Thoughts on Fashion Bloggers

[eizhowa]

^Well, the entire blogosphere isn't corrupted. There are several gems hidden out there Though I agree that the superstars in the blogosphere are usually very commercial and are all a bit similar...

 

[Andrea.RL]

I think the blogger formula has gotten so tired. It's: Pretty, ***Ediited ... no weight talk allowed**** (usually White) woman who wears lots of high designers and throws in some Topshop/ASOS to get bonus points for high-low mixing. I think Olivia Palermo and the Russian street-style women are the worst examples of this and probably turned the tide. They are basically designer fashion hounds for whom designer clothes are disposable, They wore every "it" label -- sometimes all at once-- and turned up at so many shows they were eventually declared "stars".

The initial appeal of blogs were that they were democratic. Someone in their small town away from the fashion capitols who had a sense of style could become an internet star. Somehow the industry managed to corrupt the blogsphere and make it just as elite and exclusive as the rest of the industry. Now you need to be mega-wealthy and well-connected, and clad in exactly the same designers as everyone else to get any time of attention.The people who are making the most money from their blogs are the people who didn't need the money to begin with.

I agree with this, I think this is what attracted people at first. Like some of the members here I went back to the blogs of rumi neely and jane, which haven't evolved really imo since they first launched them. I feel like maybe these girls were at the time the novelty and were in the lime light of the hype, and since they were 'doing it well' got advantages (like the fashion week invites, gifts or features in magazines etc) but as the blogging phenomena took off, they were just one in million again and overtime they might have failed a bit in having a voice, actually saying something, they just remained bloggers taking pictures of their outfits. (I mean as far as their blogs go, I don't know what they do for a living..)

(I prefer blogs that manage to create a sense of community with their readers, where there's a certain dialogue created with the reader.)

 

[educo]

I feel like the next wave in this fashion blogging game is gonna focus on bloggers who bring more to the table other than designer clothes and cute photos. Like those who have an actual talent for something (fashion related or not). Along with that, bloggers who focus on other people (not streetstyle but something more personal) will come up.

 

[lucy92]

Vogue.com


Sally Singer, Vogue Creative Digital Director: "It's a schizophrenic moment, and that just can't be good. (Note to bloggers who change head-to-toe, paid-to-wear outfits every hour: Please stop. Find another business. You are heralding the death of style.)"
​

Sarah Mower, Vogue.com Chief Critic: "So yes, Sally, the professional blogger bit, with the added aggression of the street photographer swarm who attend them, is horrible, but most of all, pathetic for these girls, when you watch how many times the desperate troll up and down outside shows, in traffic, risking accidents even, in hopes of being snapped."
​

Nicole Phelps, Director of Vogue Runway: "Which brings me back around to Sally and Sarah’s points about the street style mess. It's not just sad for the women who preen for the cameras in borrowed clothes, it's distressing, as well, to watch so many brands participate."
​

Alessandra Codinha, Vogue.com Fashion News Editor: "Am I allowed to admit that I did a little fist pump when Sally broached the blogger paradox? There’s not much I can add here beyond how funny it is that we even still call them 'bloggers,' as so few of them even do that anymore. Rather than a celebration of any actual style, it seems to be all about turning up, looking ridiculous, posing, twitching in your seat as you check your social-media feeds, fleeing, changing, repeating ... It's all pretty embarrassing — even more so when you consider what else is going on in the world. (Have you registered to vote yet? Don’t forget the debate on Monday!)
Loving fashion is tremendous, and enthusiasts of all stripes are important to the industry — after all, people buy clothing because of desire, not any real need — but I have to think that soon people will wise up to how particularly gross the whole practice of paid appearances and borrowed outfits looks. Looking for style among a bought-and-paid-for ('blogged out?') front row is like going to a strip club looking for romance. Sure, it's all kind of in the same ballpark, but it's not even close to the real thing."
​

 

[vikingqueen]

Vogue editors take aim at 'pathetic' bloggers who sit front row at Fashion Week

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3809981/A-stylish-showdown-Vogue-editors-aim-pathetic-bloggers-sit-row-Fashion-Week-scathing-article-branding-online-stars-desperate-embarrassing.html

There's a rivalry in the fashion world that seems to be reaching a boiling point, and we're not talking Stephanie Seymour verus Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid.
This week, a few top Vogue editors sat down to discuss — and publish — their thoughts on Milan Fashion Week. But while Gucci, Versace, and Bottega Veneta were certainly covered, another common theme was touched upon at length: the editors' utter disdain for fashion bloggers and 'influencers', whom one went so far as to call 'pathetic'.
While Vogue's readership reaches far and wide, though, those very bloggers have quite an audience of their own — and they didn't take the criticism lightly. Since the article went live on Vogue.com, several big names like Susie Bubble and Bryanboy have taken to social media to fire back at the fashion bible and accuse them of being a bit hypocritical.

Vogue Creative Digital Director Sally Singer started off with the first dig, though hers was a quick parenthetical punch in a long list of comments about her favorite shows.
Speaking about clothes now being designed to 'stop traffic and paparazzi', she wrote: 'Note to bloggers who change head-to-toe, paid-to-wear outfits every hour: Please stop. Find another business. You are heralding the death of style.'
Most fashion magazine editors tend to wear the same outfit all day to a long schedule of shows, while many bloggers — and celebrities — have been known to switch between presentations, creating more photo ops as they go.
Vogue.com Chief Critic Sarah Mower expanded on that point, saying that not only was the chaos of street style stars 'horrible', but the girls themselves are 'pathetic' and 'desperate'.

'The professional blogger bit, with the added aggression of the street photographer swarm who attend them, is horrible, but most of all, pathetic for these girls, when you watch how many times the desperate troll up and down outside shows, in traffic, risking accidents even, in hopes of being snapped,' she said. 'It’s not just sad for the women who preen for the cameras in borrowed clothes, it’s distressing, as well, to watch so many brands participate,' added Vogue Runway Director Nicole Phelps.

Vogue.com Fashion News Editor Alessandra Codinha was the last to weigh in, pointing out that it's odd to call so many of these influencers 'bloggers' since 'so few of them even do that anymore'. 'Rather than a celebration of any actual style, it seems to be all about turning up, looking ridiculous, posing, twitching in your seat as you check your social media feeds, fleeing, changing, repeating,' she said. 'It’s all pretty embarrassing.'

Unsurprisingly, many of the bloggers who make their living from parading around their street style and building their social media brands took offense to the piece and were quick to fire back online. 'Dear @voguemagazine, since you hold a special and significant place in my heart, may I pose a question? If certain people on your team hate bloggers & influencers so much, I'm just curious why you put them on your international covers to increase sales,' Caroline Vreeland, a model and influencer who poses for street style photos, wrote on Instagram.

'Most of the bloggers I know are hard working young entrepreneurs. I find it shameful that an institution such as Vogue would demean and belittle these young people who are building their own paths, especially since they are mostly young women, calling them "pathetic",' she added.
Susie Lau (more widely known as Susie Bubble), wrote her own Twitter diatribe: 'Firstly let's not pretend that editors and stylists are not beholden to brands in one way or another, getting salaries at publications that are stuffed full of credits that are tied to paid advertising but not explicitly stated as such. Secondly, bloggers who wear paid-for outfits or borrowed clothes are merely doing the more overt equivalent of that editorial-credit system,' she went on. 'It's just that bloggers sadly don't have prestigious titles/publications to hide behind and represent themselves solely.
'The fashion establishment don't want their circles enlarged and for the ivory tower to remain forever that. Towering and impenetrable,' she said.

Popular blogger Bryanboy chimed in with similar sentiments about how editors can often be just as beholden to brands and magazine advertisers and bloggers are. 'I'd have a bounty for my head if I name-checked all the editors who told me they only go to certain shows because they're advertisers,' he tweeted. 'And what about editorials in head to toe runway looks? Celebrity covers because they're the face of the brand?'

He posted a video, too, to demonstrate his point, showing the September issue of Vogue featuring Kendall Jenner wearing Gucci on the cover. On the back cover of the issue is a Gucci ad, which he shows to imply that Gucci's advertising dollars helped buy them presence on the cover, too.
'It's schoolyard bullying, plain and simple. How satisfying it must be to go for the easy target rather than going for other editors,' he added.

Finally, stylist Shea Marie pointed out a photo on Vogue's Instagram account that seems to belie their argument about street style stars.
'Can anyone guess what @voguemagazine most commented Instagram pic is (by a landslide)? A street style photo of me and @carovreeland. Ironic.'

I'm loathe to post a dailymail article, but thought this was interesting

 

[fee de foret]

Lol ok Vogue has really no room to complain when they have lauded Kendall Jenners number of instagram followers how many times this year? That's why these bloggers are at these shows, because of the number followers and likes they have. The only difference between the two are the bloggers are probably capable of making more then two facial expressions in a series of photos. Also I find it lol-worthy that these vogue editors find the bloggers street style "pathetic and desperate" and their front row behavior all about "showing up, looking ridiculous and posing" when Kim Kardashian, a Vogue darling has been in several front rows over the years in ridiculous too small sheer clothing and even on occasion with her toddler daughter who was throwing a fit.

 

[MulletProof]

for a group of people that attend nearly every show in every city, you'd think this sudden irritation towards bloggers would've felt strongly when bloggers entered the scened like a plague in 2010, and expressed on time.. somewhere in 2011. I mean, it's 2016, nobody cares anymore.. who even reads blogs? everyone's glued to instagram and the stars of instagram flooding every outlet that courts fame. Like fee de foret said, they should reflect more about how their publication endorses that and what the benefits are and how different it is from blogging and how one is the 'death of style' and the other is apparently not.

And fyi, style "dies" when courage to express yourself or an opinion does. I've always viewed Sarah Mower's work as an act of terror in fashion journalism ..

 

[Benn98]

Oh, but this is rich coming from them! More like the pot calling the kettle black. They'll want to vent their anger at the celebrities as well, but somehow I doubt that will happen. In theory celebrities also get cushy front row seats, loaned clothes, get paid thousands of dollars, and flaunt their moderate to zero grasp of fashion.

for a group of people that attend nearly every show in every city, you'd think this sudden irritation towards bloggers would've felt strongly when bloggers entered the scened like a plague in 2010, and expressed on time.. somewhere in 2011.

That's what I don't get!! Why now, when these bloggers are already so established to the extent of booking Vogue covers by themselves??

 

[dodencebt]

While I agree that a lot of the bloggers have absolutely zero personality, no style of their own and borrow head-to-toe outfits like crazy - this is not the way to point it out. There are bloggers out there who know their craft and have built strong brands based on their interesting way of looking at the world of fashion, especially the likes of Bryan, Tavi and Susie who made 'fashion blogging' a mainstream thing. Putting them all in the same basket is wrong.

Also, Vogue US has zero credibility to bash people who are 'being paid' to do something. The magazine and its journalists sold their soul a long time ago.

 

[HeatherAnne]

There was no reason to merge this thread, it's not thoughts on fashion bloggers it's fashion editors versus bloggers and the kind of topic we're starved for.

...But whose side to take. The already snobby Vogue editors who look down on everyone. Or the fashion bloggers who are fools on parade.

 

[Les_Sucettes]

Do people even read blogs anymore? Plus long gone are the days when people actually cared about "street style". I think everyone by now is clued up to the monstrous artificiality of it all.
Frankly the editors anger is clearly misdirected, bloggers are like magazines now, and that includes the Susie's of this world, they are both paid to feature and write about certain products or "experiences". Maybe that's why neither creates trends anymore.
Like it has been said before everyone is glued to their instagram feed, a lot of extremely successful " influencers" do not even bother to attend fashion week or wear anything straight from any catwalk. And still they are being used by the mainstream fashion world in ads, articles, covers etc etc.
I'm still waiting for the day when the real problem is addressed, the disgusting nepotism that is poisining the fashion world, rallying against bloggers particularly when they have no problem using them, just sounds petty.

 

[eizhowa]

I still read blogs I recently got rid of bloglovin and just put the blogs I still wanted to read in a folder instead. I was getting more adverts in my feed than actual blog posts and it was getting very tiresome... bloggers do so much sponsored work these days that it can get quite exhausting.

But I do feel you re. "street style" I don't know if we can say it is over though. If it is, what is the deal with all the peacocks on the street during fashion week?

It is semi-off topic, but my country was at the top of some list of countries who think nepotism in business is fine. I thought it was interesting at least. *shrugs * I am always very interested to hear what people have to say on the topic of nepotism.

 

[prosperk]

There was no reason to merge this thread, it's not thoughts on fashion bloggers it's fashion editors versus bloggers and the kind of topic we're starved for.

...But whose side to take. The already snobby Vogue editors who look down on everyone. Or the fashion bloggers who are fools on parade.

Having a couple of Vogue editorships on my CV and knowing quite a few Vogue editors as a result, I'd like to reassure you that not all Vogue editors are snobs. Neither are all fashion bloggers fools. Some of them are very, very switched on and probably better than many print magazine editors at exploiting the business for financial gain.

And that is the nub of the problem. When you have spent years or even decades clawing your way up the muddy slope to get to the point where fashion houses are giving you enough 'presents' a year to resell on the black market in handbags and RTW gear so that you can pay your rent and eat -- because not all glossy magazine editors have trust funds -- you're bound to get a bit annoyed when some kid from nowhere with a handle on how social media works arrives at the same point in one or two seasons.

I posted a link here to an op-ed I wrote about this nasty little spat but it was deleted because I was deemed to be promoting myself or my website, neither of which was the case. I thought some of the participants in this thread might find it interesting. Not wishing to see this post arbitrarily deleted, I invite you to Google the following terms "prosper fashion unfiltered vogue bloggers". It should come up.



P

 

[softgrey]

it's hard to have sympathy for either...
esp considering what prosperk points out..
they are both corrupt...
taking "gifts" and then selling them on the black market...
*oh- i'm so sad for them that they can't make as much $$ this way anymore...


self-serving + opportunistic + money-grubbing = not stylish...
neither have any credibility anymore...
imho...

even margarita missoni sold a bunch of her clothes---
like she needs the money!
she should be donating that money to those less fortunate...

people are so selfish and greedy...
so disgusting...

 

[SouthernVogue]

Bloggers in general are just greedy and selfish... the only reason most bloggers give their 'honest' opinion is just to get free loot.

 

[dsamg]

Bloggers in general are just greedy and selfish... the only reason most bloggers give their 'honest' opinion is just to get free loot.

Well for most of them blogging is their job so you cannot really blame them for ensuring their livelihood.

 

[MulletProof]

Question is how low are you willing to sink to ensure livelihood (general life question, not just about bloggers lol). Given our current state of anomie as evidenced in the past couple of weeks, I guess the answer to my own question is "bottomless barrel"..

Bloggers or editors are no longer a big concern... yes it is depressing, but if people think things can't get any worse and let's attack what's already here.. big mistake!. I think they should look at the poorly promising forecast vloggers are painting for us, especially fashion vloggers: "I WAS KIDNAPPED!" (.. by my vlogger boyfriend jokingly into the forever 21 fitting rooms), "I AM GETTING MARRIED!" (.. to my new purse), "HE HIT MY FACE!" (my cat), "2 DOLLAR VICTORIA'S SECRET HAUL" "VEGAN FISH".

These people make the fools dressed like tropical parrots at NYFW look so harmless and tame. I think the people that have some degree of power to redirect the path we're heading to should foment criticism and the importance of integrity to compensate against something that's gaining momentum by the minute.

 

[eizhowa]

^True. The line between fake endorsement and fake news seems to becomming blurred when you look at it from that perspective. I am certain that if my state funded online newspaper used clickbait, the board of press ethics would stop it. That tells me something about the morality of it.

 

[prosperk]

^True. The line between fake endorsement and fake news seems to becomming blurred when you look at it from that perspective. I am certain that if my state funded online newspaper used clickbait, the board of press ethics would stop it. That tells me something about the morality of it.

Those of us who worked for major fashion and style titles but managed to avoid cult-like immersion in the milieu used to observe the antics of some of the stylists and fashion editors using our pages to promote their private clients and remark with weary amusement that were we publishing financial magazines or supplements, they'd probably end up facing criminal charges.

The conflict of interest and professional ethics questions became even more acute with the arrival of user-friendly Internet tools. That said, I don't think glossy fashion and style magazines were ever truly independent in relation to their advertisers. A few lucky fashion journalists working for newspapers that did not in those days carry fashion advertising were able to write the truth as they saw it. But traditional magazines depend on advertising and sponsorship revenue to survive and when you bite the hand that feeds you, its owner stops feeding you.

For a time, a few of the better bloggers scared the advertisers but in the end, they sold out. Just as every Indy magazine launched since the 1960s has ended up selling out. Or closing down. The web is just another medium. The game hasn't changed. The trick is the art of intelligent compromise. It always was and always will be.

PK

 

[softgrey]

the trick- is to think for yourself and not encourage such corrupt actions...
certainly- not to participate in them...

if enough people are reviled by it, and publicly say so...
the model ceases to work and therefore, it changes...

thanks for pointing out that crap, MP...
truly desperate and revolting...