Diary of a Stylist | INC Longform

The Institute of Network Culture‘s latest longform ‘Diary of a Stylist‘ by Maisa Imamović (Berlin 19’) reveals the writer’s experience as a e-commerce stylist, discovering the ‘the styling of aesthetics in and out of professionally creative contexts’, as well as ‘yet another bored state of being.’

‘In 2019 I started the job of an e-commerce stylist. Each working day I enter the warehouse at 8:34 AM. When inside, the first thing I do is walk myself to the clocking-in station where an iPad asks me to enter my clocking-in code. An iPad greets me happily: “Hello Maisa, welcome to your styling shift 9:00-17:00.” – Excerpt

The essay gives previously unknown insights into the everyday in’s-and-out’s of the e-com styling profession, theorising the act of styling as reflective of many issues and tendencies seen throughout society and aesthetics today.

‘After reading Diary of a Stylist e-commerce product pictures will never be the same.’
– Geert Lovink, internet critic

Diary of a Stylist is the latest INC Longform, a publication series which showcases writing by up-and-coming authors, at the intersections of research, art and activism, manifestos and how-to’s in the field of digital media and internet critique. Since launching in 2015, INC Longforms have invited talented writers to publish their work in a digital-first format, aiming to publish stand-alone essays of 3,000-8,000 words, written for the web and making use of digital options.

‘We believe in longform as a genre that first and foremost points to depth of insight based on research – which can include video essays, visual reporting and multimedia.’
– Institute of Network Cultures, Longform Team

Submissions can be sent here.

About Maisa Imamović

Maisa Imamović (@iammans) is an Amsterdam-based writer, artist, designer, and web-developer whose main research interests are ‘the island of boredom’, the impossibility to be bored, bodily restlessness and constant search for distraction. Maisa observes trends, cliches, conditions of honesty, and writes about them. As a designer, she doesn’t produce much in the physical. Through web-development, she is an observant of ways in which codes and user experience ethics program lifestyles and modes of being. Since 2019 she is a senior researcher at the Institute of Network Cultures (Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences). She was published in Kajet, Simulacrum, Forum, and runs her own blog at Living Industry.