[Lolaa]

Something that bothers me a little is the fact that a lot of bloggers get free stuff so in turn they wear them and promote them.

It's not bad at all to receive free clothes (hell I'd love to receive them as well ) but somewhere along the way the lines get blurred: is it really your personal style or a style influenced by all the free samples you must wear in order to promote?

[softgrey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lapin de Lune Is it even possible to have a style which is entirely exclusive of all others?

the answer to that is simply-
YES...
we just don't see it often enough, but it definitely exists...
i promise you that when i go anywhere, i do not look like the rest of the people there...
it's authentically me...
not just something i am wearing because i thought it looked good on someone else...

of course, by the next time i see some of those people, they are wearing what i had on the last time because they saw me wear it and thought it looked good...
but i have usually moved on by then, so i still don't look like them,even when they are copying me...



now-
all of my friends and i have some sort of 'overlap' in our personal styles...
but we each add other elements that are personal to us...
so that, ultimately, we each wind up looking like ourselves and not like clones of one another...

that is what personal style is all about...
it's about being yourself---
it's the physical manifestation of who you are on the inside...

[Petit Lucille]

The thing is, style is, as soft said, an expression of something within. Very often, I'm asked, "you like design, right?". And it's not somehting you do entirely consciously, but it runs in you. What makes your style personal is your unique point of view, about everything. If you think like a clone, most likely, you will dress like one too.
It is possible to talk about this viewpoint without going into details as in "I went to buy a cup of coffee today and it was nice" and taking 1000 pictures of you "looking preety" (I am very tired of all the girls trying to look spontaneous-if you TRY to LOOK spontaneous, you're already NOT). That can only mean that they are what they do-posers. When you see that the blogger is authentic, and really has a personal way of feeling things, fashion being just one of them, it makes it engaging and not tiresome at all.

[IsabelMarantBoy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lolaa Something that bothers me a little is the fact that a lot of bloggers get free stuff so in turn they wear them and promote them. It's not bad at all to receive free clothes (hell I'd love to receive them as well ) but somewhere along the way the lines get blurred: is it really your personal style or a style influenced by all the free samples you must wear in order to promote?

I get what you mean, one of my friends (not super close) started out as a fashion blogger and is now getting emails left and right from companies wanting her to promote them in her blog.

I looked at some of the companies who were promoting her and I can see why they did, they're clothes are very similar to her style. I think if I ever did anything like accept offers from companies to promote their products I would only do it if I were getting clothes I could easily integrate into the style I already wear

[RaisinBoy]

I've just joined this forum, so maybe my two cents might have been discussed already, but the main thing why I generally dislike bloggers is that they are not professionals and many of them lack the eye for the real art of fashion (or maybe they are not even interested); they just wear clothes and create hype.

In general, I think they have came a short way from being internet's democratic voice of fashion to walking ads.

[Drusilla_]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jihanemo .. haven't they realized by now that they're almost clones of one another? I honestly keep expecting them to create their own sub-group of fashion bloggers and give it a name...

Already been done, if the site called the Delightful Dozen is anything to go by.

Most of the bloggers in that circle not only dress similarly, they actually had some giveaway/sponsored thing going on once where they could pick a dress from the modcloth catalogue to "gift" to another blogger as well as getting a dress for themselves too.

[neonsprinkles]

Quote:

Originally Posted by IsabelMarantBoy I get what you mean, one of my friends (not super close) started out as a fashion blogger and is now getting emails left and right from companies wanting her to promote them in her blog. I looked at some of the companies who were promoting her and I can see why they did, they're clothes are very similar to her style. I think if I ever did anything like accept offers from companies to promote their products I would only do it if I were getting clothes I could easily integrate into the style I already wear

....Very true. Fashion bloggers are much cheaper forms of publicity than hiring an ad agency or an independent contractor to hype up publicity....When it comes down to it, people interact with each other moreso online/virtually than they do physically....

[John_M.]

I can say that a vast majority of blogs I follow are fashion blogs, and mostly feminine fashion blogs. The one thing the blogosphere tells everyone is that not everyone is all into the styles presented at fashion shows and such. Not everyone is all awe-struck over the latest fashions. Sometimes, what I enjoy most about reading fashion blogs is in seeing real style by real people (as opposed to the runway scene). Some into fashion mostly share their personal style, mostly discuss certain looks and styles, and some even just talk about fashion on a taboo basis. A few even highlight on certain fashion shows and items presented in those fashion shows. There are even those who review certain garments. A garment or look may be all the rage or fun, but it means nothing if that look doesn't fit well or is of great-enough quality to the person wearing these garments.

Whatever the case, fashion blogging offers a side of fashion different from what most major publications offer. Some of the blogs I follow on Blogger/Blogspot were from mentions from publications like Teen Vogue. Regardless of whatever blogs you follow- Keiko Lynn, Fashion by He, The Sartorialist, or whatever- you are getting fashion from the perspective of whomever is presenting it. Doesn't mean you have to agree with the person(s) or agree with his/her/their assessment(s), but they are at least speaking about fashion and expressing in ways different from most publications and websites. The constant remains that we all love fashion, and our thoughts on fashion vary from person to person. Why let the publications share their perception of fashion while we're the ones soaking up fashion news like sponges? After all, we're the ones buying the clothes and putting looks together- shouldn't WE be the ones dictating what is fashionable to us rather than have some company or publication report on what's hot?


This is at least how I've perceive fashion bloggers. I am not going to look at this at the perspective of what bloggers wear as opposed to what is being worn "just for show." I am not looking at any extremes or anything here. It is more about real people sharing real style. That's not to say that other people are fake; just that these are everyday folk people who chose to showcase their real style in their own way. Again- I won't dabble with any extremes; all I am doing is just talking about fashion blogging the way I perceive it, from a casual perspective.

[soulphisticated]

Just because some of the bloggers out there don't have professional qualifications within fashion doesn't mean they don't have the gift for it. There are so many different types of fashion blogs around it's unbelievable.

Though I don't have any educational background within fashion, I have my own blog, reason being is i need an outlet of my thoughts/opinions. Mine may consist of outfit of the days on occasion in the future, but i need more than that. At first all i wanted to do was put up dresses that inspired but since designing my blog over the weekend it's turned into more than that, it's turned into reviwing fashion shoots, looking at different designers and their use of colour in each collection, finding magazine covers i'm drawn too... it actually reminded me how much i really loved fashion and everything that comes with it.

I do follow fashion bloggers out there and none of them have the same style, each female has her own individual taste which i appreciate.

[wild roses]

I have started following one fashion blog, and while I like her tips, and her style in general, two things always annoy:

1. The fashion freebies (and because she runs another blog concerning a big fandom, she gets freebies for that too and she posts about those as well as on her fashion blog)

2. Acting as if designer fashion is cheap and affordable to everyone. And, while she may be on a budget, she's a a far more lavish budget than some (most?) of her readers.

I wish, she and other fashion bloggers would remember we're in recovering from a recession, not all her readers have her type of budget, and to limit the "yippy-do-da" posts about her freebies.

She's a nice person, so I hate to critique her, but while I do enjoy her blog for the tips its give (cause I'm a petite, curvy person and fashion, high and low, likes to pretend people like me don't exist), I can only visit the blog every once in awhile due to the things mentioned above.

[softgrey]

my least fave is people who can't write...or even spell 1/2 the time...
but go on and on...
...

really---
i think it is true what was said earlier in the thread...
it's pretty easy to figure out who has a clue and who doesn't...
there's little risk of someone who is clueless getting a lot of attention or rewards for their antics...
even in this thread i think it's easy to tell who might have something interesting to say and who's blog i can skip right over...
...

what is sad is that some bloggers who might actually have a clue might be passed over or just be invisible because there are just too many people out there shouting all at once and it's tricky even for quality info to get noticed by anyone these days...

the other thing that is true of fashion is that it's very 'of the moment'...
fashion is fickle and we get tired of things really quickly...
and that includes people---
there is always a designer of the moment, a photographer of the moment, a magazine editor of the moment, etc...
bloggers are no different...

it's easy to be the flavour of the moment...
the tricky bit is to stick around...

[Lapin de Lune]

I am wondering what 'having a clue' means, though.
I guess it might depend entirely upon the blogger's particular outlook and reason for keeping a blog. Should those who wish to document a passion for fashion/clothes/style really have to possess 'professional' training or knowledge? To expect this could be as problematic as demanding that a passionate watercolourist should only maintain an art blog if she/he has been schooled in the arts. But of course, it's a grey area, I know.

I personally like how style blogs cater to all tastes, even those which irritate me, or which I cannot remotely relate to. I've said it before, but I am always intrigued by the amount of criticism targeted at fashion bloggers. Perhaps it is the same with any media or passion online.....this sense of elitism? I don't know. I just love to read blogs that cater to a similar aesthetic to my own, regardless their knowledge of the profession itself.

Maybe it is the more commercialised, super popular bloggers who bring this into question? Bloggers who seem somehow undeserving?
I just know that the small few that I prefer to bookmark tend to be somewhat 'niche', blogs which often question the nature of style blogging itself, which really fascinates me. I am more interested in a blogger's personal/internal relationship with style, their thoughts concerning ethics, consumerism, etc. Sorta like a 'thinking person's' fashion blog, yet without the necessity of having to be 'in the know'.

[softgrey]

having a clue- *read my signature quote*
if the blogger is a thoughtful person...
then one would assume that person has a clue...
not just about fashion/style, but about the world at large...

and if someone can't even write a decent post here in this thread...
i would assume that their blog is going to be somewhat painful to read...
wouldn't you?...
in that case, i would rather they not write anything, but focus on some great images instead!...


from vivienne westwood...

Quote:

"All that self-expression has just created a generation of morons, hooked on an endless appetite for rubbish"

more...

Quote:

"I think it is terribly important to have opinions, and to think. We live in a world of action without thought"

*there's a great quote from her about intelligence as it relates to style...
but i can't find it now...
basically-- she asserts that there can be no style without intelligence...

i actually found a couple of outfit blogs yesterday that looked good...
basically...just pics...very little writing...like a tumbler...
but the main thing is that i did really like the way the girls on the blogs dress...
they both have really immaculate taste...
*even if it's not exactly the same taste as me, i can still appreciate how good it is...
and the photos were really big and really nice...

of course, i have no idea what they were now......

[Lapin de Lune]

Softgrey, you make sense. Thanks for elaborating.

'...an endless appetite for rubbish' I wholeheartedly agree with this. And yet I feel somewhat inadequate to judge. One person's trash is another person's diamond. But yes, thoughtfulness definitely is a priority for me. And then I do have a weakness for tumblr....but I call this eye candy

[softgrey]

sometimes trash is just trash, though...like the emperor's new clothes...
and it's actually good to have an opinion and say so...

(that's the second quote i posted...)