#GlamazonChat: Is Blogging Over Now That Editors are Accessible?

Wonderland Magazine Fashion Editor Julia Sarr-Jamois with phone in hand at Fashion Week

Glamazons,

We still love our fashion glossies, right? In the same way, we enjoy visiting our favorite blogs and there’s plenty of time for both. That said, I couldn’t help but cringe at New York Magazine writer Robin Givhan’s claims that the “golden era” of the fashion blogger is over. Excuse me? Fashion blogging is here to stay!

Eva Chen takes a selfie with Karolina Kurkova, blogger Aimee Song of Song of Style and stylist Heidi Bivens at Lucky FABB

Givhan rationalizes her thoughts by saying the intimacy once reserved for bloggers is now shared by your favorite fashion editors. In her words:

“With everyone from powerhouse editors-in-chief to creative directors and standard-bearing critics playing the social-media game, the singular advantage that social media once offered bloggers is no longer so clear. The same intimate tone, once unique to those initial disrupters, can now be found in the Twitter feeds of print folks such as Chen, Derek Blasberg, and Mickey Boardman. They live-blog while at shows, while zipping through airports, while touring art exhibitions, while vacationing. They un-self-consciously share from all corners of their fashion lives.”

She has a point: editors have adopted the social media sharing tactics that once defined bloggers thus blurring the lines between the two mediums. What she misses is that while methods of traditional and modern fashion coverage have merged, their execution is what sets them apart.

Joe Zee, formerly Creative Director of ELLE and Bryan Boy at Fashion Week

Bloggers have large audiences because they’re relatable. An editor may Instagram next season’s J. Crew shoes from behind-the-scenes but a blogger personalizes their coverage by showing you how to pair those same shoes with a skirt you already own.

Editors are also limited in how raw they can be when sharing opinions while a blogger traditionally uses little restraint to critique a new collection. Readers still look to seasoned editors who have paid their dues, but they connect more with bloggers who speak openly to their audience like they’re old friends.

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In addition to unfiltered intimacy, bloggers fit niches you don’t always see in mainstream media. How many publications regularly offer fashion and beauty advice that caters to your specific body type, complexion, hair texture or budget? Blogs like Gabi Fresh and Afrobella were created because the founders didn’t see themselves represented and they wanted to fill that void. That’s not to say editors don’t round up trends that work on everyone but there’s nothing like getting consistent style inspiration from someone who looks like you, and is a “friend in your head” that you can relate to.

Bloggers Eleonora Carisi of Joujou Villeroy, Peony Lim, Chiara Ferragni of The Blonde Salad and Tamu McPherson of All The Pretty Birds at Fashion Week

Fashion blogging isn’t over but the days when editors feared bloggers might eclipse them are done. The fact that traditional insiders have embraced social media doesn’t take away the need for fashion blogging. It simply provides a way for seasoned experts to keep up with the times. If anything, this wooing of revolutionary media coverage shows that multiple fashion reporting styles can co-exist peacefully. There’s room for all of us.

What are your thoughts, Glamazons? Talk to me in the comments!

xo,

Glamazon Esta Fiesta