Fashion blogs are

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in Reverse ...

s that cover the

fashion industry Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashio ...

clothing Clothing (also known as clothes, apparel, and attire) are items worn on the body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin sheets of materials and natura ...

, and

lifestyle Lifestyle often refers to: * Lifestyle (sociology), the way a person lives * ''Otium'', ancient Roman concept of a lifestyle * Style of life (german: Lebensstil, link=no), dealing with the dynamics of personality Lifestyle may also refer to: Bu ...

Definition

fashion Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fash ...

can cover many topics, such as specific items of

and

accessories Accessory may refer to: * Accessory (legal term), a person who assists a criminal In anatomy * Accessory bone * Accessory muscle * Accessory nucleus, in anatomy, a cranial nerve nucleus * Accessory nerve In arts and entertainment * Accessory ...

, beauty tips, trends in various apparel markets (

haute couture ''Haute couture'' (; ; French for 'high sewing', 'high dressmaking') is the creation of exclusive custom-fitted high-end fashion design that is constructed by hand from start-to-finish. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, Paris became th ...

, '' prêt-à-porter'', etc.), celebrity fashion choices, and

street fashion Street fashion is fashion that is considered to have emerged not from studios, but from the grassroots streetwear. Street fashion is generally associated with youth culture, and is most often seen in major urban centers. Magazines and Newspapers ...

trends.Corcoran, Cate T. Blogging for bags, "Women's Wear Daily", October 23, 2006.Weil, Jennifer with contributions from Corcoran, Cate T. and Moir, Jane. In their sites, "Women's Wear Daily", June 29, 2006. They cover fashion at all levels, from the largest fashion design houses to the smallest independent designers. Many fashion blogs can also be categorized as shopping blogs, similar to the content of fashion

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

s. Some retailers in the fashion industry have started blogs to promote their products. Some blogs focus more on fashion advice, featuring how-to articles. Articles discuss clothing fit, the matching and complementing of colors, and other information on clothes wearing and care, along with prescriptive advice on adhering to basic standards and recent trends.

Impact on the fashion industry

Fashion is a multi-billion-dollar industry that has considerable impact on the way ordinary people dress and present themselves and relies heavily on media and

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

to communicate the producer's preferences and

goal A goal is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines. A goal is roughly similar to a purpose or ...

s and influence public perception through various types of

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

. Fashion can be influenced by

social change Social change is the alteration of the social order of a society which may include changes in social institutions, social behaviours or social relations. Definition Social change may not refer to the notion of social progress or soci ...

and countertrends outside the producer, retailer, or advertiser's control. As fashion is driven by trends inside and outside the fashion industry, fashion blogs and other "

new media New media describes communication technologies that enable or enhance interaction between users as well as interaction between users and content. In the middle of the 1990s, the phrase "new media" became widely used as part of a sales pitch for ...

" outside the control of traditional establishment represent a

disruptive innovation In business theory, disruptive innovation is innovation that creates a new market and value network or enters at the bottom of an existing market and eventually displaces established market-leading firms, products, and alliances. The concept w ...

to the

social dynamics Social dynamics (or sociodynamics) is the study of the behavior of groups that results from the interactions of individual group members as well to the study of the relationship between individual interactions and group level behaviors. Overv ...

mass media Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets. Broadcast media transmit informati ...

and fashion

consumption Consumption may refer to: *Resource consumption *Tuberculosis, an infectious disease, historically * Consumption (ecology), receipt of energy by consuming other organisms * Consumption (economics), the purchasing of newly produced goods for curren ...

in modern

consumer society Consumerism is a social and economic order that encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts. With the Industrial Revolution, but particularly in the 20th century, mass production led to overproduction—the su ...

. It is likely that the

blogosphere The blogosphere is made up of all blogs and their interconnections. The term implies that blogs exist together as a connected community (or as a collection of connected communities) or as a social networking service in which everyday authors can pu ...

will have a considerable long-term influence on the industry, as the number of fashion-based blogs continue to grow, with increasing numbers of consumers able to create and modify the media that they consume, and traditional producers and advertisers adapting their practices to avoid dilution of their own influence.

From the industry’s standpoint

During the 2011 New York City Fashion Week, top-tier fashion designers

Lazaro Hernandez Proenza Schouler is a womenswear and accessories brand founded in 2002 by designers Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez. Based in New York City, Proenza Schouler is derived from maiden names of the two designers' mothers: Proenza is the maiden ...

and

Jack McCollough Proenza Schouler is a womenswear and accessories brand founded in 2002 by designers Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez. Based in New York City, Proenza Schouler is derived from maiden names of the two designers' mothers: Proenza is the maiden ...

, owners and designers of

Proenza Schouler Proenza Schouler is a womenswear and accessories brand founded in 2002 by designers Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez. Based in New York City, Proenza Schouler is derived from maiden names of the two designers' mothers: Proenza is the maiden ...

, were interviewed by Imran Ahmed, founder and editor of The Business of Fashion website. The two fashion designers were asked various questions from an audience of fashion bloggers, including their personal opinions on the effects of fashion blog writing, how it influences the fashion industry as a whole, and how fashion blog posts affect their designing and selling process. When asked about their thoughts on the overall effect of the fashion blogs, McCollough stated, “Blogs posting things about us, going viral, spreading throughout the internet… it has an extraordinary impact on the business”. They also stated how in the past, they would have to wait for three, four days to hear a review on their line, but now the feedback comes almost instantly. When asked about how the blogs directly affect their own designs, they explained that while they do read numerous blogs daily, they try to take each criticism, positive or negative, with a grain of salt, “We try not to obsess over it” stated McCollough. Founder of Independent Fashion Blogger (IFB) Jennine Jacob stated how thrilled she was to get the validation from high-end fashion designers such as

. Imran Amed stated that there will always be designers and editors that will never fully wrap their head on the huge impact fashion blogging and

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social me ...

has on the industry, but on the other side of the spectrum, there are numerous

designers A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...

editors Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, or ...

, branders, and writers that do understand and are “coming on board”. He also states that this is a fairly new phenomenon that will take time for the fashion world to reap the full benefits. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' "Style" section writer, Eric Wilson, did an extensive study on the impact of fashion bloggers on the fashion industry for one of his style columns. Wilson wrote that these bloggers have ascended "from the nosebleed seats to the front row" in the past year and that the divide between the "high code" editors with a professional opinion and the "amateur" fashion bloggers is beginning to disintegrate. Wilson interviewed prominent publicists, editors, and designers. Publicist

Kelly Cutrone Kelly Cutrone (born Kelly Blanding circa 1965) is an American publicist, television personality and author. Early life and career beginnings Kelly Cutrone was born and raised in Camillus, New York. Cutrone graduated from Syracuse University in 1 ...

stated that over the past two years, there has been a complete change in who is writing about fashion. Not only does Cutrone say she needs to keep a watch on the editors of mainstream writings, such as

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

and

Elle ''Elle'' (stylized ''ELLE'') is a worldwide women's magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, together with culture, society and lifestyle. The title means "she" or "her" in French. ''Elle'' is considered the w ...

, but now she needs to monitor on the millions of fashion bloggers around the world. Cutrone goes on the later state that once these bloggers post anything on the internet, it never comes off, and it now becomes the first thing that the designers will see.

From a reader’s standpoint

The blogosphere has opened up many doors for the fashion industry, one of which is allowing the ordinary people to partake in the "elite" fashion world and discuss their likes and dislikes on the way fashion is presented in the media. In 2008, the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made ...

winning fashion writer and former blogger Robin Givhan claimed that fashion blogs had democratized the fashion industry. Givhan had also written in

Harper's Bazaar ''Harper's Bazaar'' is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. It was first published in New York City on November 2, 1867, as the weekly ''Harper's Bazar''. ''Harper's Bazaar'' is published by Hearst and considers itself to be the ...

that "The rise of the fashion blogger has evolved ashionfrom an aristocratic business dominated by omnipotent designers into a democratic one in which everyone has access to stylistic clothes...the average people, too often estranged from fashion, is not taking ownership of it". A similar statement was said by Constance White, the style director for

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became ...

and former fashion journalist, saying that the impact of the fashion blogosphere has allowed the whole population to take ownership of the fashion world, including people of all different races, genders, and social standings. Unlike fashion-focused magazines and television shows, fashion blogs are able to be updated more frequently, keeping up to date with the new and up-and-coming fashion trends.

From an advertising standpoint

Many of these fashion blogs also serve as a source of

advertisement Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

for both designers and fashion retail stores. These advertisements have had a heavy influence on

fashion designers Fashion design is the art of applying design, aesthetics, clothing construction and natural beauty to clothing and its accessories. It is influenced by culture and different trends, and has varied over time and place. "A fashion designer creates ...

of various standings, helping to give a name to small up-and-coming designers as well as bringing high-end designers back to life. Many of the top fashion bloggers are said to have received free samples of the designer pieces that they have mentioned in their blogs and some top fashion bloggers got paid for wearing and publishing a brand name product on their Instagram account.http://racked.com/archives/2014/06/12/bryanboy-on-blogging-salaries-100000-is-not-enough.php , "Random Fashion Blogger from Utah Makes $1 Million a Year", June 12, 2014. Accessed October 4, 2014. In a study conducted through the Biz360 Community, it was found that over 53% of the New York City Fashion Week converge had come from online articles and fashion blogs. While a vast portion of what was written in these blogs came from various mainstream fashion resource magazine and newspaper articles, such as Coutorture and

New York Magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, and with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker' ...

, these fashion blogs provided a larger viewing and reading audience for the fashion week. In the past years,

American Express American Express Company (Amex) is an American multinational corporation, multinational corporation specialized in payment card industry, payment card services headquartered at 200 Vesey Street in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Man ...

has become increasingly involved in New York City Fashion Week, and in 2010 American Express sponsored Evolving Influence, the first international bloggers' conference in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. During the conference, many surveys and studies took place about the usefulness and tactics used in fashion blogs. During the study, it was found that bloggers are more comfortable reporting in real-time and incorporating social tools in their opinions of runway trends and designers. After Fashion Week, it was found that 6.37% of all articles written about or related to Fashion Week had mentioned the Evolving Influence main sponsor, American Express. These blogs were not directly paid to mention American Express, so they served as a free source of advertisement for American Express.

Number of fashion blogs

There is considerable disagreement regarding the number of fashion blogs in existence. In a February 2006 ''Women's Wear Daily'' article, Corcoran stated:

There is an enormous, and growing, number of fashion and shopping-related blogs: about 2 million, according to Technorati Inc., ..or slightly less than 10 percent of the 27 million blogs the company tracks. (That number includes blogs in languages that use the
Roman alphabet The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered with the exception of extensions (such as diacritics), it used to write English and the o ...
and that contain anything fashion-related, including sites such as ''Pink Is the New Blog'', which focuses on celebrities.)Corcoran, Cate T. The blogs that took over the tents, "Women's Wear Daily", February 6, 2006.

It is likely that this figure is inflated by a substantial number of personal blogs that mention fashion. These are not considered fashion blogs using the criteria above. All other estimates of the popularity of fashion blogs are considerably lower. In September 2005, La Ferla stated that "as little as a year ago, the number of ashion bloggerscould be counted in the dozens. Today there are hundreds".La Ferla, Ruth
"Online, Feisty Critics"
The New York Times, September 8, 2005. Accessed November 24, 2006. Lara Zamiatin estimated in November 2006 that there are now "several hundred fashion blogs".Zamiatin, Lara

"Sydney Morning Herald", July 27, 2006. Accessed November 24, 2006. In March 2019, UK-based communications technology company Vuelio released a blogging industry report

white paper A white paper is a report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. A white paper ...

containing

longitudinal survey A longitudinal study (or longitudinal survey, or panel study) is a research design that involves repeated observations of the same variables (e.g., people) over short or long periods of time (i.e., uses longitudinal data). It is often a type of ob ...

data (collected annually 2016-2018) and subsequent analysis. The top five blog categories were identified as: Fashion & Beauty, Lifestyle, Parenting, Food & Drink and Travel. In fact, these five "supersectors" collectively on average accounted for two-thirds of all blogs. A key finding was a marked decrease in Fashion & Beauty category blogs over this three-year period. As a percentage of all blogs, Fashion & Beauty was reported at the following levels per year: 22% in 2016, 13% in 2017, and 8% in 2018.

“ ashion & Beautyhas seen the biggest drop in number of blogs from 2016, and as this category is most likely to attract between 1,000 – 10,000 unique visitors per month (medium size), it suggests that the market for this topic is in decline.”

Types of fashion blogs

By writer's expertise

Fashion blogs may be written by insiders, outsiders, or aspiring insiders. ''Insiders'' are people who work or have previously worked in the fashion industry or for the traditional fashion media. In addition, some fashion insiders write occasionally as guest bloggers on larger sites. For example, the fashion designer

Nanette Lepore Nanette is a feminine given name. By 2013, the name was considered to be on the verge of extinction in the United States; it had been among the top 1000 baby names until 1977, and had reached a peak in usage in 1956. Notable people with the name i ...

has contributed to Glam.com. ''Outsiders'' are people who know a lot (or at least have strong opinions) about fashion, usually by virtue of being very dedicated consumers of fashion. ''Aspiring insiders'' are people who want to work in the fashion industry or media and believe their blog may provide a "back door" entry into a mainstream fashion writing job.

By ownership

Fashion blogs may be owned either by individuals or by companies. The types of individuals running fashion blogs are listed above. The types of companies now running fashion blogs include large mainstream media organizations and fashion retailers.

Condé Nast Publications Condé is a French place name and personal name. It is ultimately derived from a Celtic word, "Condate", meaning "confluence" (of two rivers) - from which was derived the Romanised form "Condatum", in use during the Roman period, and thence to t ...

is a mainstream media organization with fashion blogs. Fashion retailers with blogs include Bluefly, Queen of Suburbia, and

Splendora Splendora was an American all-female alternative rock band from New York City. Formed in 1993 by Janet Wygal (lead vocals, guitar), Tricia Wygal (lead vocals, bass), Delissa Santos (drums), Cindy Brolsma (cello), and Jennifer Richardson (violin ...

History

Fashion blogs first appeared in the blogosphere prior to 2002.Sinclair, Jenny
Fashion blogs
"The Age", October 17, 2002. Accessed November 18, 2006. Both the number of fashion blogs and the number of media mentions of fashion blogs has grown considerably since then. Published accounts of the growing number of fashion blogs are mentioned above, and a Facteva search reveals that media articles mentioning "fashion blogs" grew from one in 2002 to over 100 in 2006. In 2006, the commercial success and growing profile of the fashion bloggers were the two main themes in the coverage of fashion blogs. In 2009, CNN wrote about a blogger, Rumi Neely of Fashion Toast, who went from a small website to the runway for a popular label.

Early fashion blogs

Fashion blogs first appeared in the blogosphere prior to 2002, and Kathryn Finney, founder of Budget Fashionista, was invited to

New York Fashion Week New York Fashion Week (NYFW), held in February and September of each year, is a semi-annual series of events in Manhattan typically spanning 7–9 days when international fashion collections are shown to buyers, the press, and the general pub ...

as early as September 2003; a short time later, Fashiontribes.com was being seated fourth row at shows like

Bill Blass William Ralph Blass (June 22, 1922 – June 12, 2002) was an American fashion designer. He was the recipient of many fashion awards, including seven Coty Awards and the Fashion Institute of Technology's Lifetime Achievement Award (1999). Early ...

. Paris-based American fashion blogger

Diane Pernet Diane Pernet is a Paris-based American-born international fashion blogger and critic and founder of the international ASVOFF (A Shaded View on Fashion Film) festival. Education and early career Pernet was born in Washington, D.C. on October 8, ...

, founder of ''A Shaded View on Fashion'', has been called "the original style blogger" by ''

'' and has been a fashion blogger since 2005. In 2004, Bryan Grey-Yambao founded his namesake blog Bryanboy. He helped set the standards for designer “gifting” and disclosure of same in the fashion blogosphere, an arena where it is currently considered acceptable for a blogger to take international airfare, accommodation, designer goods and sometimes even celebrity-style appearance fees from the major brands they cover. By 2008, Tina Craig and Kelly Cook of Bag Snob.com were seated second row at shows like

Diane von Furstenberg Diane may refer to: People *Diane (given name) Film * ''Diane'' (1929 film), a German silent film * ''Diane'' (1956 film), a historical drama film starring Lana Turner * ''Diane'' (2017 film), a mystery film directed by Michael Mongillo * ''D ...

and Oscar de la Renta.Dodes, Rachel
"Bloggers get under the tent"
The Wall Street Journal, September 12, 2006. Accessed November 18, 2006. The fashion blogs that attracted media attention in 2002 include two that are still in existence: LookOnline Daily Fashion Report and She She Me. In 2004, Michelle Madhok introduced SheFinds.com, "an online shopping publication". By 2005, the site earned $300,000 per year, although most of that revenue went towards running expenses and Madhok paid herself just $40,000 per year.Tahmincioglu, Eve
When the Boss Is Last in Line for a Paycheck
The New York Times, March 22, 2007. Accessed May 29, 2008.

Mainstream media acceptance of fashion blogging

Fashion blogs are increasingly becoming a part of the mainstream fashion press. An increasing number of fashion bloggers were invited to designers' fashion shows in 2006 compared to previous years. Large advertisers like H&M and Gap have bought advertising on fashion blogs, and other large companies like the underwear-maker Jockey are targeting fashion blogs in their PR efforts. Many big media organizations have started fashion blogs and the best fashion bloggers are now also being offered mainstream media positions. Fashion blogging is also now regarded as worthy of mainstream media coverage. The reference list below shows the media publications that have written about fashion blogs. These publications include ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', ''The New York Times'', ''

Fast Company ''Fast Company'' is a monthly American business magazine published in print and online that focuses on technology, business, and design. It publishes six print issues per year. History ''Fast Company'' was launched in November 1995 by Alan Web ...

'' and ''The Sydney Morning Herald''.

Commercialization of fashion blogging

Fashion blogging is rapidly becoming a highly profitable new media business, with a mixture of independent blogs and well-funded fashion blog networks competing to dominate the space. Other commercially successful independent fashion blogs include Budget Fashionista, which reportedly brings in $600,000 a year in revenue and The Bag Snob, which "generates a six-figure income, mainly from advertising". By 2008 SheFinds.com was generating $400,000 in revenue per year. Personal style bloggers like Aimee Song from SongofStyle.com has told WWD that she gets paid anywhere from a couple thousand to $50,000 dollars for hosting an event or Instagramming a brand. There have also been a series of business deals that have brought serious investor money into the fashion blogging space. These include: * October 2006: Sugar Publishing Inc. raised Series A funding from legendary venture capital firm Sequoia to a rumored value of $5 million.Arrington, Michael
"Sequoia Invests in Blog Network Sugar Publishing"
TechCrunch, October 16, 2006. Accessed October 13, 2007. Sugar's small blog network includes FabSugar, a fashion blog. * November 2006: Glam.com raised $18.5 million in Series C venture capital from a consortium led by Duff Ackerman & Goodrich Ventures, with other investors including "Draper Fisher Jurvetson, which helped launch eBay, Accel Partners, an investor in Facebook, as well as WaldenVC and Information Capital".Schachter, Ken
"Glam Media Fashionistas Get $18.5M"
, Red Herring, 14 December 2006. Accessed October 13, 2007. * October 2007: Sugar Publishing purchased early fashion blog network Coutorture Media for an undisclosed sum.McCarthy, Caroline

CNET news.com, October 9, 2007. Accessed October 13, 2007.

References

{{Fashion Blogs by subject Fashion journalism Street fashion