One of the things I find lots of pleasure in is shattering stereotypes, in life generally and in my current incarnation as a fashion blogger. Besides stereotypes I’ve witnessed while encountering with designers and PR people , I recently noticed a certain pattern that keeps coming across in the press. It started few years ago when fashion bloggers began covering New York fashion week, continued with the FTC and blogging ethics buzz last year, and most recently came to a climax with the coverage of the growing influence of fashion bloggers in the mainstream press.
All these mentions created some sort of a portrait, that many of the industry people have in their minds when they think about fashion bloggers. I feel this portrait shows one very narrow point of view, while the reality as many of us know it, is much more diverse. Living in NYC and being lucky to know personally a pretty large number of bloggers I noticed all of us come to blogging from different backgrounds, for different reasons and while we do share one similar passion, the way we live it varies from one to another.
While blogging is evolving as a business and profession for many of us, I think it’s important to recognize the differences between various groups of individuals in the fashion blogging landscape and avoid the very comfortable stereotyped thinking, especially if your job is to create and manage online media relationships for a designer or brand.
Here are the 10 most common stereotyped statements about fashion bloggers could be found:
- Fashion bloggers are teenagers or people in their 20s. From some reason most of the bloggers that get press attention these days are pretty young – from 13 years old Tavi to 18 year old Jane Aldridge – these are the names we keep seeing in the mainstream press, but the truth is there are many bloggers in their 30s and 40s who rarely get the spotlight.
- Fashion bloggers are skinny, tall and picture perfect. It might seem to the outsider that most successful bloggers are models who never made it. They are pretty enough to post their own editorial style photos, they are skinny, and sometimes even model-esque tall. One look at the homepage of sites like Weardrobe or Chicktopia is enough to get an idea of the stereotype. The fact is we all come in different shapes and sizes, and that’s why I applaud my friends like StyleIT, who recently started posting her daily looks in a special column called On The Plus Side.
- Fashion bloggers are loud and eccentric. Some of the fashion bloggers do have loud and “out there” personalities, but many are also strictly business people, with backgrounds in everything from marketing to finance.
- Fashion bloggers are ego driven and attention seeking. Not every fashion blogger is a subject of their own posts. Most of us actually invest lots of energy in covering the industry, designers, trends and everything that’s happening outside our own persona. We do it because of sincere interest in the industry, we spend our own time and money covering events, researching subjects and looking for inspiration, just like reporters do.
- Fashion bloggers do it mostly for free swag. I’m not saying that some of us don’t have free products and clothes on their agenda, and I’ve also seen “cloggers” who fight for goodies at various industry events. BUT I know for the majority of us it’s just a nice bonus, and when it’s given we politely accept it (and disclose, of course).
- Fashion bloggers write from home, mostly in their pajamas. As funny as it sounds in 2010, I recently met a fashion designer who seriously asked me this question. When I replied that I have an office where I blog wearing more than a pajama, he was genuinely surprised. Sure, some of us blog from home or home office, but the image of the pajama wearing blogger doesn’t make a justice to many of us who are doing it professionally.
- Fashion bloggers love coupons, sales and discounts. While some of the blogs out there are shopping and savings oriented, majority of the fashion blogs are similar to the magazines in the sense that they are looking for newsworthy or inspirational content, and coupons aren’t one of them. Besides that, recession created a serious overload of sale events, and just because you decided to discount your merchandise by 10% on Tuesdays, it doesn’t mean every blogger “would love to share it with their readers”.
- Fashion bloggers love any promotional events, especially those with free cocktails and gift bags. Sometimes I’m surprised by many PR pitches assuming how little it would take to get bloggers to their event. They might not realize that in the city like New York these days bloggers are invited to cover several events every night, and they must be very creative and engaging to get bloggers’ attention. They must build a personal connection first. Sorry, but free champagne and goodie bags just don’t cut it anymore.
- Fashion bloggers are amateurs who don’t have appropriate degree or education. While not all of the bloggers have the fashion or journalism degree, some have relevant industry experience, or similar degree in communications or media. Many bloggers I know are actually working in the industry in various capacities and blog in addition to their jobs.
- Fashion bloggers don’t use judgment, common sense or ethics before publishing content. Yes, bloggers aren’t professional journalists, but this doesn’t mean they don’t use common sense when cover news, collections or events. They are driven a lot by their personal opinions, which is much more risky for a brand than any “objective” mainstream coverage, but on the other hand the reward is much higher. When influential bloggers personally rave about a collection or a product, consumers trust them.
So why do most fashion brands still fear building closer relationships with bloggers?…
I write from home mostly in my pajamas but thanks for the shout-out to the old peeps! 😉
In my day job I work in advertising and marketing and am starting several blogger outreach programs right now. It can be a time consuming process but I think a valuable one, if done properly. I'm sure there are some folks out there who give bloggers a bad name, just as many brands/PR agencies do in creating poor approaches. Both sides need to be better educated on how to work together. Living in both realms I see the issues and misperceptions on each side of the coin.
Love this!
oh now you made it into “old peeps in pajamas' stereotype 😉
agreed, but I think because bloggers receive more of a press attention these days the misperceptions are more noticeable…
Fashion Brands fear loss of control if they engage with Fashion Bloggers. If they pay for pr and advertising they call the shots. If they call in the Bloggers that's just too scary for them. This of course is a false economy. They need to engage with the Bloggers, bring them in to their inner world. Fashion bloggers are becoming more and more important FACT.
By the way I'm a 50 year old fashion Blogger and no I never wear pyjamas though I have written one blog in the nude!
i feel like a lot of bloggers just do it out passion. most i know have full time jobs in the fashion industry and are just aching to get their opinions out there, not to be loud but just to be heard and appreciated. can you blame them? i have a blog and a job and i do other writing and i do all of them because i love them.
This is an extremely well-written & valuable post. The term “fashion blogger” tends to have negative connotations attached to it within the industry, but hopefully you have cleared it up for fashion brands/designers/pr insiders, who do not understand how valuable a resource we can be…especially when exposing new brands/designers to our readers, etc.
We blog about fashion because we are passionate about it 😉
XOXO
I think the fear is due to a number of factors, many of which are mentioned above (bloggers in it for the swag, too young to understand how these relationships work, loss of control on the part of the PR), but I think it really comes down to lack of understanding on the part of bloggers and PR agencies.
This is still a fairly new realm when compared to traditional media relationships, so there will undoubtedly be some bumpy roads as we all try to work out our expectations and figure out the best way to work together.
And I am TOTALLY ego driven 🙂
As a fashion blogger, a real-life retail buyer, and full-time plus size woman, I find the blogosphere to be incredibly empowering, giving voice to misrepresented and underrepresented corners of the market, such as the 14+ realm. I consider my blog a pressure point on the industry, a challenge that says, “we are artistic, critical, taste-makers who are financially responsible for the success of your business and we deserve respect, to be heard”. I think more and more fashion bloggers are feeling the same way, particularly in the plus-size arena and businesses need to hear the call and respond well. It is a gift from your marketing population when they hand over their opinions to you, and that is what fashion bloggers are doing. Embrace that.
i love that you did this yuli! there are always going to be mis-perceptions of bloggers, that happens in every industry…but i think that “fashion blogging” is going through a big growth spurt right now that happens to bring all of this to the forefront. i guess i feel like i'm kind of outside all of this because i'm not a “traditional” fashion blogger, but to answer your question at the end, it all comes down to control – fashion houses have always relished the amount of control they've had over their brands, and now with the proliferation of fashion blogs, they feel as if they have none. the funny thing is though, that if they DID build closer relationships with bloggers, they'd be getting some of that control back, although in a different way…
Quite simply put, bloggers have a honest connection with readers and they really care about fashion. Many blogs are started by people who just want to share inspirations. I think this candid nature of blogging can help the industry because it truly engages people.
Old media fears new media making them irrelevant, this is particularly true in the fashion industry. And the music industry, but that's a whole other issue…
Though, for me, free champagne is pretty much what motivates every aspect of my life!.
I am a niche fashion blogger in a multi-writer site and am in my 3rd year writing professionally for this blog (as my shoeblog alter 'Galligator').
1.) I am 39 year old mother of 3 children all under the age of 10. Other bloggers on our site range from early 20's to a style-loving grandma.
2.) I am just shy of 5-3 and have been struggling for several years to take of 30+ extra pounds of baby and medication weight, but I still insist on being well dressed and comfortable. I still get compliments from strangers when I dress to go out.
3.) I am a fairly introverted gal who is comfortable with my retro-classic style combined with extravagant shoes. In real life, I take awhile to warm up to people.
4.) I don't see myself as ego driven. Rather, I am enthralled by fashion and clothing construction and love sharing this with others who also share my interests (since my family really never shared these interests, I involve myself with a community of like thinkers). I admit in terms of ego that I am much more eloquent 'on paper' than in person. I love it when a post gets reader feedback – both positive or negative.
5.) As a niche blogger, I rarely see swag. When I have done so, it has been in the form of product for review in which I try to be as objective as possible for our readers. We are just as likely, if not more likely, to try to negotiate a sponsored giveaway for the benefit of our readers as for any items for personal use.
6.) I do write from home, but that is a luxury I am afforded as a fashion-loving SAHM for the last 3 years.
7.)I love coupons, but rarely find myself with a coupon available when my budget is free for a coveted purchase. Will I pass it on to readers? Sometimes. But I receive dozens of emails daily and only rarely have an event so special it is worth devoting time to a blog entry.
8.)I am a rural blogger who travels on my own budget. I blog events from my own interest and geographic area. Our NYC blogger does the same in an urban setting. We make our own opportunities more than respond to invitations at this point.
9.)I've found it more an more curious over the last 2 decades that people are using phrases like 'appropriate education'. So few people in the greater work force actually wind up with jobs in their selected college majors that this always comes across to me as a bit of a snobbish diminishment of the many other ways experience and knowledge can be gained in a lifetime. Believe me, 20 years of business writing in the real world combined with avid attention to fashion designers, clothing construction techniques, fabric and color trends, combined with personal experience of past trends and fashion cycles make me confident in having an opinion and writing about it coherently.
10.)How to be ethical about opinions? I try to be honest without crossing into rudeness. I write original stories and sources any references. I strive to respect the copyright of other writer's online printed material.
I wonder if designers have a problem relating to bloggers because we are neither predictable nor easily controlled. I don't write content for consumption by the design houses, I write for other fashion-lovers. I know that a lot of our readers come to us both for information as well as for entertainment and I write with an awareness of that balance since the form of my writing is as important as the content.
Also, so many of us blogging are just 'regular people' who aren't in an expected demographic category that perhaps fashion companies aren't sure yet how to relate to us.
“They fear what they do not understand. “
Great post Yuli! As a read more and more tweets and blogs I find that many people and brand do have these stereotypes, especially about age. Tavi (although she is cute) seems to be everywhere and highly publicized from all sorts of major fashion power house magazines. http://fashionhodgepodge.com/young-fashion-blog…
You did a great job pointing out that not everyone is like that, but I can see how brands are afraid to trust bloggers (sometimes 9 years old) to share their views with other consumers. But this has been going on for centuries – word of mouth…except now “word of mouth” has gone digital and can be spread online faster than ever before. Whether they like it or not, its going to happen, so I can only hope that brands become a little more accepting and dont judge a book by its cover. 🙂
I'm a fashion blogger who has been at it for almost 2 years and these are all things that I think about a lot. I often feel older, larger and more mature that most bloggers who I enjoy reading on a regular basis. It great to hear that I am not alone! Thanks for the great article, I found it via twitter (clutch22).
Great post Yuli – let's here it for the fashion bloggers (well) over 30!
I'd love to be tall, skinny and eccentric! 🙂
Great post!
oh we all secretly do, don't we? 😉
thanks! I think it's about time we create “hot bloggers over 30” group 😉
thank you for pointing to your post! looks like we have a similar perspective…
thanks so much for all the input, very much agree with your last statement.. “They fear what they do not understand. “
The only category that fits me is sometimes #6, home but not in pajamas.
Maybe there is a fair number that start fashion blogging without any background, but statistics show that those blogs rarely last past 90 days. Established ones need a background to have something to say.
I started writing when I realized that pitches I was doing for my boutique were ending up being the outlines mainstream media fashion journalists used for stories (at least they included my store, right?).
ps – I do detest “blogs” that only report on sales, I have google for Pete's sake.
I think in Fashion PR, there is still a bit of apprehension because the magazines are sort of their bread and butter, and in many instances, the focus is so much on trying to get their product in various magazines, fashion blogs become an after thought.
Also, creating and sticking to a integrated strategy that includes fashion bloggers can be intimidating. The number of fashion magazines worldwide is like a drop in a bucket compared to the number of worldwide fashion blogs, and there are no rules or standards to help decide what makes a good (i.e. reliable and, hopefully, successful) fashion blog.
I think it will take time for the fashion blog to be properly assimilated into a fashion brand's PR strategy, but hopefully, if there continue to be honest, professional, ethical, and interesting bloggers the stereotypes will fall by the wayside and make way for a more interesting media playing field.
This was a great post. Fashion blogging is definitely a professional path that is often scrutinized.
Yet again, these are stereotypes. Who are you to judge and make these assumptions? Yes, of course most fashion bloggers are amateurs. For the majority, a lot of people don't see “fashion blogging” as a profession and that is where people like Tavi and Jane stand out among these other “30 and 40 yr old” blogs out there. They are young and their opinions are still fresh and curious. Ps I am very glad for Tavi's upcoming coverage for Vogue Paris! Sorry, this just sounds like a long tirade to me.
Great points! I get especially peeved by #8, #9 and #10 — it especially is frustrating when I find out brands somewhat 'shun' bloggers from certain events, however bombard us with emails constantly to write about certain promotions. Great post – I am sure it will make the lightbulb go off in some people's heads, at least as far as being appropriate when approaching bloggers!
I break some of those stereotypes and make one.
My background is (still) in journalism, particularly fashion and lifestyle.
I ALWAYS disclose and never solicit “goodies”.
I apply many of the journalism ethics to my writing on my blog. Basically I have to personally like something or think it has value for my readers before I write about it.
I am sadly getting into my late 20's and sadly again am certainly not model-esque.
I would much rather my blog be well known (makes content gathering/covering events easier) than me personally be “famous”.
But I do like to blog in fresh PJ's sometimes – one of the perks of working from a home office!
It's pretty easy to tell who to work with – ie. which bloggers are in it for the love and are actually influential – you just need to get to know us as individuals. Ask for blog stats from a reliable source (though big numbers don't necessarily relate to an entire blogger's value) and simply read their blog for a while to get a feel for what they are all about.
I break some of those stereotypes and make one.
My background is (still) in journalism, particularly fashion and lifestyle.
I ALWAYS disclose and never solicit “goodies”.
I apply many of the journalism ethics to my writing on my blog. Basically I have to personally like something or think it has value for my readers before I write about it.
I am sadly getting into my late 20's and sadly again am certainly not model-esque.
I would much rather my blog be well known (makes content gathering/covering events easier) than me personally be “famous”.
But I do like to blog in fresh PJ's sometimes – one of the perks of working from a home office!
It's pretty easy to tell who to work with – ie. which bloggers are in it for the love and are actually influential – you just need to get to know us as individuals. Ask for blog stats from a reliable source (though big numbers don't necessarily relate to an entire blogger's value) and simply read their blog for a while to get a feel for what they are all about.
Another great piece Yuli! They times they are a chang'in, so as more blogs become acknowledged as “online magazines” hopefully perceptions of bloggers will change and respect will come. The blogs are part of the “democratization of fashion.”
This was very good insight into the fashion blogging world. And certainly true–one of the bloggers I met is an attorney.
Yuli! Brava… I found this post amongst my usual Sunday reads, and I must say, that you are soo on point with this. As a niche fashion blogger in plus size fashion, I find it especially harder to sift through the noise with fashion pr companies that do reach out, as at times, I think they do not really know where or how to place me…
But to your stereotypes… I, myself hold an MBA in Marketing, have worked and am working in fashion, am a curvy.confident.chic. blogger, who lives in the Bay Area, always away from the fashion events (sadly), and I started blogging for the love of and frustration with not finding an edgy site mirroring my tastes…
Fashion PR houses need to be built for change and adaptive to the new social climate as if they do not, well, you have seen what has happened to the Music Industry…
I'm a fashion blogger who is also a full-time medical student. How's that for blowing a stereotype? 🙂
Great post Yuli! Your site is a gem of a discovery. Thanks for all the great articles!
I'm a fashion blogger who is also a full-time medical student. How's that for blowing a stereotype? 🙂
Great post Yuli! Your site is a gem of a discovery. Thanks for all the great articles!