Famous For What?
Emma Chamberlain on the cover of Vogue raises questions about who needs who when it comes to new and traditional forms of media.
In Japan, mainstream celebrities are distinguished from idols, who are both distinguished from ‘tarento’ (those who are famous for being famous). According to Postdoctoral fellow Crystal Abidin, whose book Internet Celebrity taught me these terms, the distinguishment doesn’t stop there. In China, they have the term ‘wanghong’ which refers to Internet Celebrities and translates to ‘red on the internet’. In English, we have the terms Influencer, Content Creator and Micro-celebrity (the latter being used more in academic writing then in colloquial language). Whilst the English terms may not be account for all the shades of being an influencer, what they all have in common is an acknowledgement that strategy and technology assist these people (who can be seen as brands) in making money and achieving fame and success.
These leads us to the fact that YouTuber Emma Chamberlain is on the cover of the September issue of Vogue Australia. For those who may not know, the September issue is the most important issue of the year, because it is said that the fashion year starts in September. A fact I learnt from documentary The September Issue (2009). This documentary gives us a behind-the-scenes look at creating the September issue of Vogue US as it follows around editor in chief, Anna Wintour. But back to Chamberlain.
On the cover of Vogue, Chamberlin looks at the camera wearing a Valentino outfit. Bustle is referring to the look on the cover as Barbiecore. I have no idea what this means. The Bustle piece, with the very descriptive title, Emma Chamberlain Wore A Barbie Pink Bra On The Cover Of Vogue Australia, states that Chamberlain is ‘… the Internet’s sweetheart, and she’s ditching the title of “influencer” for “bona fide celebrity”.
Woh.
I will take a step back here because whilst some of you will be very familiar with Chamberlain, and may even consume the content she creates, some of you will be thinking, what in the actual fuck are you talking about and why does it matter if this person is on the cover of Vogue?
Off the top of my head, I will tell you this, Chamberlain hosted some Vogue US content for The Met Gala, last time I looked her YouTube channel has over 10 million subscribers, she has a podcast, a coffee bean company, and a big house or houses. She didn’t post on YouTube for over a year, and then she did again. She goes on holidays and then doesn’t want to go home so she moves around from country to country enjoying hotels. I’m pretty sure she owns a cat. And recently, she was on Jimmy Fallon.
I know this because I have watched a handful of Chamberlain’s videos, some other videos like 7 Looks in 7 Days (a Vogue series) and her content pops up on my YouTube feed a lot. Also, when she returned to YouTube some online publications I read, and follow were posting about it like it was news. Quite a long time ago I read this tweet that said, ‘Everything I know about The Kardashians, I learnt against my will’. This kind of feels like that.
I am around young people a lot and between my students, ex-students, and my little sister, I know a lot of people who like her, who think she’s cool and, I’m sure in some instances, her lifestyle is aspirational. In fact, one of my students turned up to class this week wearing old-school, ‘original’ Chamberlain merch. Chamberlain is 21 and started posting on YouTube in 2017.
When it was announced that the latest Vogue cover star was Chamberlain my older sister texted me asking me what I thought of it. My initial thought was one of ambivalence and a ‘good on her’. My thinking about this goes down a few paths. The first is to question whether an internet celebrity who is famous for being famous should be on the cover of Vogue. The second is to question the relevance of Vogue and why Chamberlin would want to be on the cover of it. Thirdly, I don’t know how much of an intersection there is between Vogue’s readers and Chamberlain’s audience.
Now famous for being famous is something once reserved for The Kardashians and maybe Anna Nicole Smith. I am sure there are a lot of other people who fit into this category, but I don’t watch Love Island or any Real Housewives franchise, so my examples feel out of date. This is not to dismiss the work that Chamberlain has put into building and sustaining audience and yes, making the change from influencer to celebrity. In all honesty however, my initial thought is always, ‘but what does she do?’. And I am pro influencer, pro tarento and pro wanghong. I follow a lot of people online who have managed to turn this following into a successful and viable business. And I love it.
On Tuesday August 23rd of this year, the Herald Sun (forgive me for referencing this rag), published an article titled Influencers are our new screen idols. The article talks about young people who have been influenced to buy something or change their opinion, it also talks about how these consumers are drawn the authenticity and creatives. Interestingly, the article pointed out that they just don’t want people who try to sell products. This article also states that more than half of the Gen Z girls influenced would quit school to become influencers if they could.
But as we know, the best influencers build a perceived connection to sell products in a subtle way. The product placement feels natural and relevant, even helpful when done right.
It is also plausible that these more traditional media products are trying to become more relevant, and Chamberlain is using this to her advantage as for some reason, a mastery of both new and old forms of media is relevant to the success of a celebrity. J.Lo and her On the J.Lo newsletter can be seen as an example of this, ditto every celebrity who uses social media in the messiest way ever. Likewise established authors of published books turning to Substack.
Shunning social media as both a celebrity and a regular human adds an edge to your character which is equal to Taylor Swift not attending that awards show she didn’t attend so she could wear normal clothes and go to something of her boyfriends. Shunning access to your personal life is seen as an active choice rather than the default.
I have tried two newsagencies to get the issue of Vogue with Chamberlain on the cover with no luck. I am not sure if this is because they haven’t received the stock, or if it flew off the shelves. The main reason I wanted it, is for the purpose of writing this piece and seeing who it was she was interviewed by. I don't have any desire to read it, and I know I am being judgemental about her being on the cover too. Perhaps it is my Millennial attitude coming across, the mixing of the old and the new, and being conflicted about where it all stands.
I am fascinated by the role of the influencer in our society. I continually remind myself that this space is so new, like Botox and anti-depressants, we really don’t know the long term affects. I do know that we have been waiting for the influencer industry to fall for a while now. The sceptics among us who question their relevance, watch on confused. But Chamberlain being on the cover of Vogue heralds that their social currency is strong and legitimises that more traditional forms of media can be relevant alongside those that have just begun.