As another Fashion Week progresses, another round of articles circulating lamenting fashion bloggers.
When it comes to fashion bloggers, it seems people are decidedly in one of two camps. People either love fashion blogs or hate them. Unless you’re over a certain age and use the internet only for googling obscure bird species, there is no middle ground.
Apart from if you are an avid blog reader; most of the articles circulating on mainstream platforms (think Facebook, Twitter, etc) tend to show the negative perception of fashion blogging. Even Google isn’t an equal playing ground; if you type in ‘fashion bloggers are’ Google suggests ‘narcissists’ ‘annoying’ and ‘stupid’ the only possibly positive suggestion is ‘rich.’ However saying all fashion bloggers are rich, is like saying all footballers have perfect hair (and we all know about Wayne Rooney.) It’s a little bit misleading.
Fashion blogging, can seem narcissistic, from the outside I can admit. After all, we must all think we’re shit hot, if we think everyone wants to see what we are wearing on an average Wednesday. Fashion blogging, and specifically outfit of the day posts,though go way deeper than just ‘oh-em-gee, how awesome am I’
Fashion blogging, is about showing a side of fashion that may not be all too apparent in Vogue, Elle or the other fashion magazines. It may be showcasing a girl with skin that is not the ‘right’ colour, the girl who is too big, too short…too anything. Fashion blogging, is a way of taking back a love of clothes and fashion from the often rigid conditions set by the media. Fashion blogging is a way of showing that it doesn’t matter if your parents couldn’t gift you a Ferrari for your eighteenth birthday, you can still express yourself and share a love of clothes on a small budget. Yes a constant stream of new photos of the blogger in question can seem narcissistic, but if we are all honest; aren’t all social media posts slightly narcissistic? Who doesn’t like to see the likes/views/comments racking up, whether it be on a blog, a tweet or a status?
I can also understand how fashion bloggers can be seen as annoying. If you are not into fashion, or blogs, having them pop up in your newsfeed would be a bit annoying. However the beauty of a blog, is that you don’t have to click the link – you can choose to ignore it and scroll on. And take it from a digital marketer, if you ignore enough of a page/person’s posts Facebook’s clever little algorithms will make it so they show up less often. Facebook by nature means you will occasional see things that interest your friends, but not you – Twitter will show you it even more, but that is just the way life is. If you are really annoyed, unfollow the person, or if you’re feeling extreme unfriend them. Gulp.
People think fashion bloggers are stupid for a variety of reasons – and to be fair, just like in every hobby, you will get smart people annnnd …. Let’s just say people that aren’t that smart. And that’s OK.
‘But you don’t get paid for it, so what’s the point?’ a common question seems to be, to insinuating fashion bloggers should find something more ‘worthy’ to do with their time. Mike doesn’t get paid when he plays five a side football on the weekend, what’s the difference? If a person enjoys a hobby, they aren’t stupid; they just have a different preference to you. Which is fine.
Also, I think a lot of people who don’t run a blog underestimate the amount of effort a fashion post takes. I am well aware my ‘fashion’ posts are in need of improvement, but they feel like a lot of effort to me.
For a fashion blog to work, the images need to be near glossy magazine standard these days, the write ups need to be both informative and entertaining. The styling needs to be new and different from all the other blogs.
In essence, the blogger behind the post needs to encapsulate all of the skills that are usually spread out throughout an entire team at a paper publication. And generally, these people are self-taught. They have put in the hours to master photography and editing so that it seems so seamless, it must be ‘easy’ or stupid.’
I don’t mean for this post to sound like a rant, I honestly don’t… though I fear it will come off as that. All I am saying is this; if you haven’t got anything nice to say about fashion blogging, don’t say anything at all.
And as for fashion bloggers? Or bloggers in general? Keep up the good work.