There is no doubt that bloggers have become the new stars of the fashion world. People aren’t as interested in celebrities; they want real people whoare celebrities.
The truth of the matter is many of them are much more worthy of credit than some reality stars who’s rise to fame came either by way of sex-tape or public intoxication.These big-time bloggers such asRumi Neely ofFashion Toast and Lindsey Calla ofSaucy Glossie have used their influence to start trends, popularize e-commerce sites and re-define the term “fashion editor.”
And now these Internet savvy tastemakers are monetizing theirproduct and legitimizing their profession by having someone else handle pesky negotiations—like the ones that actually get them paid.”If somebody else is handling the negotiation, you’re left to do the creative stuff,” Ms. Calla tells theNew York Times.
Enter:Digital Brand Architects, a new agency in New York founded byKaren Robinovitz that represents fashion and lifestyle bloggers, brokering endorsement deals with fashion labels, signing up advertisers and, in some cases, booking lucrative television commercials.
This completely novel concept, while brilliant has some reeling.The Times reports:
Until recently, fashion bloggers were paid with free merchandise, if they were paid at all. But that started to change as their influence grew. Now fashion bloggers are “right up there with editors in helping to mold what the consumer is going to buy,” said Alexis Borges, director of Next Model Management, an international modeling agency.
Representing bloggers has become a fast-growing sector amongst agents—Next has 11 style blogger clients, including Fashiontoast’sRumi Neely; Digital Brand Architects counts The Glamourai‘s Kelly Framel and BagSnob amongst its 50 blogger clients, while Bryanboy is repped by Creative Artists Agency.
The only trouble is people love blogs because of their organic sensibility. But will all these endorsements change the voice of the blogger who’s entireshtick is their individualistic perspective? No matter, I’m sure there’s an agent for that too!
[Photograph courtesy ofFashiontoast,The Glamourai,Saucy Glossie & Bryanboy]
