Nepotism in the Fashion Industry — Research Pre-Project

Research pre-project developed for Social Communication undergraduate program, investigating nepotism in the fashion industry and its effects on behavior, consumption, and media — focusing on how family connections shape professional trajectories in a sector that presents itself as driven by talent and creativity.

The work draws on concrete cases — including Kendall Jenner, Ella Emhoff, and Gigi Hadid — to examine how privileged access to runway shows, contracts, and industry awards affects not only fashion professionals, but also consumers and the diversity of voices represented in the industry. The methodology combines qualitative and quantitative analysis of social media, award ceremonies, and New York Fashion Week data.

Challenges

Building a rigorous academic investigation around a culturally diffuse and often normalized phenomenon — nepotism — in a sector where the line between talent, image, and family legacy is deliberately blurred, and where the voices most harmed by the practice rarely have space to speak.

Results

A complete pre-project featuring introduction, general and specific objectives, research problem, hypotheses, methodology, theoretical framework, and a 12-month timeline — laying the groundwork for research that connects fashion, power, media, and inequality of opportunity.