Influencers, Icons, and Illusions: Myth-making in Indian Fashion

Abstract

As the world faces the effects of climate change, and with fashion being one of the major contributors, the global industry faces backlash and stricter protocols to incorporate sustainable methods of operation. Thus, sustainability has become a significant discourse in contemporary fashion marketing.

In India, fashion influencers play a vital role in defining people’s perceptions of craft, culture, and sustainability. These influencers translate the marketing efforts of brands that seek to position themselves as sustainable into everyday practice: they make ‘eco’ legible, desirable, and aspirational for large numbers of consumers. The study examines how Indian fashion influencers construct sustainability and the communicative patterns that characterise this discourse. This semiotic work contributes to the normalisation of greenwashing discourse. While influencer posts may not intend to deceive, a lack of material substantiation often makes them appear misleading to consumers.

Combining semiotic theory (Barthes), Eco’s concept of hyperreality, and Lotman’s semiosphere, the paper analyses how influencers reproduce and normalise sustainability myths. The paper focuses on social media posts of eminent Indian fashion influencers. The findings identify four recurring communicative patterns, namely — symbolic amplification, aestheticisation, temporal displacement, and omission, through which sustainability is rendered visible yet weakly substantiated.