MILAN, Italy — Looking back at word trends, I think that ‘blog’ is one of the most used words these days. Everyone has a blog, it does not matter if you are a celebrity Fashion blogger or if you just dream about being one! In recent years, this phenomenon has spread out and has given birth to a ‘new’ sort of job: the blogger. Interestingly enough, the two industries that are mostly involved are for sure food and fashion. So, let’s elaborate in more detail these fashion blogs or ‘shopping blogs’.
Fashion Bloggers: A “blogging” trend
The phenomenon of ‘Fashion Bloggers’ has grown and evolved at a remarkable pace. Thanks to the influence and visibility that fashion bloggers have earned, many direct collaborations were born between these avid writers and important brands. The fashion industry has now realised the potential attractiveness of these influencers and their ability to support the purchasing decisions of consumers.
Consequently, the distance between the fashion companies and the public has been greatly thinned in recent years. This obviously translates into benefits for the brands that are able to exploit this potential with success, both in terms of brand image and business strategy. Not surprisingly, these bloggers enjoy a great amount of ‘support’ by a wide variety of companies while at the same time having the chance to increase their visibility, the latter is true for both sides!
The phenomenon of ‘blogging’ has also changed the approach towards fashion: not only from an ‘insider’ and fashion expert approach, but also from people with no expertise or cultural background in fashion who are able to give, in many instances, a more impartial opinion without direct interests related to the business.
Fashion Bloggers: A point of reference?
Whether they are specialists in runway trends, street-style photography or anthropologists of the fashion scene, documenting everything from parties to shop openings, fashion bloggers have become a point of reference for many young girls and fashionistas. I have to admit that I do follow some of them. During Fashion Weeks their profiles become a true reportage on what is going on at catwalks, parties, happenings, etc. I actually enjoy looking at their oufits and end up commenting on them with my girlfriends. Sometimes, I draw on some clothes and accessories bloggers choose, especially on popular platforms such as Instagram where you can have an overview on the last trends just by scrolling down the last posts.
Its influence
Digital influence is more than pageviews and visitors: it is what people do afterwards that makes the difference. For instance, when people blog about a story they have read for their own audience or share a photo they loved across social networks, the influence of a site and/or a blog expands, and can even grow exponentially.
One of the first fashion blogs to have gained a tremendous success has been The Sartorialist when Scott Schuman, founder and photographer, began this project around ten years ago with the idea of creating a two-way dialogue about the world of fashion and its relationship to daily life. He decided to do this through street style reportage and then he developed a real business by collaborating with important magazines and managing ad campaigns for brands such as Burberry, DKNY and Kiehl’s.
The influencers
Looking at the blogsphere, there are thousands of blogs out there, but some of them have particularly done well and are currently considered leading blogs internationally or in their native countries. Some of my favourites Fashion bloggers are: Betty Autier (France), Elisabeth Mas (Spain) a Spanish model, party girl and jet-setter who travels around the world, Chiara Ferragni (Italy) the first blogger who became famous in Italy, Virginia Varinelli (Italy), Kenza Zouiten (Sweden), Nicole Warne (Australia) I adore her style, she is always very colorful and elegant, and Nati Vozza (Brasil).
Fashion Bloggers: What’s next?
Since our society seems not to have enough and has the need to constantly evolve, a new form of blogging that is fast becoming a very popular online marketing trend with a key role in this ‘virtual life’ is video blogging (vlog) where people communicate through short videos on YouTube. These individuals are usually loved by million of followers for their thoughts, ideas, tastes and the way they express them through videos.
The way of communicating has changed a lot in recent years, what will be the next step?
