Advice about Starting & Promoting a Fashion Blog - See Post #1 for Thread Rules

[BetteT]

Be aware that I am not an attorney .... this is just stuff I've picked up from being around this sort of thing for some time.

As far as I have learned, that person is technically right ... unless you have purchased usage rights or gotten specific permission from the copyright holder, (who is usually the photographer, but may also be the magazine, web site or the client who hired the photographer to take the pictures), you don't have legal rights to use them or even post them on a forum like this.

However ... in almost all cases ... for a small personal blog, the copyright holders do not even seem to notice. If they do, they could ask you to remove them and you'd be smart to do so, immediately. They rarely will persue legal action, but I did see one blogger get hit with a $2500 fine ... at least that is what they threatened.

Often, they will look the other way if you credit well, but that is not considered legal permission. So ... bloggers need to keep that in mind, when using other people's images ... images that they don't take themselves.


The best advice I can give, is seek legal advice from an intelectual properties lawyer who will give you an accurate picture of what you may or may not do, under the law.

 

[Squizree]

^ So does that mean that even the creditted pictured we post here on tFS are "illegal"?

 

[BetteT]

Only if the members failed to get permission to post them here.

We are covered by a law that was intended for forums like ours called the DMCA (Digital Millenium Act of 1998), which actually allows us to exist, within certain constraints.. To comply with that, we have a process in place that places the responsibility on the members financialy and legally if they fail to get permission (it's in our Terms & Conditions which every member must agree to, in order to have an account) and we provide a contact and a process for any copyright holders who wish to report copyright violations (also in the Terms & Conditions.)

Normally, all that ever happens is that we must remove images and they are happy, But, occassionaly, you'll see an announcement asking members not to post certain images as a show of good faith for the copyright holders. Right now we are disallowing images from A+C (HQ's only), Pirelli, stills from the XFactor/Rex and most Conde Nast magaszines before publication ... all as a result of a run in with these companies.

 

[cologne_rocks]

Although no serious photographer/magazine would complain when his pictures are being posted on a blog, as long as the blog got quality. I've actually never heard of a photographer contacting a blog due to posting premissions, but okay, as for us we do only post someting in consultation with the model/agency/photographer and so on. There are even some cool photographers who are very willing to share their work with bloggers, such as Eric Guillemain, Chadwick Tyler, Jonathan Waiter and his wife, Adrian Nina.... but they expect quality for sure.

ETA: Even Dazed & Confused sends out editorial previews to some fashion/modelling/agency blogs, as they did with Ranya's last spread.
Okay, there are magazines that complain about their pictures being posted before the've published their own official preview or the magazine itself, but Meisel wouldn't call you due to posting a Vogue Italia Editorial on your blog.

 

[sonyagirl]

****Edited **** See thread rules in post #1 .... no promotion of blogs allowed.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for improvement. Thank you! www.girlcrushoftheday.blogspot.com

 

[cologne_rocks]

I truly love your layout, it's minimal, serious but powerful. Then i love that you post the pictures in a small size (there's nothing worse than too large pictures posted on a blog that take like 2 minutes to be loaded). Everything does really look professional. Well i cannot judge the content of your blog as i'm more into models than fashion, but i love that you report and discuss about it and don't just post something and do nothing about it you know. When did you start it? Congrats

 

[sonyagirl]

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for improvement. Thank you! www.girlcrushoftheday.blogspot.com

I'm sorry, what I meant is that I am looking for suggestions of interesting, naturally stylist girls to feature for my blog, www.girlcrushoftheday.blogspot.com

Thank you.

 

[sonyagirl]

I'd still love to know what you guys think about my blog. Please take a look!

I like that your blog has smart writing. You obviously think about what you are writing and say something interesting about the girls you are profiling. Good job! Would love to know if you have any comments on my blogs. Thanks!

 

[HauteCouturista]

My fashion Blog http://hautecouturista.blogspot.com/

 

[Astamundi]

Hey, guys! I finally decided to put my passion for shoes into words and started a blog http://astamundi.blogspot.com/. Would be great if you could check it out and tell me what you think.

 

[Susanna-Cole]

Hey, I was wondering, do any of you know what's the difference between affiliation, a partnership, and a sponsorship (when it comes to blogs) or are they essentially the same/similar things? I get emails all the time about affiliation/partnership/sponsorship, I usually just ignore them, but I'm kind of curious what exactly these offers entail or maybe it depends on the company/people contacting you?

The only one I'm more so certain on is affiliation, which is usually just the exchange of links/banners (least I think so), but what about partnership and sponsorship?

 

[Squizree]

^ Sponsoring is payment for advertising. So if you sponsor someone you give them money and they put an advertisement of your blog on their site and vice versa.

Partnership, I'm guessing, is something more serious. Like having a deal/contract with someone/company regarding working together to benefit both parties.

 

[Susanna-Cole]

^^Thanks so much for explaining, Squizree!

 

[KatherineCouture]

Visit my blog http://runway-files.livejournal.com/
Now it's in russian but in what follows i plan to write in english for comfort of all

 

[Marjon]

I also went to Blogger and started writing. I don't want to be another number with a fashion blog so I'll try to post my fashion thoughts and my own outfits. (This is hard because I don't speak english very well...)

SEVENOCLOCK

Visit my blog http://runway-files.livejournal.com/
Now it's in russian but in what follows i plan to write in english for comfort of all

Nice blog! But I hope you write in english soon haha

 

[fivehundred]

hi everyone, I'm new here so please be kind!

I also went to Blogger and started writing. I don't want to be another number with a fashion blog so I'll try to post my fashion thoughts and my own outfits. (This is hard because I don't speak english very well...)

SEVENOCLOCK

Marjon - your post on rings is really great. I love it when fashion bloggers do really coherent posts on one topic, as opposed to a million random photos. I like the layout too.


I recently started a fashion/photography/music/art website with 2 other girls and we're eventually hoping to turn it into more of an online magazine. It's called thirds (the link is in my sig). If anyone wants to give some feedback I'd be so greatful. We're trying to make it look less blog-like, but it's so hard when you don't have HTML skills..

 

[Squizree]

Small advice for bloggers is try to use Wordpress. ESPECIALLY if you have your own domain! You have literally MILLIONS of options and opportunities. Compared to Google Blogger, Wordpress has FAR more potential.

I recently switched to Wordpress and Im loving the change. It took me DAYS of agony to switch and get everything up and running but it was really worth the pain lol

 

[fivehundred]

I second that wordpress advice! there are so many free templates, and there's a lot of help out there for people who need help altering them.

 

[littlerain]

squizree, what did you find most difficult about switching to wordpress?

I guess i'd like to hear more about the pros and cons of wordpress vs. blogger... (if its been discussed fully in this thread, i'm sorry! I didn't read through the whole thing... so many pages!!)

I'd also like to hear any advice from experienced bloggers about attracting and retaining visitors!

I just recently revamped my blog. I started it quite a few years ago, but never did much with it, so in the last few weeks i've found a bit of a focus and posted as often as i was able to. please let me know what you guys think!

PS i've been a member here for almost a year and never really posted! so... HI!

 

[Squizree]

^ Welcome back to tFS

I havent been blogging for too long but Ive learnt LOADS from tFSers and others.

Blogger is great for beginners. It offers VERY easy navigation and simple directions to achieve what you want. And it's free! That's a huge plus.
However it's quite limited in potential. If you want to expand your blog, spice it up and make it look more professional then Wordpress is much more impressive.

Wordpress is not free but not expensive. The BEST thing to do with Wordpress is to buy a domain (from Bluehost.com or Godaddy.com - theyre the best) and set the domain up with Wordpress. This was you can login to Wordpress as admin and will have access to CSS customization and you'll have the ability to upload plugins, themes, widgets and LOADS of stuff which enhance your blog by a LONG shot. These are NOT available to the free Wordpress user and are VERY worth it.
Wordpress is NOT expensive. It's a small payment per year.

The hardest about switching was setting up my domain with Wordpress. It took me AGES to figure out how to control that kinda stuff. Then there was my admin page, which shat itself about a million times. But it was worth it, the change is great.

Go to my blog (in signature) to view it