries who translate the symbolic codes of luxury into digital, platform-specific forms. Despite their growing prominence in both industry and academic discourse, limited research has systematically examined how luxury is communicated through their Instagram practices.

The thesis therefore aims to develop a theoretically informed and empirically grounded account of how LFIs construct and circulate luxury meaning as part of the ‘‘new digital fashion system’’. Guided by an interpretivist paradigm and an abductive research design, the study adopts a qualitatively driven hybrid methodology combining visual content analysis with quantitative co-occurrence mapping in SPSS. The dataset comprises 390 Instagram posts from three prominent LFIs. Analysis focuses on recurring visual, textual, spatial, and performative patterns, including pose, styling, captioning, and location, in order to examine how these practices communicate aspiration, exclusivity, authenticity, and symbolic value.

The thesis makes four original contributions. First, it develops a typology of LFI communication practices, providing a structured framework for understanding how luxury is performed and mediated on Instagram. Second, it advances the concept of the ‘‘new digital fashion system’’ by showing how fashion authority is being reconfigured through platform cultures, influencer labour, and algorithmic governance. Third, it contributes methodologically by demonstrating the value of combining qualitative interpretation with quantitative pattern mapping in the study of digital fashion communication. Finally, it contributes to fashion and influencers scholarship by positioning LFIs as strategic cultural actors involved in the production and circulation of contemporary luxury meaning. In doing so, the thesis offers a rigorous account of how luxury is visualised, negotiated, and sustained within platformed digital culture.