Fashion profiles - The Fashionista

Continuing the first part of a series of articles that explores fashion magazines in Japan and how to use them for marketing and media strategy.

Consumer clusters based on magazine readership - How to define ideal customer types and understand opinion leaders
http://fashionpost.jp/posts/16615?lang=en

【女性ファッション誌分析】雑誌の読者層から切り取る消費者層 – 理想の顧客の明確化とオピニオンリーダーを理解する方法
http://fashionpost.jp/posts/16615  

One of the most interesting clusters for marketers to understand and ultimately access is the Fashionista. From all the clusters, she is the most interested in fashion as a lifestyle tool. The keyword is lifestyle, not just living. For girls like this their life is like a piece of art, and this means more than just following some fashion authority. It is understanding fashion, knowing trends, and using this knowledge to create the perfectly stylish life.

Fashionista girls read Post-Gyaru titles in combination with High Fashion and the Attitude category titles. They are still interested to follow the trends that are popular among their Japanese networks, thus they read Post-Gyaru titles, especially Sweet, Glamorous (well, they used to) and ViVi. YET - they are not just content in developing their own style, they are competitive. The Attitude magazine category shows the desire to stand out, showing some guts and not really caring for the maisntream. Yet combining this with Post-Gyaru shows that these girls care after all for Japanese trends. 

You could say that belonging to the Fashionista cluster is the Japanese version of not caring and showing individuality and lifestyle in fashion choices. These girls focus their attention on "it-girls" that are featured in magazines such as Nylon and Vogue Girl, and combine this with the Japanese desire to win a social game where the rules are basically set by the network. 

The typical fashionista girl is a fashion-crazy university students, 3rd or 4th year, age 20-25, with overseas experience. She uses clothes and knowledge of fashion as a weapon in order to get social power within her network. She is an opinion leader, has many friends and a strong and internationally-minded personality. She is interested in the creative side of fashion and her dream job is working for the industry, both in Japan and internationally, in the PR or marketing department of a popular brand.

Magazines. 74% of this type read Vogue, and 80% read Elle, the high fashion title with the highest focus on covering celebrity styles.  Yet—Celebrities are not so much important in their role as authorities, but as a source of inspiration. Most girls read two titles from the Attitude category, such as Nylon and Vogue Girl. On the Post-Gyaru side, Glamorous beats ViVi. These girls like a little bit more grown-up styles, and they consider themselves as different from the crowd, more in the know, more connected to the international fashion world. Ginza is a coming magazine among these girls, with the change in editor and contents clearly being recognized by them. The readership distrubution of the magazine Ginza is clearly changing into more Fashionistas, away from the Mainstream and Pure High Fashion readers.
 
Shopping profile. These girls are highly influenced by women they see on the streets, their own friends and magazines. They are heavily influenced by celebrity styles in general without looking at individual famous people to imitate their style completely. Design and personality of a brand are most important to them. They consider themselves creative and cosmopolitan, as well as highly individualistic. Chanel, YSL, Louboutin, Prada—their favorite brands show their sophistication. Louis Vuitton does not even make it into the top 20, and the general favorites of girls 2 years ago (Chloé, Marc Jacobs and miu miu) only make it to rank 7, 12 and 13 respectively. Shibuya, Shiunjuku with Lumine, and Harajuku are the most frequented districts. Omotesando is strong and Daikanyama appears on the scene on rank 6, which always shows clear sophistication. They love Topshop (seriously, they do!), H&M and Zara.
 
Models. Mizuhara Kiko almost reaches the all time popular Hasegawa Jun in the ranking. The models they like have to show attitude and personality. They never only akogare their looks, but also their lifestyle.

Internet sites and mobile services. The Satorialist, The Fashion Post, vogue.co.jp, @cosme, elle online, fashionwalker, zozotown, fashionsnap.com, pinterest, instagram, tumblr. Most have iPhones which for them contain their complete social lives.
 
Lifestyle and interests. Fashion Design, shopping, movies (The Devil Wears Prada, The September Issue, Mean Girls, He's Just Not That Into You, The Notebook), Gossip Girl, The O.C., Art & Design, foreign magazines (like American Vogue, W), Starbucks, going out and drinking, brands such as Michael Kors, Kate Spade New York, Marc Jacobs, American Apparel, and the whole lifestyle these brands represent.