We Feel This
E-mail
Mobile
RSS
Blogs
Trust us, you want these
newsletters.
newsletters.
ERROR:
- Please enter a valid e-mail address.
Click here to try again.
- ERROR:
- Please select a newsletter preference.
Click here to try again.
Get fashion on your cell via our
mobile alerts.
mobile alerts.
- ERROR:
- Please enter a valid mobile number.
Click here to try again.
- ERROR:
- Please select a newsletter preference.
Click here to try again.
Now..Now.. Now
Need it, want it, have... no time to wait.
Get your fashion, get it now, get it gone, Let us show you ›
We Blog and Twitter all the time
Check out all of our blogs and our Twitter Pages
Papierblog ›
Thriftychick Shopping Blog ›
International Fashion Blog ›
Papierdoll Quicklinks
| shopping | fotos | blogs |
|---|---|---|
| Thriftychick | Runway | Papierblog |
| Thriftychick Guides | Projects | iPapier |
| Sample Sales | Look Photos | Thriftychick Blog |
Archives
Recent Comments
- topshop to hit brooklyn come twenty-ten « JE?EMYDANTÉ: [...] July 30, 2009 by
Moda sul Web questa settimana | h-fashion.it moda fashion e gossip: [...] Fonte Papierblog [...]
Stylechica: I wonder why they decided
WebSnob: Formerly the Halloween Edition, now the I’m So Behind Edition November 3, 2008 | Christina Loves...: [...] Marc Jacobs (1991) auctioned
WebSnob Friday Has Arrived! «: [...] Marc Jacobs (1991) auctioned
On
October 30, 2007
Fashion Blogging not for Fashion
I was having a conversation with our publisher yesterday and he said something that really gave me pause. He said that the very nature of blogging is antithetical to fashion itself. The vocal want, need, have crowd doesn’t work for an industry that’s meant to keep the masses at bay. The analogy he used as an example was going to an exclusive club. There’s a big bouncer at the door and he’ll let two people in and keep 30 people out. Now one wonders, is the party that good if only a few people can get in? But the wondering causes the masses to stay on the line. At that point whether the party is good or not, it’s irrelevant, you just need to know; so you stay on the line, waiting and hoping to get in. Once you’re in, you might say, “oh that’s it?” You’ll never say that to those still waiting on the line because now, you’re “in”. The analogy might be somewhat crude and meandering a bit, but it is definitely effective.
Blogging is inviting, it’s for the masses. According to him, fashion is not. Blogging offers a comments section, fashion doesn’t care what you think, even if you’re wealthy. Fashion blogging points out the must have, the want, the need. Fashion wants and needs what it can’t have but tries to get anyway. So while I was waxing philosophical I asked him if he had something to tell me about Papierblog. He said no, we’re going to be around for a looong time. He was just wondering. I exhaled a bit and wondered if, just if he could possibly be right. Was Anna Wintour right in keeping the masses at bay and abhorring the very nature of the word blog? Is this thing of ours built for an industry too pretentious to recognize it’s own vanity?
Eva
Things change. And comments? Blog publishers, just like designers, can take them or leave them.
[...] fashion from the Papier Doll blog (new cover pic of Irina shown above) that I should share with you. I would love to hear what you [...]
I see fashion as a part of culture, albeit a rather niche part.
Your publisher apparently has a very “top-down” view of cultural production that probably is quite antithetical to blogging, which – you’re right – does invite the masses to participate, and encourages more widespread participation. For e.g., I’ve learned about so many small, local designers I’d have never heard about through print media. I think all that’s great, though.
[...] Papierblog breaks the fourth wall of fashion blogging and asks whether fashion and blogging are incompatible. [...]
[...] can’t imagine fashion sans French Vogue editrix Carine Roitfeld. » Papierblog asks whether fashion and blogging are incompatible. » Second City Style says no to knock-offs. » StyleBakery.com finds your fall look for under $60 [...]
But blogging about fashion or reading about fashion isn’t the same as having it. You might be in the know, but you still don’t own what you read about. And half the time, even reading about it doesn’t help. I dress models for our publications all the time, but when I get out of bed in the morning to get dressed, I still want to cry and wonder why I don’t have a personal style. I guess basically, my analogy is that you can give away state secrets on the web if want, as long as no one can read the language. So, whether or not you print or blog about fashion, it’s still all up to the reader to read that info, translate it into style and work it. The follow-through will never carry over to the masses, and thus fashion will always have cache, even if nomads in Algeria can read about it.
Blogging in any way is just a form of self-expression, as fashion ultimately is too, and self-expression always seeks an audience; you dress yourself fashionably, knowing what you wear will be seen and wanting it to be seen. No fashionista buys a pair of Marnis or Louboutins just so she can walk around in it at home.
I completely agree with the point erin-above made; there’s no wonder that with hundreds of fashion blogs and magazines out there, the majority of the people still can’t dress.
Its very interesting to see this topic come up again and again and a again. I don’t wonder though that if bloggers had what was perceived as taste by the fashion gods if it would be a moot point. We as bloggers are disliked for being hoi polloi but the medium itself is only as good as the messenger.
I don’t agree that fashion and blogging are “antithetical” – just look at what Rishad Tobaccowala said at the WWD/CEO Summit this week. I can see that certain parts of the decision making and creative process are still insulated within a few elites, but taste makers are no longer limited to those circles only.