Image courtesy of WWD
Fashion blogger Tavi Gevinson is at the centre of a major fire-storm kicked off this week by an article in The Independent by Susie Mesure entitled " Fluff flies as fashion writers pick a cat fight with bloggers". The story suggests that a number of reputable fashion journos and key fashion industry players are not happy. The reported preferential and in some cases reverential treatment fashion bloggers get from luxury fashion houses like Chanel and Christian Dior is starting to rankle. A tad one-sided the article does raise a number of issues about the changing nature of the fashion writer, whether that is a journalist who writes for a living or fashion blogger who writes as a labour of love.
Putting aside sharp comments such as "blogs have turned into little more than the mouthpieces for fashion brands' and "bloggers like Tavi at at the couture shows and being showered with all kinds of gifts' begs the question what has prompted the backlash?
Most serious fashion bloggers are considered to be those with a genuine love of fashion and who wish to share this passion with like minded followers. As well as being dedicated followers of fashion they champion new and emerging designers who tend to get overlooked by the mainstream fashion media. Their motivation is not to endorse a fashion brand in order to get invited to profile runway shows (although increasingly they do) but is to share with readers their individual and very personal take on fashion.
It is not surprising though that fashion writers might be feeling marginalised as they vie for readership with both traditional print media and online, considering themselves having spent years developing their craft.
It has also been suggested that Fashion Editors face increasing commercial pressure to get more advertising pages in their magazines. This can result in some editors giving highly prized fashion editorial space to those brands taking advertising pages. There may be some truth to this but magazine editors are only as good as the circulations figures and advertising sales they generate and the balance between editorial freedom and commerce is a precarious one. Most fashion bloggers don't depend on magazine circulation figures for their income nor are they answerable to an Editor for their livelihood.
Furthermore, bloggers are increasingly running commercial operations on their blog sites to capitalise on their popularity and position. By setting up on-line stores, utilsing pay per click adverts, publishing deals, this by some could be cited as selling out! Not to say there is anything wrong with bloggers doing this but it does move the goalposts somewhat.
Add to this the fashion industry like most others has a hierarchy and a pecking order. One imagines some embattled fashion journos who consider they have earned their stripes, not looking kindly on being usurped by a teenage girl from the suburbs of Chicago. Just a case of sour grapes perhaps but begs the questions is fashion blogging the media platform of the future and just how much store do you put by the musings of a 13 year old child, even is she does live for fashion?
