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Fashion Bloggers Take Fashion Week
By admins | February 18, 2010
In case you haven’t heard, fashion bloggers are the new “it” crowd. Of course with our recent fame comes the inevitable backlash. The now infamous Independent article slamming fashion bloggers as, “little more than mouthpieces for fashion brands” got destroyed in the blogesphere. Not only is this untrue, but we find it particularly annoying how often fashion blogs are lumped together into one narrow definition. Fashion bloggers share a huge variety of experiences and information with their readers. From the young girl posting what she wore to school, to a professional stylists sharing behind the scenes info at a high-end fashion shoot, to a stylish mom sharing tips on how to keep on trend while raising a family, blogs are as varied as the people who write them. Now in the midst of New York Fashion Week, the bloggers whose focuses are covering designers, runway reporting, and excellent photography are shining in the fashion blogesphere and to perhaps the dismay of mainstream media, outshining them as well! We think it is partially this diversity of purpose, which sets fashion blogs ahead of traditional fashion media. Not to mention the Independent’s implication that bloggers are the ones that have “sold out” is ludicrous. Magazines have a clear cut intent to sell product and increase revenue, bloggers do not. In fact, many bloggers make little or no money from their blogs. And frankly, many fashion blogs are not trying to sell you a damn thing.
As many of our regular readers are aware, this blog is written from the perspective of people working behind the scenes in the fashion and garment industry. We cover issues of domestic production, fashion school, women in the workplace, and saving the garment center, far more often then shopping or trends. And we pretty much never directly address the issue of blogging. However, this week we feel we must give a shout-out to our fellow fashion bloggers who have made such a large impact on the fashion industry, in such a small amount time. In just a few short years bloggers have creating a new media. But to us, it seems like even more than that. We often cover the various professions and careers one can have in the fashion industry from colorist to patternmaker to designer. Recently we realized that fashion blogger can be added to that list. Like many fashion industry professions, bloggers are predominately underpaid females with a passion for fashion. The fashion blogger as a career is hard to define, but many have grown their own blogs into careers or have become professional bloggers for larger media outlets.
This week, aside from infiltrating many of the fashion shows at Bryant Park, fashion bloggers have flocked to the IFB conference. If nothing else the success of IFB (Independent Fashion Bloggers) led by wonder woman Jennine Tam, clearly shows the growth of this new outlet. The all day conference covering issues like marketing, SEO, writing, advertising, FTC and much more was quickly sold out. Perhaps it’s only a matter of time before these topics become curriculum in a fashion blogger major at Parsons? Aside from the tents, this was the event to be at during fashion week. For anyone looking to begin a fashion blog or expand the one they have, please follow this link to the IFB site for tons of info, plus excerpts from the conference should be up soon. This fashion week has made clear that fashion blogging is a growing medium of influence and importance to the fashion industry. So cheers to all of us for that!
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Topics: Blogs, fashion | 10 Comments » 
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February 19th, 2010 at 12:30 am
So interesting, I never really thought about fashion bloggers and besides you all, daily candy, and the fug yourself site, I don’t really read any. It would be really interesting to see it as a career path considering how print is dying off. But do people really have whole websites with photos of what they are wearing? That seems odd to me.
February 19th, 2010 at 5:39 pm
3 cheers for fashion bloggers… hip, hip, hooray!
And great job by Jennine in her efforts to organize the massive and well received event.
February 19th, 2010 at 9:41 pm
i love your blog first and foremost and second, i think it is so great that people have an outlet to express their creativity. when i was sixteen i would have been on the blogging scene stat. i am of the older generation (haha) and didn’t even discover blogs until a year ago. but now i have two blogs that are great outlets for me to express myself.
and jennine is a super duper wonder woman. wow! yes cheers to all the bloggers out there. more power to the art of expression and the technology to do it.
xxx
t
February 21st, 2010 at 1:01 am
Agreed. And “fashion blogger major” at Parsons? Wild; I never thought of it getting that far, but yeah one day…
February 21st, 2010 at 4:25 am
Blogging has become such a huge part of my life that I can’t imagine not being a part of it! Seeing the work of Jennine and IFB is such a huge inspiration to us all that bloggers really can make a difference and be recognized for their work!
February 21st, 2010 at 1:04 pm
It’s interesting to watch it play out. I consider my blog more of a style blog partly since I can’t afford the higher end ‘fashion’ designer pieces. And yes go Jennine, she is a wonder woman.
February 21st, 2010 at 11:23 pm
It’s so silly for people to discount fashion bloggers, as we are the consumers as well. Great post!
February 22nd, 2010 at 12:49 pm
I agree with Chelsea– we are the market. But not only that, we are serious journalists as well, citing sources, doing interviews, and opining to our heart’s delight. Blogging may be the Wild West, but it’s certainly part of our lives and here to stay.
February 23rd, 2010 at 6:34 am
Well said! I got really annoyed over the blogger backlash this weekend. I was lucky enough to be invited to a LFW show and absolutely loved every minute of it. By the time I got home on Sunday there were a number of British press articles slamming the bloggers for daring to be there and for pushing their way around. It tainted the experience a bit for me. Bloggers just bring another dimension and why journalists and writers should feel threatened is beyond me. Surely we can exist side by side? I loved your point about the variety too – I fall into the “older woman who loves style” category. Variety is the spice of life as they say!
April 7th, 2010 at 9:45 pm
I have to say, every time I come to http://www.39thandbroadway.com there is another interesting post up to read. A friend of mine was talking to me about this topic several weeks ago. I think I’ll send them the link here and see what they say.