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Celebrity Studies
ISSN: 1939-2397 (Print) 1939-2400 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rcel20
Hijabi celebrification and Hijab consumption in Brunei and Malaysia
Siti Mazidah Mohamad & Nurzihan Hassim
To cite this article: Siti Mazidah Mohamad & Nurzihan Hassim (2019): Hijabi
celebrification and Hijab consumption in Brunei and Malaysia, Celebrity Studies, DOI:
10.1080/19392397.2019.1677164
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/19392397.2019.1677164
Published online: 24 Oct 2019.
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Hijabi celebrification and Hijab consumption in Brunei and Malaysia
Siti Mazidah Mohamad aand Nurzihan Hassimb
aGeographical and Environmental Studies, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei;
bSchool of Communication, Taylor’s University, Subang Jaya, Malaysia
ABSTRACT
Emphasis on authenticity, everydayness, relatability, ordinariness, and networking on Instagram by the young and ordinary at the expense of their privacy has helped them gain ‘micro-celebrity’ status. Suchcelebrificationis influential in shaping the attitudes of young female Muslims towards perceived quality and status-seek- ing behaviours. In Brunei and Malaysia, the staggering growth of luxury retail brand,dUCkscarveshad mobilised the hijab as a statute of class through the intersectionality of religion and progressive- ness. Its founder, Vivy Yusof, an avid blogger turned micro-celebrity had consistently channelled brand reminders of dUCkscarves across the Southeast Asian region through Instagram. This paper looks into the influence of Vivy’s celebrity identification, emotional devel- opment, and value development towards ensuing audiences that contributed to her successful celebrification. This paper aims to demonstrate the influence of a hijabi celebrification on hijab con- sumption in Brunei and Malaysia from the perspectives of Vivy as a micro-celebrity. In so doing, we revealed collectivistic identities, shared voices, a sense of belonging, and overall societal transfor- mation enabled by social media.
ARTICLE HISTORY Received 18 September 2018 Accepted 1 October 2019 KEYWORDS
Celebrification; hijab;
Instagram; Brunei; Malaysia
Introduction: hijabi celebrification on social media
Proliferation of the hijab, or the act of veiling in the twenty-first century signified progressive piety among Muslims in Southeast Asia and was made congruent through the advent of social media. In Brunei and Malaysia, the hybridity ofhijabi; or best known ashijabistasorhijabsters to denote headscarf-wearing urban young female Muslims had emerged through the inter- sectionality of culture, religion and consumption as the growth of luxury hijab retail brands heightened the veil as a statute of class (Williams and Kamaludeen2017). Moreover, the emergence of laypersons that assume the roles of‘social media influencer’or‘micro-celebrity’ (Senft2008) that promote modesty and hijab lifestyles on their social networking platforms is preferred by discerning social media-savvy Muslim women over religious content and teach- ings on traditional media, thus imprinting the significance of Muslim societies globally today.
This new generation of (micro) celebrities is significantly different from Hollywood enter- tainer archetypes such as Angelina Jolie, Denzel Washington, Michelle Yeoh, or Mylie Cyrus to name a few as Web 2.0 has had a pivotal role in affording users with enhanced individuality,
CONTACTSiti Mazidah Mohamad [email protected] https://doi.org/10.1080/19392397.2019.1677164
© 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
participation, and social connection. Yousef Erakat, a 29-year-old Arab-American known for his pranks, acting and parodies on YouTube channel calledFouseyTubeare among the examples of‘celebrification’that was defined by a number of scholars (Marshall2006, Driessens2013) as the transformation of ordinary individuals into celebrities and supported by various media use habits of the audiences. Self-branding of an individual by the consistency in revealing his or her private life on social media is a requirement to attain the micro-celebrity status (Marshall2006, p. 639). The media scholar whofirst coined the term micro-celebrity defined it as‘a new style of online performance that involves people‘amping up’their popularity over the Web using technologies like video, blogs and social networking sites’(Senft2008, p. 25). The term was further elaborated by Marwick (2013, p. 114) as‘a state of being famous to a niche group of people, but it is also a behaviour: the presentation of oneself as a celebrity regardless of who is paying attention’. Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and blogging sites became platforms or stages to reveal details for the audience’s’consumption; and in so doing, self-presentation on social media becomes more pertinent than ever (Zhaoet al. 2008, Stald 2008, Stern2008, Papacharissi2012, Chen and Marcus2012, Rui and Stefanone2013). The creation of a‘new self’ (and of course, maintaining the image of that self) is imperative due to the need to consistently produce materials that the audiences can resonate with (Marshall2006). This new direction in self-promotion is immersed in self-branding via social media to sustain audience interest and ensure continuous consumption of celebrities’updates (Couldry2016, p.110, Marwick2013, p.
164). As argued by Jerslev (2016), the transformation of a non-media person into a media person enabled by the Internet either orchestrate or mediate the position of the celebrity.
This trend ofcelebrification, or‘the changes at the individual level, or more precisely the process by which ordinary people or public figures are transformed into celebrities’ as posited by Driessens (2013, p. 5), received considerable attention by scholars and media audiences due to the institutional and individual configurations brought forth by affordance of technologies. Marshall (2006, p. 636) has asked if the celebrity system is‘challenged by the shifts in the way we use media in this era of new media cultures’, which we contend to be the case, especially in the period characterised by individualism, increased connectivity, and intense consumption. Previous form of mass-media was replaced by the introduction of social media featured by freedom to participate in generating contents for audiences (user- generated content), affordances in the forms of personalised use of social media site (personalisation) and heightened multi-participants’engagements (engagement). This tech- nological advancement combined with continuous emphasis on individualism have trans- formed the celebrity culture from dependency on formal media institutions (including agencies, managers and support staff) to individuals. Engagements between (micro-)celeb- rities and audiences (also known as fans or followers) were brought down to everyday level whether by one-to-one direct interaction or via parasocial interactions.
The Southeast Asian region has experienced similar celebrification processes in the context of Bruneian and Malaysian societies, where we witnessed, amongst others, the celebrification process that introduces micro-celebrities who wear the hijab that inadvertently stimulates and entices their female followers on the practice of stylish modesty on social media. The rise of self-made hijabi micro-celebrities or social media influencers in Southeast Asia comes at the right time as we witness the exponential growth of ordinary individuals gaining fame from their everyday social media posts and the recent interest of celebrity studies to move away from media to a more social and political focus. Parallel to this is the resurgence of Islam experienced in the region through global mediaflows that encouraged Muslims to embrace
emergent Islamic identities as a form of solidarity against Islamophobia and discrimination;
while the hijab was meant to differentiate and authenticate Islamic practice among Muslim women, its representation in media has become more recursive and prominent (Hochel2013, Hassim2014, Grine and Saeed2017). Mahmood (2011) had argued that Islamophobia and Islamic resurgence in the twentieth century resounded the hijab as a cultivation of principles that physically embody the Muslim way of life and made it more visible to the discerning public. Women in hijab are at present actively involved in the use of media and openly interacting and exchanging nodes of intellect in public. The hijab hitherto becomes the
‘cultivation of these bodily aptitudes, virtues, habits, and desires that serves to ground Islamic principles within the practices of everyday living’(p.45). Modern scholars have further elaborated the hijab as a reconciliation of Muslim commitment and a modernised, and educated profession of Islam that had realigned its focus on consumerism that seize the opportunity of young middle-class Muslims who identify with being urban cosmopolitan (Smith-Hefner2007, Heryanto2011, Utomoet al.2018).
In Brunei and Malaysia, the hijab is taken as a form of creative self-expression and empowerment of women while adhering to the expected Islamic practice. Appreciating the emergent of the hijabi micro-celebrities in the region, we aim to analyse the influence of hijabi celebrification via Instagram use among Bruneian and Malaysian women hijab con- sumption using qualitative content analysis method conducted on the Instagram profile of renowned micro-celebrity, Vivy Yusof. Relevant to our focus, at present, is the eminence of thedUCkscarvesbrand whose growth is highly dependent on the micro-celebrity status of its founder, Vivy, who is listed in the Forbes’30 Under 30 list of successful entrepreneurs in 2017 (Forbes2017). In this review, we wish to focus solely on Vivy due to her current social standing and massive influence amongst young Bruneian and Malaysian Muslim women.
Vivy, the co-founder of Fashion Valet and founder of The Duck Group attained her micro- celebrity status in her late twenties. She gained her fans via blogging, which she brought to Instagram. Social media played a significant role in the transnational engagement between Vivy and her followers. Vivy is well known to have integrated her personal life with her business ventures, chronicling developments on her social media accounts of her first company FashionValet.com, an online marketplace that showcases retail access to local designers. She established her own brand, dUCkscarves that reflected her blogging persona, the Proud Duck. As of October 2019, she amassed 1.7 followers on Instagram and was awarded the blue tick by the site to acknowledge her real persona. This blue tick is Instagram’s verified badge, which is given to Instagram profiles (publicfigure, celebrity, global brand accounts) that have been confirmed as authentic (Instagram Help2017). This confirmation itself validates her iconic micro-celebrity status. Aside from her large audience or fan-base, content-sharing done by Vivy on Instagram became more impactful with the use of elaborate hashtags (#) that creates a morefluid and visual message as compared to other social networking sites. Moreover, the habit of hashtagging on Instagram makes trend spotting quicker for Instagram users and helps them to locate mutual videos and photos that are pinned to the tag. Additionally, the use of hashtags such as #duckscarves lead and connect the audiences to other users that share the same interest thus including and engaging the users in a larger scope of communal experience.
The affordance and breadth of Vivy’s Instagram posts had seen her transformation as a social media icon that enhanced her business opportunities among her ready and loyal brand consumers. In recent years, dUCk consumers have seen the brand expanded from
headscarves to cosmetics, hijab accessories, stationeries, travel accessories, and bags. The brand, originated in Malaysia, also expanded its reach to neighbouring countries including Brunei; considering their close geographical and cultural proximities. The brand’s reach in Brunei is quite remarkable, although not at the same extent as in Malaysia, which is largely due to the former country’s small population size and the later acknowledgement of micro- celebrities’existence in the nation.
Within this context, this paper offers: one, the dynamic process of engagements between individuals and a micro-celebrity, which is done within the context of the nation-state’s rapid growth of technological developments that have effectively transformed modes of commu- nication from mass and one-way into individual, multimodal, and multi-directional forms; and two, the societal implications of social media use in the context of celebrification on the Malay Muslim women in Brunei and Malaysia including the reworking of hijab (meaning and practice). A description of the study and the challenges the authors faced are offered prior to discussing the influence of a hijabi celebrification on audiences’hijab consumption. The later sectionCelebrification, Branding, and Audience Consumptionoffers readers an overview of successful branding in the region via celebrification process. The penultimate section suggests the rise of a New Hijabi Malay to demonstrate the societal transformation enabled by celebrification of a hijabi via social media.
Methodology–studying celebrification and hijab consumption on instagram
To analyse the influence of hijabi celebrification on Bruneian and Malaysian women hijab consumption via Instagram use, we employed qualitative approach to highlight the
‘complex, holistic picture,’of our study, referring to a dense narrative that includes the multiple dimensions of a problem and displays it in all of its complexity (Creswell1998, p.
17). Qualitative Content Analysis (QCA) was conducted over a period of six months (January 2018–June 2018) to offer a more systematic and sophisticated analysis.
Moving away from traditional content analyses which are more concerned with statistics, QCA’s thematic coding offers a more in-depth analysis of the data whilst enabling the extractions of themes and contexts for interpretation (Boyatzis 1998, Schreier2012, Saldaña2012). In this research, we specifically focused on Instagram due to the high usage of this social network site in both countries. Instagram, a site that allows users to share photos and videos, has amassed 800 million users (Balakrishnan and Boorstin2017). The site has seen many individuals attaining their micro-celebrity status over the years.
In this QCA, captions uploaded by Vivy and the strings of comments on her posts by the audience are considered as public conversations that allow self-expression (Donelleet al.2008, Attwood2009, Adler and Clark2011), therefore, they are considered as research data. Considering that we are focusing on how a micro-celebrity is influencing consump- tion via multimodal forms of data–text, images, videos including live videos–we focused on what Vivy shared on her Instagram with her audiences in the forms of images, videos, and captions and how her audiences responded to those sharing. We studied the patterns and consequences of her social media postings via QCA to discover the types of visual Vivy shared and the accompanying captions and hashtags.
The angle of analysis is concerned with the practice and the influence of‘celebrifica- tion’(Driessens2013), a process whereby an ordinary individual transform into a celebrity within own social contexts. Driessens posited that within the celebrification ecosystem, there exists a form of group dynamics that was previously elaborated in a pre-Internet study by Bourdieu (1984) in which ‘schemes of perception and appreciation’ (SPA) regarded status-seeking as a behaviour that determines distinctiveness of an individual within a social group from actions and values displayed in interactive situations. Thus, the SPA from celebrification is very much relevant in the use of Instagram by micro-celebrities that set the tone and perception of other ‘group’ members or in this case, fans that become gratified with insider knowledge from the micro-celebrity, as can be seen from the‘following’behaviours of young social media users who are highly dependent on new knowledge or information from social media.
Based on the elements discussed in studies on celebrification and social media char- acteristics, a deductive coding was deployed as recommended by Mayfield (2011) to guide the coding. A total of 13 code categories (relatable, inspiration, justification of purchase, outfit of the day, community to name a few) were established in the coding process and once completed, data from each code category were grouped into larger themes. The themes were determined to explore the use of Instagram in propagating the status of Vivy as a micro-celebrity and how that status and her everyday sharing on the site are influencing hijab consumption amongst the audiences. The themes were also derived from preliminary data and previous studies that have cited the role of social media in creating transnational awareness towards social constructs to youths and the phenomenon of micro-celebrities.
The first theme that was identified is Vivy’s Everyday Sharing that comprised of Instagram uploads that are highly relatable to everyday life of the audience, which have created and further cemented the attachment between Vivy and her audience. The second theme, the Effect of Celebrification, involves data in four aspects, namely; one, postings that strengthened the image of the micro-celebrity studied, which inadvertently also impacted audience consumption; two, postings of images that inspire audiences to emulate the lifestyle of the micro-celebrity in question; three, the posts uploaded by the micro-celebrity, particularly Outfit of the Day (OOTD), use to justify one’s intention to purchase; and four, the creative use of witty captions and hashtags that touched the audience heart, which affectively maintain the audiences’ attachment thus sustaining their loyalty. The third theme imagined community and justified consumption, where audience reinforce consumption through other audiences’ acknowledgement and being a part of an imagined (hijabi-dUCk/Duckies) community. Thefirst two themes are directly linked to the image, influence, and life of the micro-celebrity, Vivy. While the last theme on imagined community is linked to the overall influence of the dUCk brand available offline and online, supported by Vivy’s everyday sharing on Instagram.
Challenges and limitation of the study
While conducting the QCA, we had two main concerns: one, identification concern between Bruneian and Malaysian Instagram users; and two, overabundance of informa- tion on Vivy’s Instagram. We adopted specific strategies that are suitable to resolve both concerns.
Identification concern
It is usually difficult to tell the origin of an Instagram user particularly those who do not provide any indication of their country of origin on their Instagram biography. To confirm their country of origin (Brunei or Malaysia), we visited their profile and checked their biography section to obtain any information that could help us indicate their nationality, this includes the language they use (Bahasa Melayu Brunei and Bahasa Melayu Malaysia), and the location identified on their biography and individual posting (for instance, the tagged location of a post). For those with an open Instagram account, it was relatively easy to search for the information we need by going through their Instagram uploads/
stories. This action is limited only to those with open Instagram profile. For those with private Instagram profile, we could only confirm their nationality and identity from their name and language used. It is easier to identify those who use Malay language (Brunei Malay or Malaysian Malay) in their posting. For those who used English language in their posting, we cross-checked their nationalities and identities with their biographies and mutual friends on Instagram.
Overabundant information/wealth of data
During the study, Vivy had more than 8000 Instagram posts. This concern is solved by strategic selection of Vivy’s posts thatfit into the inclusion criteria of the study: one, Outfit of the day (OOTD) posts of her donning headscarf from dUCkscarves and other branded outfit; and two, relatable postings such as family, daily life, professional life. Further filtering was done on these posts to include only posts with substantial number of comments (a minimum of 100 comments) to offer us with sufficient conversation and discussion to analyse. Despite the challenges faced and the limitation of the study, the findings are substantial and answer the aim of the study that is to analyse the influence of a micro-celebrity on hijab consumption in Brunei and Malaysia. In the subsequent sections, we offer an analysis of the findings and discuss the effect of Vivy’s hijabi celebrification, in particular, the identification, emotion and value development process that audiences experienced leading to their hijab consumption.
Celebrification, branding, and audience consumption
Starting with neighbouring country, Indonesia, that boasts the largest population of Muslims in the world, Amrullah (2008) had observed the spiritual affiliations of modest clothing through clerics on social media as a foremost influence towards believing consumers. Dian Pelangi, who had established an Islamic fashion empire on digital plat- forms proved significant as a micro-celebrity and was quickly recognised as an influential label by UK-based Business of Fashionmagazine (Mayberry2015). Celebrification in the region is further observed in the promotion of modest fashion through theUniqlo x Hana Tajimaweb and Instagram campaigns by Japanese retailerUniqloto penetrate the Asian- Muslim market, taking opportunity of the collaboration between two significant influen- cers; British-Japanese designer Hana Tajima and Malaysian singer, Yuna, who are both successful as micro-celebrities on social media and simultaneously achieved notoriety in a conventional celebrity sense from their endeavours as a fashion designer and singer, respectively (Malay Mail Online2015).
It can be said that the success stories of today’s micro-celebrities like Vivy who took the opportunities offered by social media to establish self-branding had encouraged more average individuals to emulate similar strategy by capitalising on their unique selling proposition. At the same time, brands and marketing companies have started to take heed of the sudden fame an average individual could obtain from just sharing snippets of their daily life on social media and have leveraged on this new `instafame’and micro- celebrity dimension as a solid business strategy. On one hand, we have micro-celebrities, endorsing and showcasing own brand and products. On the other hand, we have brands and companies making use of these micro-celebrities to promote their products by showcasing the commodities in their everyday life as naturally as possible (Hearn and Schoenhoff2016). In the case of Vivy, it was a conscious decision to apply both dimen- sions as she had started offas a micro-celebrity prior to owning the dUCkscarves business and using social media to amplify the reach of the brand. As a relatable personality, and as per other micro-celebrities, Vivy by habit shares her daily activities on social media and intentionally or not are promoting brand commodities. The relationship between celeb- rities and audience/fans have always been positioned in the context of consumption.
The celebrity culture, in the past and today, revolves around the audiences’abstract desire, making it an important tool for commodification (Rojek 2001, p. 189). It is acceptable to say here that the desire to own the lives showcased by the celebrities is a product of celebrities as a site of production (Hearn and Schoenhoff2016) and a site of consumption. As new media transform the celebrity culture, the latter teaches us how to consume and use commodities (consumer culture) to create ourselves. As Marshall (2010, p. 36) suggests, this shift from an individual into a consumer is not simply referring to the shift from production to consumption, but the shift to production of self (for both the celebrity and the audience). Furthermore, we witness the emergence of presentational culture that transcended from the time of traditional media where representational culture was more dominant. What remained in this presentational culture are the para- social relationship between the audience and the micro-celebrities; and the significance of the micro-celebrities’production of self, individuality and identity that greatly influence self-worth and self-development of the audience (Marshall2006,2010).
The arousal of strong emotional connection with such `celebrities’is observed from mediation and mediatisation of themselves on social media that enable and enhance the relationship between their `fans’, such can be seen by the micro-celebrities of Instagram.
The use of screen time and consistent circulation of mediated images and videos amplifies intimacy towards the celebrity whilst collapsing the concept of time and distance so that
‘bonds’would effectively form between the followers and the micro-celebrity (Berryman and Kavka2017, Kavka2008, p. 7).
The nature of the said micro-celebrities’ endorsements of brands and commodities through their everyday sharing that stimulate audience consumption is now a common backdrop on social media. The engagement of audiences with such branding messages on these digital platforms constitutes privilege and resonance with their micro-celebrities.
In earlier studies, Marshall (2006, p. 636) argued that the celebrity system is clearly challenged by how audiences select and use media in an age of new media cultures, especially in the period characterised by individualism, connectivity and consumption.
Hearn and Schoenhoff(2016) also posited that new technological affordances are shaping how the micro-celebrities communicate with their audiences; particularly in the illustrious
example of Instagram as a facilitator of cultural practices and consumption thataffords images or videos to be shared with captions, which sets the context of the contents for the followers. The abundance of the OOTD hashtag (Outfit of the Day) shot on Instagram that seemingly represented banal day-to-day routines have inspired celebrities and non- celebrities alike to share their style preferences in which micro-celebrities become value- added catalysts for fashion consumption. Undoubtedly, Instagram is now listed as the most engaged social networking site in sales and consumer feedback while more research findings observe the increased trust users have towards peer recommendations com- pared to search engines (Qualman 2014). This new media movement signalled that, within the hijab-wearing perspective, users are responding to marketing strategies of veiling apparel curated on Instagram that are mediated by opinion leaders, while inter- acting with others that have similar interests in a communal space. Distinctively known as digital natives, young people have grown into personifying the internet for their devel- opment and are naturally adept with new technologies and spaces. Their immersion in the social networking sites creates a more radical approach to processing information and is very much concerned with being able to get instant gratification through the speed of access (Bayne and Ross2007).
Such technological advancement also offers these young people withflexibilities and freedom to mould a specific self to other, away from structural confine, although, only to some extent (Turkle1995). Individuals later turned micro-celebrities seeking attention and affirmation from their audiences continue to produce and curate their daily life for public consumption. From the perspectives of the audience, presence of such individuals becomes their conduit for ‘comprehending our (their) world or for someone trying to comprehend cultural values around gender, youth, or class’(Marshall and Redmond2016, p. 2) and self-identification and that ‘(c)elebrity becomes more than just a show and provider of points of identification; celebrity provides the guide for the contemporary condition of exposure of the self’(Marshall2016, p. 514). As Bauman (2000) theorised, in this (liquid) modern period, identities and individuals are no longer communal and solid.
They are replaced by insecurities,fluidity, interests-based, and there is a constant search for identity. We unremittingly consume physical and non-physical objects including new self and identity. Individual associates themselves with ownership of commodities – things, human, ideas, in the making of their identities.
At this point, it is imperative to understand celebrification and its influence as we consider the transformation in the social media use and the society, particularly the young, middle-class, and digitally literate demographics. Why are the young people, in particular young women, so absorbed in presenting themselves on social media platform and what drawn them to the use these platforms, we ask. By showcasing everyday life to the audiences, increasing their public visibility, they are seeking for own self and identity.
Individuals have the desire to express self and own subjectivities. Furthermore, when given the platforms supported by digital technology, they achieved the freedom to do so and as a consequent increasing their public visibility.
Apart from the influence of micro-celebrities, we witnessed a remarkable support from organising bodies within both countries capitalising on this exponentially growing fash- ion industry. Within the span of 5 years (2012–2017), Brunei actively engaged with the regional development in modest fashion by organising modest fashion expos such as Kuala Lumpur International Hijab Fair (KLIHF), Brunei Islamic Fashion Expo (BIFEX) and
Brunei Islamic Fashion (BIFASH) and Modest Fashion Network (MFN); as had Malaysia with the Kuala Lumpur International Fashion Festival (KLIFF), Asia Islamic Fashion Week (AIFW) and Kuala Lumpur Modest Fashion Week (KLMFW) to name a few. This exponential growth in the fashion industry, and hijab consumption in particular, is partly facilitated by the high usage of new media forms in the country. Social media have created vast marketing opportunities to diverse business enterprises particularly in the Southeast Asian region. According to We Are Social (Kemp2018), Brunei ranks second as one of the highest countries in Southeast Asia in 2018 with 95% social media penetration by population, whereas Malaysia stands at 75% of active social media user accounts on popular social networks, indicative of the high interest in social media engagements by the population in both countries. The development in the communication technologies, specifically, social media, the rising self-expression and individualism in both countries and the growth in the Muslim consumption become the condition for the success of such hijabi celebrification and the growing practices and consumption of hijab.
Hijabi celebrities’identification, emotion and value development and consumption
From our review of Vivy’s Instagram contents and audience comments, we found that Vivy and her audiences’relationship is based on three elements, identification, emotional attention and value development, which are recognised as fundamental in celebrity- audience engagement by a few of celebrity study scholars (for instance David Marshall, Sean Redmond). In this paper, we argue that the audience are influenced not just by specific content Vivy shares on her Instagram, for instance, an OOTD. It is the holistic image of the micro-celebrity and the audiences’self and identity that are factored in when the audiences are considering their purchases. In this situation, the relation between Vivy and her audiences cannot be viewed simply as a relation between an endorser and a consumer. Vivy’s presence and engagements between both parties are substantial for the audience self and identity development. Kelman (1956cited McCormick2016, p. 41) sees identification as an important framework to explain why audiences aspired to be like a micro-celebrity. The abstract desire as discussed earlier in the paper indicates the desire to frame one’s self-development according to that of the micro-celebrities, which we observed in ourfindings. The desire to emulate the lifestyle (even the identity) of the micro-celebrity is influencing the audience’s consumption habit. Via Vivy’s everyday relatable sharing, the effects of her celebrification, and the thought of an imagined community of Duckies, we wish to demonstrate the influence of a hijab micro-celebrity on the audiences’hijab consumption.
Everyday relatable sharing
Ourfindings not only suggest that the audience could relate to Vivy’s identity and life that are close to their own identity development, for example, the audience’s identity as a mother, or a young and aspiring individual, or a wife, or a fellow national, but the audience are emulating her style due to her already acknowledge identity (assurance of an accepted identity by other audience). We observed words such as‘goals’,‘so me’,‘inspire’,‘wish to be like you’in the comments section left by the audience, that suggest these audiences are
looking up to Vivy and envision a future similar self and that they are trying to achieve a comparable level of attainment. For instance, the comment left by the audience on Vivy’s upload demonstrates the audience approval of Vivy’s style (I love your style) while also telling Vivy of her future aspiration (I wish I can be like you one day).
KAKAKK!!! I LOVE UR STYLEEE HM I WISH THAT I CAN BE LIKE U ONE DAY PRAY FOR ME IM SO PROUD OF YOU .
Audiences seem to be learning from Vivy through her daily upload to mould own identity and life. Such comments are generally left by young women, younger than or sometimes of the same age as Vivy, which alludes to the fact that she is attracting the younger (Millennials) generations, those who aspire to be like her or to portray an image similar to hers. This is not surprising indeed as young people are known to be actively searching for themselves, and yet to settle with a set of identities or self. The audiences’ identity constructions are also afforded by commodities, particularly among the young profes- sionals. One example is the comments left by Vivy’s followers on her OOTD. She was wearing a top from her own brand FVBasics that says,‘I love my job’(Figure 1). Her followers relate this top to their everyday life–professionals who love their job, as can be seen below:
iradaisukeYou should wear this top yaya @amirahshafii rusydi.nawawiOk i need this written on my coat
andreshatinaWud u wear this to work? lel @hajarixchelmalique
anizaharunI akan beli jumper ni (Translation:I will buy this jumper) @ariefhakim12 nialeia@zshfiwe deffo should
zalikhailyani_ Lets all get this jumper @anilah19 @euzhiyi @joannelouise88 but it would only be applicable to legal ppl. Our side is to wear for sarcasm purposes only
Figure 1.Vivy wearing I love my job top. Source: Screen grab from Vivy Vusof’s Instagram.
Although, the above photo was not of Vivy promoting her dUCk headscarf, the comments on the jumper illustrate the audience’s engagement with her photo and the top she was wearing. The above para-social engagement points to how a micro- celebrity’s image and sharing can influence the audiences’consumption or at least the intention to purchase the item showcased. Despite not directly promoting her head- scarf (Figure 2), we observed comments left by her audience on her headscarf styling as illustrated by one of the comments below (melur_Omg does anyone knows how vivy wear her scarf? It looks really comfortable ).
Another example of her OOTD is shown below.
ikakakaKAKAKK!!! I LOVE UR STYLEEE HM I WISH THAT I CAN BE LIKE U ONE DAY PRAY FOR ME IM SO PROUD OF YOU
sis.wardrobeTak pernah tak cantik (Translation: Never not beautiful) dhia.damiaaLove your style
anjachongCantik!!! #goals (Translation:Beautiful)
fazirajajolI am looking for that really high heels! But can’t afford the high end brand.
So still looking for better option. I want to see if I could adapt with it cause I love heels.
afrinaazulkifliYou inspire me so much May Allah bless you and ease everything you do@vivyyusof
melur_Omg does anyone knows how vivy wear her scarf? It looks really comfortable
Figure 2.Vivy’s outfit of the day. Source: Screen grab from Vivy Vusof’s Instagram.
sharifashikins . . .i wanna be successful woman like u in the future.
although not in business, but still a successful dental therapist
atikahansariOk, im sold! Suggestion: Pls create an FV app so that we can shop via phone easier!
The selected comments above are a mixture of audience intention to purchase the commodities Vivy showcased via her OOTD such as ‘Im sold’, ‘#goals’, and those that are not directly related to the post such as ‘You inspire me so much’, ‘I wanna be a successful woman like you in the future’, which point to the audiences’ aspira- tions, self-development, and consumption of commodities. We also observed para- social interactions between Vivy and her audience. Vivy does not reply to individual comments, a commonly seen parasocial interaction celebrities worldwide practised but this parasocial interaction, as shown in other studies (Rubin 2004), has enabled the development of affective relationship between the audience and Vivy.
Vivy’s contents were not limited to fashion (OOTDs) but included her daily life–her family activities, her relationship with family members, and her pregnancies. Vivy successfully evoked the emotion of her audiences when she shared photos of her kids (growing up too fast and going to school for thefirst time, for instance (Figure 3)) and her third pregnancy as these shows her authenticity and audience’s relatability, which further add value to her presence. Her attention-grabbing and funny hashtags (#prayfordaniel, #whenhegoesondatesimgoingtoco- mealong, #forevermommysboy, #whenhegetsmarriedimmovingoutwithhim, #hisfuturewife- cansleepintheguestroom, #carryingyourthirdchildhere) that accompany her photos and captions have successfully attracted the attention of the audience, which were acknowledged by her audience in the comments section via their comments and the use of similar witty hashtags.
Figure 3.Vivy’sfirst visit to her son’s school. Screen grab from Vivy Yusof’s Instagram.
vivyyusofFeels like yesterday I walked to go to class, now I’m choosing schools
#for Daniel. He starts this September. #circleoflife
#didntijustgivebirthtohim?!!
nonehbasirCome sekolah at Brunei #sowecanseevivyeveryday @vivyyusof ian_ian_37My daughter is 3, husband already talking about how much extra RM
he needs to make now to pay offher 1st Form school fees, I was like errr
#whataboutextraRMformyhandbags???
siulim@vivyyusof my kids go there. Can you pick them up for me now?☴I’m a singlemother of 4 now boo hooooo #helpasisterout
#waystoembarrassvivyatmorningdropoffs
ismahaniarIremembered that I always checked your ig waiting for the
announcement that you gave birth to Daniel (same as Mariam’s too). He gotten so big now. And I feel old
These identification (kids going to the same school) and emotional attention (attachment audience have with Vivy) were not only achieved via Vivy’s continuous performance on her Instagram but her daily narrative on Instagram is also supported by her husband’s content. Vivy’s (and dUCk’s) fans were able to see snippets of Vivy’s self, identity and everyday life via Fadza’s content. For instance, the family photo taken while they were on vacation was shared on Fadza’s Instagram (Fadza Anuar,Figure 4). As argued, audience consumption is not solely based on the successful endorsement of the product show- cased by Vivy, rather, her identity and the (imagined) attachment audience have with her become the driver for audiences’consumption. The expression of emotion and authentic daily narratives on Vivy’s and Fadza’s Instagram offer the audience with an identification via association, and relatability, which were discussed in previous section as the key practice that are expected of a micro-celebrity to ensure audience’s interest and loyalty.
Figure 4.Fazda’s family vacation photo. Source: Screen grab from Fadza Anuar’s Instagram.
Effects of celebrification
As previously discussed, commodities are used to express and to construct one’s identity as this modern life is about consuming life (Bauman2005). Tangible items are used as a status and identity marker, for instance, the FVBasic top mentioned earlier and a piece of headscarf (dUCk brand) that Vivy wore every day for her OOTD shared on Instagram is linked to her classy, chic, contemporary, and (achieved) upper class status. Each com- modity is not just a physical item but laden with meaning and attached to a status, personality and community (Strizhakovaet al.2012) and gender (Gökarıksel and McLarney 2010). This attachment to material goods specific for meaning-making and construction of identity strengthen one’s loyalty to the product and the brand. The presence of micro- celebrities, as discussed in this paper, concretised this attachment of self to commodities.
In our previous studies (Hassimet al.2015, Haji Mohamad2018), we have shown hijab to have become a relationship mediator between Muslim women in Brunei and Malaysia.
Rather than become solely a symbol of piety of an individual, hijab is reconstructed as a new class identity; a middle-class marker beckoned and strengthened by hijabi micro- celebrities’practices such as Vivy. Wearing a hijab brand promoted by a micro-celebrity puts the individual in a privileged group of consumers. This image of dUCk as a middle- class marker is not exclusively attributed to Vivy’s social standing. The marketing strategy employed by the dUCk company that surrounds the narrative of exclusivity successfully placed this hijab brand at its current status. Via what the company calleddUCk Instagram Take Over, inviting other micro-celebrities and successful women (Muslim and non- Muslim) such as Asma’Nasa (@asma.nasa), Andrea Chong (@dreachong), and even Vivy (@vivyyusof to take over dUCk’s Instagram account (@theduckgroup) for the purpose of promoting the brand via their personal stories, most often their travel stories further concretised the image of dUCk as a hijab worn by successful, stylish, jet-setter, and upper- to middle-class women in the region. The company designed a narrative to accompany each dUCk collection, for instance, their Limited Edition Blurred Line headscarf was pre- launched on the dUCkgroup Instagram by Asma in Paris (The Duck Group,Figure 5and Figure 6). The Louvre Pyramid was the inspiration for this collection.
The status of the brand is further elevated in 2017 when The Duck Group collaborated with Brunei’s Crown Princess, Her Royal Highness Princess Sarah on their The Royal Duck collection. This collection was personally launched by HRH Princess Sarah in Brunei and this link with Brunei strengthens the existing connection between Bruneian Duckies and the brand. This collection represents the attributes of a woman via thefive elements on the headscarf: Wheel (Independence); Diamonds (Class and elegance); Flowers (Grace and Femininity); Grid (Active); and Bee (Teamwork) (Liew2017), which could possibly make dUCk customers feel the additional worth of this collection; linked to their identity as a fellow women, and the collection is endorsed not only by a successful micro-celebrity but a royalty. All things considered, the micro-celebrity’s social standing, the narrative that comes with each collection, and the places they travelled to contribute to the creation of the exclusive image of the brand (The Duck Group,Figure 7).
From the authors separate studies on hijab consumption in Brunei and Malaysia, our respondents (and analysis of media materials), the middle-class women (based on profes- sions) in Brunei and Malaysia, see Vivy and dUCkscarves as a material or resources to construct their identity or to express an already developed identity (Haji Mohamad2018,
Figure 5.The Louvre Museum, the inspiration for the Limited Edition Blurred Lines dUCk. One of the Instagram takeover photos by Asma Nasa. Source: Screen grab from The Duck Group’s Instagram.
Figure 6.Asma Nasa in Paris wearing the Blurred Lines dUCk. One of the Instagram takeover photos by Asma Nasa. Source: Screen grab from The Duck Group’s Instagram.
Hassim et al. 2015). These women’s desire to emulate Vivy’s, the brand ambassador, lifestyle points to the dynamic relation between the commodities endorsed, the endorser and the audience identity and self-development as we have argued in the previous section. For instance, Mimi, one of the respondents in Author (year) study, admitted that her dUCk consumption was motivated by the need to be in trend and the pride attached to the image and identity given offby the brand. She and many other respon- dents indicated the exclusivity and sophistication of the brand, which apparently become a status marker amongst the women in the study. Similarly, in Hassim et al (2015) study on Figure 7.Her royal highness princess Sarah at the opening ceremony of the Royal Duck in Brunei.
Source: Screen grab from The Duck Group’s Instagram.
Malaysian women, via the donning of well-known hijab brands and the power of adver- tisement in the country, the wearers could elevate or concretise her social status.
As exemplified by the abovefindings purchasing branded hijab particularly from the dUCk brand enabled the women studied to elevate and concretised their status as the new middle-class. In this study, based on Vivy’s identification and the comments left by audiences such as goals, inspire, we postulate similar situation. This attachment between dUCk consumption and social class suggests the rise of a group of progressive middle- class women symbolised by their hijab consumption. This link between hijab and new class identity is not particular to Brunei and Malaysia. Turkey, for instance, although with a different context and politico-religious background, has also seen the transformation of their hijab (Tesettür)from a stigmatised practice to a fashionable consumption and worn by middle- to upper-class women. According to Sandikci and Ger 2010, p. 21), ‘the processes of personalization and aestheticization, contemporaneous with the emergence of a new Islamic middle class [has] routinized the new veiling’in Turkey. In this study, we have also observed personalisation and aestheticisation of hijab on social media, which are brought offline.
Imagined community of dUCkies
The identity attachment, identity attainment, and affective relationship discussed in the previous subsections bring us to another important factor that is the influence an imagined community have on the audience hijab consumption practices. As suggested in other studies (Strizhakovaet al.2012), branded goods are associated with self-identity choices. Interesting association is made between branded goods and global citizenship, which creates an ima- gined global (national) community. In this study, we found that dUCk consumers/loyal fans perceive themselves to be part of a community, the Duckies. The existence of this community of loyal dUCk consumers is used to justify their consumption and to support the brand’s business strategies. As any other brand, dUCk was not excluded from brand backlash on social media. In May 2017, Vivy responded to the critiques her brand accumulated over the years:
price hike; personal shoppers/resellers selling the headscarves at higher prices; and website issues disrupting online purchases. The responses left by her audience following her post demonstrated the existence of the community called Duckies, whose members are loyal dUCk customers. Despite the issues the Duckies faced in securing their purchases due to website failure and the rising prices, they are committed to the brand.
vivyyusofThanks to everyone who has been sending me positive notes and even criticism.
I’m definitely a product that has grown from both of those, being a blogger for 10 years. I created dUCk toelevate the branding of scarvesand I am so so proud that people who don’t even wear hijab like dUCk and how they say it has portrayed a cool branding of Muslims. It’s not a backwards thing, it’s not an oppressive thing and it surely doesn’t always have to equate cheap. Everyone has choices on what they want to wear, so how come you can’t wear an expensive scarf but you can wear an expensive bag? I for sure don’t see Islam as always must be cheap and if you do, you sure think shallow of your religion. Islam doesn’t stop you from wanting beautiful things, and it’s all about your intention.
I hope one day we can support all local brands and be really proud of them. I’ve always been and that’s my whole ethos with @fashionvaletcom. It’s incredible to see our own talents grow and as much as I admire big international brands, I wish that and more for our local brands
one day. If you’re one who happily puts down local brands in public as if you know their struggles, then shame on you. You are one of the reasons why local brands can’t move forward. You can criticise local brands but how about doing it privately so they can genuinely learn and improve? The world needs more love, not hate . . .
(Instagram caption by Vivy Yusof, 30 April 2017. Authors’emphasis in bold)
Aarianaschepha2. . . No situation can shake us for not buying what we love and what we think really empower us as aDuckies. Once aDuckiesalways aDuckies.
jelita782. . . .Duckiesaren’t mad about the brand or how it has evolved to become some- thing to make malaysian proud.Duckiesare proud of the brand.Duckieslove duck for the style, the material, the evolution.
(Authors’emphasis in bold)
Through Vivy’s affective social media presence as demonstrated in the previous subsections on everyday relatable sharing and effects of celebrification, she successfully made her dUCkscarves into a fashionable item and ‘a cool branding of Muslims’ in Brunei and Malaysia. We contend that the audience consumption of the brand is influenced by two intricately linked factors, Vivy’s image and identity and dUCk’s image and branding. Both exude class, sophistication and style. We have so far demonstrated that hijab consumption in both Brunei and Malaysia is linked and influenced by Vivy’s celebrification process and the marketing strategy the Duck Group employed to build the brand’s identification and value via each collection’s narratives. As exemplified by the connections; or rather, para- social interactions between Vivy and her followers on Instagram, the long-term relationship was largely influenced by mediatisation of the brand and continues to proliferate as time goes by, as discussed by Driessens (2013) and Hepp (2012) on the plethora of celebritisation.
At this juncture, we can sum up four main points from Vivy’s hijabi celebrification in the consumption context: one, the audience consumption practices are inspired by Vivy’s image and identity (showcased on her and her husband’s Instagram); two, Vivy’s contents are relatable. She appears as an ordinary person, a mother, a wife, and a businesswoman. This affirms the audiences’self-identification and experiences; thus, they can relate to her and perceive her as a ’guide’ to navigate everyday (and future) life; three, the audiences' comments on Vivy’s Instagram further concretise her image via acknowledgement from the audience, which leads to thefinal point; four, the creation of a (imagined) community– Duckies. A label the audience (dUCk consumers) call themselves to acknowledge the presence of dUCk loyal customers/fans. All in all, these four conditions became the drivers for initial and subsequent consumption of the brand and marked the effectiveness of a hijabi celebrification on Instagram.
The rise of a new hijabi malay
The same caption above point to the existence of another community, hijabis with a different view of hijab and its practices. Vivy’s caption‘It’s (hijab) not a backwards thing, it’s (hijab) not an oppressive thing and it (hijab) surely doesn’t always have to equate cheap.’ exemplifies hijab as contemporary and in contrast to the expectation that hijab should not be extravagant, it can be expensive (and branded). This supports the other view of
hijab, as we mentioned in the Introduction, that is considered as an expression of self and individuality while also an expression of culture and religion.
Borrowing the current Prime Minister of Malaysia’s, Mahathir Mohamad, term ‘New Malay’or‘Melayu Baru’to denote the progressive Malay middle-class who managed to elevate their economic and consequently their social status post Malaysia’s independence via economic and professional occupations, we posit this group of Bruneian and Malaysian Malay Muslim women as progressiveNew Hijabi Malaybased on their produc- tion of identit(ies) and self via their hijab consumption.
In one way or another and intentionally or not, this group of contemporary hijabis in the region via their everyday OOTDs is contesting the stereotypical image of Muslim women in headscarf; solely a religious and cultural obligation. Rather than portraying Muslim women fulfiling only their religious obligation by covering up, these women via their purchase of dUCk (and other hijab brands with similar status as dUCk) portray a progressive and modern hijabi Muslim who indulge themselves in self-expression via multiple online platforms whilst adhering to their religious expectations. In a recent study by VICE Asia (Kong2019), the brand alone was regarded as catalyst for Muslim millennials in their stance to be seen as more educated and well-travelled hijab, that mirror the personality of its founder, Vivy, so much so that dUCk has been coined as the go-to reference for hijabis who seek this validation in redefining their roles at the home front as well as professionally by adorning the luxury scarf. Social media provides these women with bottomless pool of discursive resources for self-reflection leading to self-expression, and self-valorisation.
In the context of the two countries studied, we observed modesty to be a key element in (Muslim) micro-celebrities online sharing, reflecting the embracement of modesty in every- day wear and in the world’s fashion industry (State of the Global Islamic Report2016-2017, 2016). As posited previously, the hijabi celebrification process, in the case of Brunei and Malaysia, is influenced by their socio-cultural and religious contexts. Although not all micro- celebrities in the region adhered to Sharia compliant sartorial practices, the fashion and style showcased via OOTD posts centred on the concept of modesty. The practice of OOTD by Muslim women is not widely acceptable amongst Muslims due to the exposure of one’s body (although they are covered). Despite that, the practice has garnered the interest of young Muslim women in both countries (Haji Mohamad2018). The modesty movement transpired via OOTD in Brunei and Malaysia suggest these Muslim women’s critical and reflective engagement with their Muslim identity (and sartorial obligation attached to that identity). OOTD, a case in point, is seemingly used to express such reflexivity. As we contend previously, OOTD practice and hijab consumption by the women studied are suggesting a renewed understanding of a contemporary Hijabi Muslim woman. Despite the presence of the local and national contexts, these women are also negotiating the global contexts. This group of progressive women in hijab resonates with the rooted Muslim cosmopolitan coined by Haji Mohamad (2014). She revealed the existence of young progressive Malay Muslim in Malaysia who is global in outlook, a cosmopolitan but rooted to their religious belief and cultural practice. These progressive cosmopolitan Muslims use own Malay Muslim identity and religious and cultural discursive resources to navigate and negotiate their everyday life such as stressing respect, compassion and peaceful living. Focusing on performance of religiosity in the context of cosmopolitanism, she argued that hijab wearing involves a ‘complex acceptance and reworking of various interpretation . . . to negotiate
Muslim self and others, through which their particular form of Islamic cosmopolitanism is apparent’(Haji Mohamad2014, p. 289) suggesting Muslim reflexivity and sensibility among the Malaysian Malay Muslim.
We are not postulating that new technologies are abruptly transforming the Malay Muslim societies and only recently creating new progressive Malay Muslims in both nations. These progressive middle-class Muslims are already in existence in the Malay world as Kahn (2008, pp. 264–265) suggests that there are Malaysian Muslims who are
‘global in outlook, hostile to tradition in all its guises, universalising in aspiration, favour- ably disposed towards entrepreneurship, the accumulation of wealth and conspicuous consumption, and generally very comfortable with the latest technology’and that their
‘new Muslim sensibility encompasses the view that economic success, the accumulation of wealth and consumption is not only not contrary to Islam but is positively enjoined by it; the keenness with which Muslims, and Muslims activists in particular, seek to make use of ‘newly available media technologies impinge on and possibly transform existing practices of mediation between the divine and the human world’.
Here, we are suggesting a reworking of hijab (meaning and practice) and Muslim identity in both nations amongst the progressive Muslim women enabled by social media engage- ments between the audience and the micro-celebrities. The celebrification process we saw here in the region, for instance Vivy’s celebrification experience and the effect of the celebrification on hijab consumption, point to the transformation in the societies cultural and religious landscapes made possible by the internet and social media penetration. In this penultimate section, drawing from thefindings of the study, we revealed a macro-scale societal change in Brunei and Malaysia as a result of hijabi celebrification within the Islam and Malay cultural contexts and the exponential rise in the use of social media–the rise of a New Hijabi Malay who are Muslim, middle-class, fashionable, progressive and cosmopolitan.
More research needs to be done to further explicate other underlying factors that give rise to the New Hijabi Malay in the region.
Conclusion
To end, it is important to be cognisant of the processes involved in a successful celebrifica- tion: micro-celebrities sharing relatable everyday sharing and commodities (such as fashion via OOTD) on social media site; audience active consumption of micro-celebrities’self and identity presented as Instagram contents; and the overall affective labour by both the micro-celebrities and the audiences (identification, emotional attachment, and value devel- opment). The micro-celebrities are not simply an endorser of a product and an economic tool, but they are the embodiment of the audiences’self and identity, those they wish to express, which are done affectively by the micro-celebrities. As Driessens (2016, p. 372), aptly writes,‘celebrity is not thought of as a multitude of representations or as a discursive construct here, but as a body with a particular potential to affect particular audiences’. In today’s celebrification process, the transformation of ordinary to extraordinary individual is in line with our pervasive yet mundane sharing of everyday life on social media. The global celebrity culture in the context of the hijab is localised and contextualised. The achieve- ments of micro-celebrities are highly defined by cultures that are collectivistic but are seeing the growth of individualism and the growing hijab and Islamic fashion that applaud
and implicate celebrity status for women who are progressive and similar in nature, thus demonstrating a mix of plurality and heterogeneity among such women.
Using Vivy Yusof’s, the face of the Malaysian made brand dUCk, Instagram content, we have reflexively illustrated how this micro-celebrity’s everyday narratives on the site that are relatable and ordinary lead to the development of celebrity identification, emotional attention and value, which are key elements of celebrification process and in effect, to some extent, influence Bruneian and Malaysian hijabis’consumption practice. Furthermore, the audiences sharing and representation of these micro-celebrities’ images via their own social media uploads pique the interest of potential others to learn about the said micro-celebrity and the brand she is endorsing or living. In this context, creation of a micro-celebrity was never a one-way process. Audiences (active) are always reworking the images shared by the micro- celebrities and these micro-celebrities in turn are working to reach the expectations of the audiences as Marshall (2006, p. 644) argued that in this new media period sources of self have been modified‘as we move from a representational culture epitomized by celebrity to a presentational culture where celebrities are being reworked and reformed in terms of their value and utility by audiences and users’. Media convergence is a condition of the intercon- nection of computing, content, and communication (Flew2014, Maghfiroh and Hapsari2017).
The cross-medium or interconnection of information through Instagram postings was impera- tive in the emergence of an idea, a personality and brand commodity today, which are not only tied to the celebrity’s identity and value but equally dependent upon the consumer’s’ identity development and aspiration to be someone and to be part of an imagined community.
Acknowledgments
We thank our colleagues at FASS, Universiti Brunei Darussalam and School of Communication, Taylor’s University who have indirectly helped us in generating new ideas for this paper.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Funding
This paper is from an unfunded study.
Notes on contributors
Siti Mazidah Mohamadis a Lecturer at Universiti Brunei Darussalam. Her main research interest lies at the intersection of geography, youth, and media and communication studies. Currently, her research centres on youth’s mobilities, youth’s everyday social practices, and their social realities reflected through various new social media platforms. Within this research area, she has studied:
mediated Muslim cosmopolitanism; Bruneian youth self-disclosure on social media in the context of online privacy; the rise of social media influencers afforded by digital technologies and their influence on Muslim women’s hijab consumption; Muslims performance of religiosity on social media in the framework of lived Islam; and Brunei’s young Muslims‘Generation M’expression of
identity on Instagram and YouTube. She has a special interest in youth mobilities, youth develop- ment, and affective labour.
Nurzihan Hassimis an educator with industry experience in advertising, media and communication who has won various awards from over a decade of teaching and innovative methods to enhance student learning. With keen interest in research in cultural and media studies, Nurzihan had recently completed her PhD in examining the discursive practices of female modesty in Malaysian media where she has also published researches in journals and conference proceedings. Aside from media practices, her research interests lie in advertising, marketing and brand management in the ever- changing social media environment.
ORCID
Siti Mazidah Mohamad http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1243-4554
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