According to the introductory video, the section is intended to be “the ultimate destination for style content that bridges both our fabulous endemic creator community and the more traditional worlds of fashion and beauty.” Thus, as you’d expect, you’ll find the videos from the official channels of big-name brands (at the time of writing, the main feature of YouTube fashion is a series of runway videos from the likes of Prada, Dior, and Oscar de la Renta). You can find a link to the new section nested under “More From YouTube” alongside the reintegrated YouTube Gaming. For those of you who might not be aware, YouTube’s collection of beauty-oriented content creators (the so-called “beauty gurus”) is so vast as to be nearly oversaturated. In my opinion, no collection of random people on the internet has better earned the name “influencer.” The upside of this section — besides the obvious of shedding light on some of its creators — is that now YouTube’s got some of its more palatable content in one spot. Beauty content has got to be some of the easiest to offer to Google’s advertisers — the content is family-friendly without being child-targeted, and most creators speak to a youthful and robust demographic. If I were selling anything from a car to a novelty keychain, I’d be tripping over myself to advertise my product on their videos. By putting the videos on their own section, YouTube’s simultaneously making it easier for viewers to find their content, thereby boosting potential views on advertiser-friendly videos, but it’s also symbolically raising it to the prestige level of YouTube’s Gaming section. The Fashion section’s also probably going to provide YouTube with a convenient place to launch its countermeasures against Instagram, its primary rival for beauty gurus’ attention. One thing I find kind of curious: the vertical is called “Fashion,” but also includes makeup videos. Call me simple, but I think the whole section should have been called “Beauty,” since that seems like the more encompassing of the possible terms. Still, at the moment fashion still seems to be the primary focus, with all the closet tours and sharp dressing tips, so what do I know?
