The Bloggomist: Three Times a Trend
Fashion Opinion

I know the last thing any of you probably want to hear more about are those damn bloggers. The B word has gone from something barely anyone recognized to a dirty little term many of us would like to see deleted. I don’t think I still fully comprehend what a blogger is, but I supposed I do enough internet perusing and ranting to be considered one myself. And to be honest with you, I’m not sure I’m at all comfortable with that. It’s like the hipsters who don’t want anyone calling them hipsters. Irony personified.

Don’t shut your computer just yet because I’m not headed off on a blogger tangent, promise. Although this piece was prompted by a blogger, it’s about a larger idea than that. See, the Cut Blog (there’s that word again!) posted an article from Independent UK concerning the tension between fashion editors and bloggers and how the rise in the presence of bloggers at prominent shows has caused a sort of backlash between the old guard and the new. No one is exactly surprised by this, it’s like bringing a new puppy home and expecting the old one to instantly bond. Not going to happen. There will be growling, teeth gnashing, clawing, all until everyone finds their footing and gets reestablished in their rank. Same goes with fashion, I think all the name calling and eye gouging will die down as soon as everyone finds their place. Change is always a tricky landscape to navigate, especially when there are pretty clothes at stake.

But once again this isn’t the center of this column, I’m getting there though I swear. What the Independent piece brought up was that a lot of editors believe these bloggers are getting such prime seats to such coveted shows because they are essentially free ego massages for the designers. To try and break that down further we must understand one crucial point: most bloggers aren’t in the fashion industry. Although there are a lot of people in the fashion world who blog, the bulk of “bloggers” currently garnering press aren’t much more than little girls (*cough* Tavi *cough*) sitting in their rooms

Galliano and Tavi. BFF.

dreaming of Prada and Chanel. Singing the praises of things they’ve never worn, gushing about designers they’ve never seen, and there’s nothing wrong with that, hell I do that! What editors are getting their panties all twisted about is that because so many of these bloggers are not industry insiders they are therefore much more wide eyed and impressionable. Hence designers throwing a few thousand dollar garments and giving them front row seating ensures rave reviews and continuing adoration on their online outlets. What little girl from the middle of nowhere would possibly take a front row slot at Dior and not spit shine the ground John Galliano walked on? There are few, if any I assure you.

However what seems to be a little convoluted about this whole argument is that it is so blatantly targeting what most of the fashion industry is built on. Is this all that different than celebrities sitting front row or designers dressing actresses for the Oscars? And is it really so far from fashion houses having famous “muses” photographed all over the place wearing their clothes? It’s all press no matter which way you cut it, and although I’m sure editors pride themselves on being unbiased journalists, I’m not so sure every editor at every magazine has always been so pure.

What’s interesting to observe is the way blogs and blogging in the fashion industry has changed in the past year. At their inception blogs provided a sort of counterbalance to the often rampant you-scratch-my-back-I’ll-scratch-yours superficiality of fashion. Since most of them were removed from the industry they had the freedom to express their true (albeit sometimes naive) opinions with nothing to lose. However, since people like Tavi are suddenly rising through the ranks faster than she can change her hair color, others are getting the clue that the more you swoon the more you score.

Yet no one can tell me that there aren’t editors out there who haven’t done the same thing. The fashion industry is a tight knit one and there is no doubt that there has been more favorable press or opinions showered on undeserving parties simply because cordiality needed to be maintained. That’s business. A few years ago I spent some time as a buyer and one of the number one rules we had in our office was that we were not allowed to accept gifts from vendors. At first I was a bit upset by it because I wanted free stuff, but later I came to understand that by accepting a gift I was also making a sort of unspoken agreement with the vendor that I would watch out for them when buying season came along. Whether or not you think it will cloud your judgement, as a buyer you want to be as unbiased as possible and chose your purchases based not on your relationship with the sales rep (although sometimes it’s still a factor) but on the product itself and how your customer will react to it.

Serious front row journalism?

Unfortunately that nonpartisan attitude is a little more difficult to maintain in a part of the industry where designers and houses are paying your advertising bills (ie: magazines) and deciding who gets to cover their shows and who doesn’t. Sit front row one year and say the wrong thing, next year you might be 6th row or not invited at all. So where does that leave the dissenting voices, if there are any left? Has everything become so interconnected that we no longer have the ability to clearly decipher between the good and the bad? Or is no one brave enough to rock the boat? I’m not saying that we all need to instantly become critics, or that negativity in journalism should be championed, rather I think writers, editors and bloggers alike need to realign their standards. Make opinions based not on free clothing or publicity, but instead on merit and talent. Designers already pay PR agents to ardently lobby their creations, there’s no reason for journalists and bloggers to compromise their voices by being so willingly bought off and turned into little more than marketing sounding boards.

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Published on 5 February 2010 | |