The New Voice of Fashion: Bloggers Taking Center Stage

Ashley Major

Columnist

For decades, magazines have acted as the guide of current trends in fashion, music and lifestyle. Controlled by the elite, magazines dictated trends, “it girls” and hotspots. Editors marked their territory in the front seats of Fashion Week and became the icons of every young hopeful pouring over the glossy pages. Editors, in essence, acted as puppeteers to designers, photographers, and those yearning for their monthly fix. But times have changed, and even the fashion world is becoming wired to social networks, leveling the playing field in how we communicate about the latest trends.
Although becoming altered to various interest groups their carefully chosen words, product placement and overly edited figures never seemed to fully capture the real spirit of those who thirst for the art and lifestyle. Nevertheless, times change, and a junkie will always find their fix.
As a rule of thumb, the “it girl” never reigns forever. In the way of the fashion world, the new “it” comes equip with a Canon EOS 5D, a MacBook Pro, and a clever eye. They can be seen looking strikingly stylish on the streets of New York, Paris, and Milan. The introduction of cyber-social networking and unlimited media output in the 21st century has completely cut the strings of many of our beloved puppeteers. Designers and advertisers now flock to the new sovereignty of the fashion world: the blogger.

The fashion blog is a relatively new phenomenon, relying solely on the means of technology. Their ability to update constantly and work without a generic filter allows them to attract certain niches that would otherwise be inaccessible with costly magazine publishing. Able to post an assortment of multimedia to keep the viewer interested, the fashion blogger has become a jack-of-all-trades, leaving subscribers and readers endlessly inspired.
The introduction of the fashion blog has acted as an artwork of sorts, scrapbooking a sentiment of that particular time in a myriad of pixels. In a micro perceptive, blogs have allowed the documentation of a certain social group or style of a particular area. Take for instance, Dirty Richmond. In a collection of posed photographs, its creators have made a hub of trends, creativity, and lifestyle of the Richmond area, endowing a sense of pristine to those gracing their archives. These photographs are then usually saved and reblogged to their subjects own blog, Facebook page, or Twitter. In this way, a specific niche of readers has been allured to their posts.

The unique characteristic of a blog is that it is not only restricted to those with connections, money and power. Now, anyone with Internet access can indulge in some self-expression. Social mediums such as Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr, have made it possible for anyone with something to say to connect with anyone willing to hear it. These technologies have changed the playing field of countless conventions, giving the voiceless a voice, and the artists a stage. With the continual evolution of technology and social mediums, I do not see this mode transpiring anytime soon. Bookmarking favorites, and continual check-ups of what their “editors” have to say is what’s keeping the medium alive.