Style Blogs the New Fashion Runway
As much as I hate to say it, the need for fashion magazines is sadly diminishing. Page flipping has been replaced by the click of a mouse as fashionistas and photographers have made it their personal mission to capture the best of street fashion and display it free of charge on their personal blogs. While we may not know the intention of the blogger—whether there is a desire to develop an audience and/or a following or they are a true lover of fashion and creativity—we can definitely appreciate their artistic eye as well as their continued efforts to comb the streets in search of stylishish innovation.
I spent some time perusing such fashion photo blogs and lost my way living vicariously through the people in the images. The journey began with a stroll through the streets of London and continued on to a coffeehouse in Paris, cocktails in Seoul, and concluded at a warehouse party in Tokyo. During my wanderlust, I was fascinated by how easy it was to identify with the subjects, each provoking thoughts of how to put a new spin on what already hangs in my closet. Inspiration and individualism lurked around every corner.
Style blogs are not only changing the way we view fashion, they are also changing the dynamics of business. Design houses are now relying on these sights for their market research as opposed to handing over heavy digit to local marketing and research companies with hopes of predicting selling trends. In-house designers are combing blogs featuring “street fashion” to spot trend themes in major markets such at New York, London, Tokyo and Paris and then incorporating them into their current or future lines. In current economic times, there is no room for error; designs need to be dead on and street ready. These sites are helping eliminate the guessing for buyers and designers, identifying must have, IT items.
Street images offer the perfect solution for the consumer, the designer and the retailer. It is like free advice on the current trends and how to style them, fresh from the actual trendsetters themselves. Pictures display a taste of the latest flavors of fashion from everyday to office to evening to nightclub. Your new stylist could be your next door neighbor, the guy at the check out counter, or the woman in line behind you at Starbucks—whomever steps up to the plate and is captured showing that bit of personal flair, allowing their personal style to shine that night.
TrenderBender, FeetManSoul
