faux pas in fashion blogging

No offense ya’ll… well maybe a little *wink*

I am writing this, putting my own self esteem and pride behind me, giving an insider’s scoop to the lucky (read ignorant- no offense! I firmly believe ignorance can be a bliss at times- possibly) internet-ers untouched by the blogging bug.

As we all know (or you might have heard) blogging, especially fashion blogging sites in the past 5 years have sprung up like mushrooms in the rain. The question is how many of them are even worth reading or following through on a regular basis? Now, believe you me, when I tell you that I for one am very much a patient of the same bug bitten community and might remain so for a long time to come. No judgments here, not even pointing a finger to anyone but if you are a fashion blogger (like moi) and feel offended by what you have read so far, I would suggest you hop on to another blog right away.

When I first started blogging (way back in 2008), I was uncertain of what I wanted my blog to represent, I didn’t know if I was going the right way and my whole aim in life was to get noticed by a major fashion establishment and write articles for Mode, Cosmo and you get the hint…

Only recently did I realize that I was only going to write or document about things I saw (at the mall, my favorite shops or like many not so financially blessed fashion victims, what I saw on the internet, posted by other fashion blogs and sites about the latest fashion shows) and somehow mix it all up while pointing out my likes and dislikes about it.

In the process I have learnt a few things. Mainly that my wardrobe is not the most branded or expensive, I do not revamp my whole wardrobe over night as the seasons change and that I certainly do not pose well for photographs. An evident result of which has been my postings being limited to sets created on polyvore with the most sincere effort to bring to the common reader or shopper a list of what to look for when out shopping. Also a mention every so often of my latest purchases, instances from my daily life that might depict some form of style or creativity in them and in general of what I look for and what I feel of the latest runway looks.

Now, with time I have realized that I will possibly be in the genre of bloggers that do their own little thing without getting too much attention from the public, the media or the brands but remain true to what they post on their page. Recently, I realized my site had a static following, my page views were average and that my blog didn’t seem to click with the wow factor readers of fashion blogs are looking for. In an effort to research my problems and find out the answers to the not so much growing popularity of my blog, I spent hours and days going through blogs and bloggers that seem to have been a year old or less, maybe at times a couple years old but hold a huge fan following.

The answers that came out of it rather shocked me with a sort of (I would like to say aversion) towards the whole fashion blogging scene.

The stats are such:

If a blog is super famous it’s either: a. very famous magazine b. a great insider in the world of fashion who actually attends all the shows and parties and has a brilliant public image c. that of hugely famous clothing brand d. street style photographers capturing true beauty and style or bear with me here now…
e. people constantly posting their outfit posts or worst f. people posting about what celebrities wore period.

Now, of course I am a bit jealous of their numbers (meaning page views, fan following, etc) but category ‘a to d’ are justified in my personal opinion. On the other hand, I feel category ‘e’ could very well be just an instagram account, why buy a web site space, why go through the whole pain of making a blog when you are only to post pictures of what you wore from morning till night. I do like to see you dressed well but I also feel like you are just a photo blog and are marketing yourself, sometimes not even your style or wardrobe, seriously you are not a fashion blogger. A ‘fashion blogger’ will document fashion, the society evolving  with or around fashion and the impact of fashion on the mass market, the way couture gets filtered into the budget brands we love to shop…etc…etc… but hay! That’s what I feel.

As for category ‘f’ it’s probably just fans and stalkers of that celebrity drooling over your site for hours. Or worst, its young teenagers who are struggling to fit into a size 0 and believe that the celebrities are God sent creatures of mermaid kind that look gorgeous effortlessly forever!

Somehow today, people like us, who make an effort to document global fashion through their eyes get lost in low stats, no comments and boring write-up? Readers have stopped being ‘readers’ themselves, everybody wants to see pretty pictures, your personal wardrobe and a fashion show that you do every morning before leaving for work right outside your neighbors’  pretty wall.

The whole concept of I want to read this fashion blog because she always has something awesome to say about the latest fashion show, or because she writes with such passion, or that she does seem to know what she is talking about is so-very lost.

I have seen people pose in front of camera and mention things like ‘the lace border dress I am wearing- when it’s evidently a crochet’ or ‘this leather like fabric- dude! It’s called rexine or faux leather’ Oh! My personal favorite… ‘my sheer, windy looking summer top- honey! Do me a favor and please call it a georgette blouse’.

People don’t read blogs anymore that give an honest opinion about something, unless you have yourself all dolled up in front of the camera.

Has it really come to this? Is it really the readers who have dialed down their intellect or maybe just a wrong set of people are hitting the internet to go through blogs. Are the genuinely interested ones getting their daily dose of fashion from somewhere else? Maybe the likes of us are lost behind style.com and similar sites or perhaps it’s just ‘that time’ now when pretty sells and YouTube and blog are just a means to an end- to get famous and gather fan following?