Over the years, fashion blogs have taken the fashion industry
by storm, and they are a force to be reckoned with. Fashion media in particular,
has undergone dramatic change with the rise of the fashion blogger. Case in point: in
June 2012, golden couple of the blogging community, Scott Schuman and Garance
Dore took home the prestigious CFDA Media Award.
You know its big news when bloggers are given
recognition at an awards ceremony( perhaps the fashion equivalent to the Oscars), which honours American designers for their
contributions to the industry. Gone are the days when blogging was considered to be a mere hobby, something to pass the time instead of a creative profession. Certainly, it now seems to be regarded upon as something to be celebrated and not scorned or met with derision.
Both Schuman and Dore are creators of wildly successful street fashion photography blogs: The Sartorialist and Garance Dore . In 2005, Schuman picked up his camera and began snapping photos of stylish men and women on the streets and posting them on his blog. Almost overnight, real people became part of the fashion conversation that was once dominated by an elite few.
The impact is certainly a powerful one on the fashion industry with Schuman now charting and launching fashion trends viewed on the runway and seamlessly translated into the form of real people on the streets interpreting these trends in their own individual style. He has also launched his own career and made his presence firmly known in the fashion industry with two books on street fashion photography under his belt.
Aside from documenting photographs during fashion week in France, more recently, Dore collaborated with American designer Kate Spade, lending her artistic illustrations for a capsule collection.
How's that for success? We have shifted into a time when fashion designers are actively seeking out bloggers to set up collaborations, where bloggers are viewed upon as an asset to the industry.
Phelan, in her article titled The Evolution of the Fashion Editor: Industry insiders weigh in on how the job has changed for better or for worse aptly sums up the changes that have taken place in the industry. Welcome to the current era of new technology in the fashion industry where print magazines such as Vogue and Elle no longer reign supreme.
The audience no longer needs to pick up a copy of a print publication for news on the latest trends on the runway. News is broken on social platforms which run the gamut from twitter, blogs, to instagram. The fashion editor is not the only person responsible for piecing together editorials and photo shoots to inspire readers. Phelan notes that now an editor is not just an editor: She or he must also be a blogger, a tweeter, an instagrammer, a street style star and in many cases, a 'personality'.
Credits to a girl, a style & Not so Naked
Personal style bloggers are another sub category of fashion bloggers who have gained prominence in the industry and are the main subjects of our investigative feature. These bloggers post entries on their blogs as a form of self expression, commenting on their favourite fashions and trends. They talk about the outfits they are wearing (usually called what I wore today/outfit of the day posts) and connect with their niche audience in a way that magazines haven't seem quite able to emulate- on a personal level.
In her article titled Most Influential Personal Style Bloggers, Lauren Sherman lists out the criteria she uses to analyse the influence a fashion blogger has on the fashion industry and ranks them accordingly. These are the list of criteria we would like to explore when asking the question: What allows a successful fashion blog to be monetized?
She notes:
She notes:
- monthly unique users and page views
- number of advertising campaigns and endorsement deals
- Followers on social media platforms such as twitter, facebook, instagram, tumblr
- the type of advertising fashion bloggers have on their blogs
Despite all this insight into fashion bloggers and their influence on the fashion industry, the truth seems to elude us. How much influence does a fashion blogger or a group of fashion bloggers in the Australian context, such as Fellt and the eight power bloggers it hosts on its blogging platform have on the industry? More research ahead...stay tuned.
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