Fashion Blog Celebrities
Sunday, October 10th, 2010
I used to read Teen Vogue religiously. I got all my fashion inspiration from those glossy, colorful pages. When I discovered Vogue and W, those magazines became my bibles, the false idols I worshipped while I waited for the bus. During lunch breaks and between classes, I was evaluating the cut-out dresses in Versace's newest line, as reported by Vogue's exulted fashion editors.
Now, my bookcase is stacked with nonfiction on the Middle East. There is a seasons-old Urban Outfitters catalog and the issue of W featuring Rebecca Hall and Jon Hamm tucked away in my desk. As far as magazines go, that's it. But on my computer, fashion blogs fill the bookmark bar. I want my fashion fix fast, from the perspective of the regular woman. She buys her clothes where I do and she lusts over couture designs at Fashion Week, but she's not sitting front row at the shows. From the scope of a twenty-something college student obsessed with the high-fashion world, but not part of it, these blogs make fashion thrillingly accessible. Those who read and operate fashion blogs bond over a common interest, and we get to share our love of great style with each other. Vogue made it inescapably clear that I was entering a world that I didn't belong to, but fashion blogs are accepting.
In a recent Forever 21 campaign, Rumi Neely of Fashion Toast and four of her other Internet-famous compatriots posed for posters in some of their favorite fall outfits. They were referred to as "Style Icons" in the spread. The label has been broadened so widely it's become trivial. Jackie Onassis is a style icon, not a girl who spends half her day on the Internet writing about what she wore shopping. I read blogs because I want to know how other girls are applying the best designer styles to their daily lives, but popular blogs like Fashion Toast have opened a dangerous gateway. Great, timeless style has to be earned; the term can't be applied to every girl posting pictures of Marc Jacob's latest show on her website. The fashion blog's downfall is that it's too open, minimizing fashion's role as a legitimate form of artwork, self-expression and social commentary.
I admit, I haven't picked up a magazine in months except to see how Kourtney Kardashian's relationship with Scott Disick is progressing. Instead, I grab my laptop and click on to Karin Bylund's blog to give me some ideas about what to wear in the coming days. The print models of my high school years are no longer influencing how I dress and how I think about fashion. These days I find myself at the doorstep of fashionable women more like me, navigating the fashion world one blog post at a time.
Now, my bookcase is stacked with nonfiction on the Middle East. There is a seasons-old Urban Outfitters catalog and the issue of W featuring Rebecca Hall and Jon Hamm tucked away in my desk. As far as magazines go, that's it. But on my computer, fashion blogs fill the bookmark bar. I want my fashion fix fast, from the perspective of the regular woman. She buys her clothes where I do and she lusts over couture designs at Fashion Week, but she's not sitting front row at the shows. From the scope of a twenty-something college student obsessed with the high-fashion world, but not part of it, these blogs make fashion thrillingly accessible. Those who read and operate fashion blogs bond over a common interest, and we get to share our love of great style with each other. Vogue made it inescapably clear that I was entering a world that I didn't belong to, but fashion blogs are accepting.
In a recent Forever 21 campaign, Rumi Neely of Fashion Toast and four of her other Internet-famous compatriots posed for posters in some of their favorite fall outfits. They were referred to as "Style Icons" in the spread. The label has been broadened so widely it's become trivial. Jackie Onassis is a style icon, not a girl who spends half her day on the Internet writing about what she wore shopping. I read blogs because I want to know how other girls are applying the best designer styles to their daily lives, but popular blogs like Fashion Toast have opened a dangerous gateway. Great, timeless style has to be earned; the term can't be applied to every girl posting pictures of Marc Jacob's latest show on her website. The fashion blog's downfall is that it's too open, minimizing fashion's role as a legitimate form of artwork, self-expression and social commentary.
I admit, I haven't picked up a magazine in months except to see how Kourtney Kardashian's relationship with Scott Disick is progressing. Instead, I grab my laptop and click on to Karin Bylund's blog to give me some ideas about what to wear in the coming days. The print models of my high school years are no longer influencing how I dress and how I think about fashion. These days I find myself at the doorstep of fashionable women more like me, navigating the fashion world one blog post at a time.
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