The term fashion blogger is in dire need of being compartmentalized. Personal style bloggers are quite different than street style photogs, who differ even further from those who comment on fashion news, write their own written features, or even the type who highlight the editorials they think are life changing. Overall, fashion bloggers in the most general sense celebrate fashion at its core, but apparently, one major part of Italian fashion is not celebrating them.
EIC of Vogue Italia, Franca Sozanni is directing her wrath at a particular subset of fashion blogger those of the personal style sort taking to her blog to say , “They don’t offer an opinion but only talk about themselves, take their own pictures wearing absurd outfits. What’s the point? I don’t even know who they are except a few names because they are so many and all the same, they are so worried about what to wear to get noticed that my eyes only see a crowd in the end. ” I think the point may be that those pictures are getting them front row at fashion shows, free merch and lucrative modeling deals, but I digress, because she wasn’t finished berating the young ones yet.
Nope, because not only are they not even worth remembering, you shouldn’t listen to fashion bloggers either, “These aren’t people who have been working in fashion too long to end up criticizing everything, the shows, and they don’t have a background in fashion so they are not conditioned by their knowledge or interests. There comments are naif and enthusiastic. They don’t hold a real importance in the business. Of course not.” No, but they know what they like, and their followers trust their opinions, so the question of experience is moot, because if people buy the things they promote, that translates to sales which is good for everyone in fashion.
Sozanni does go on to contradict herself by concluding with, “Not all trends are nice and not all bloggers are good, but so it’s for designers and journalists. Time is needed to emerge, and when you make it, to resist. Time decides what’s successful or not. What makes history. The blogger phenomenon is too young, too new.”
I don’t believe it’s too young or too new, but I do think that the fashion blogger market is oversaturated and the great will be weeded out from the mediocre. It just seems antiquated to dismiss the phenomenon so easily, after all, fashion at its core is meant to embrace the new and groundbreaking.
WEll, I happen to like Ms. Sozzani; but, she may have to understand…this is the new world now! No longer will people be dictated to by a few “high brow” magazines.
I always wonder how a few of these women that head up the magazines stay in power…some of them are in desperate need of makeovers!
I applaud the creativity of the street…as that is where many of the designer looks have been inspired.
Hmmm….
Henri
Well, personally I feel that the craziness that goes down the runway of the Haute Couture does not translate to what I wear to the office or just everyday wear. I am MUCH more inspired by Grit & Glamour, the Style Underdog and Vogue Gone Rogue. I am one of those personal style bloggers I guess more than a fashion blogger and I love the community that we bloggers create, unlike the elitist fashion mags.
http://www.fashnlvr.blogspot.com
She made good points. The translation you offered is very awkward:
“Not all trends are nice and not all bloggers are good, but so it’s for designers and journalists.”
“[S]o it’s for”? Really.
I find this point of view on fashion blogs interesting but antiquated.
I don’t understand what experience in the industry has to do with anything though. I’ve interned for several fashion magazines in NYC and to be honest fashion magazines and fashion blogs differ greatly.
What I prefer about blogs is that the blogger actually expresses a point of view rather than saying that they love everything shown by designers or that every trend is amazing.
Maybe if fashion magazines actually wrote articles with a more critical point of view, blogs wouldn’t be as popular as they are now.
And now for a little self promotion.
This is my fashion blog, Ask Audrey. I would love it if you would take the time to check it out. Thanks and have a great weekend!
http://www.askaudreyfashionblog.blogspot.com/
Yes there are varying degrees in quality of fashion blogs, but can’t that be said for most things? Very unfair comments, many fashion bloggers will become professional members of the fashion industry in the near future, not just journalists, but photographers, stylists, designers, buyers, the list goes on. So what if we do not have the “experience” she thinks we need to comment, but we are the eyes of the youth culture, we know what we like, what we want to buy, what direction we are going fashion wise, we work in fashion retail and study fashion degrees, surely we are allowed some view point? Fashion lecturers at uni encourage students to write blogs as it shows an active interest in the area, in this very competitive industry the blog allows the potential employer an insight into the individual and can be judged accordingly. I dislike being referred to as a narcisist, yes I take pics of what I wear, but I am not in love with myself in fact quite the opposite, I am not power hungry or selfish. I just love fashion and I love to write, why can’t I use this modern form of communication and networking to allow me to get a foot in the industry door? I am not above my station.
http://alittlefashionromance.blogspot.com
I think that all the people know that all the Fashion Bloggers arenot perfect but we can rescue a lot of them.Because we really feel the Fashion.
kiss
http://fashionfablog.blogspot.com/
Whether she’s right or wrong, it really doesn’t matter.. it’s freedom of speech.. fashion bloggers are entitled to have an opinion, right?
Besides.. who cares about what “bad” fashion bloggers say.. most of the ones that don’t know a thing about fashion don’t even have followers or people listening to them; they are just giving a critic which we all must learn to accept.
I don’t think it’s fare to say “ALL” fashion bloggers know nothing about fashion, maybe some of them may not know how the fashion industry works BUT fashion is not something you study and learn, fashion is innate, you either love it or hate it, you are either born with style or you’re not.. you can learn how to coordinate clothes and appreciate art but true fashion lovers have it inside.. and a lot of fashion bloggers out there really rock and are making a voice for themselves through their daily styles and I think that deserves some credit. It’s they’re way of saying “hey, I’m here, I can work in the fashion industry too, I’ve got an eye for this!”
http://www.littlemoonlover.blogspot.com