Hijabi fashion creators in Germany – between influencer marketing and diverse digital activisms

Fashion content on social media might not be the first thing that comes to mind, when thinking about digital activism. Fashion images on the internet are likely to be embedded in influencer-marketing and by that represent and foster the logics of capitalism, which is why, fashion influencers are often perceived as undermining struggles for emancipation and gender equality. Nevertheless, posting fashion content on social media can be understood as a practice of resistance and emancipatory expression. However, it is not one per se, only because actors with marginalized or even stigmatized subject positions are involved and not even, if the creators pursue sociopolitical and normative positions. Based on a discourse ethnography, this article explores, how Muslim fashion images are produced and perceived by differently positioned gazes. The research on hijabi creators in Germany, who specialize in fashion content, including interviews, participant observations of community events and digital ethnography, displays a rather complex mixed-use area, where influencer marketing and emancipatory activism are not clear cut and where hijabi creators, who do engage in empowerment and activist work, do not always identify with feminism at all