As I begin this fashion blog I want to start by examining fashion’s relationship with blogs and bloggers. Those of us who read blogs know the power they have to seduce us with new ideas and entice us into trying new things. I would argue that most fashion observers would read three to four blogs a day to get an idea of the ‘mood of the moment’. What is a better creative start to the morning than the ramblings and observations of an impartial street savvy individual?
It seems extraordinary to me that Fashion’s architects don’t do the same thing, or if they do, that they don’t admit it. Fortunately this initial reluctance to accept new social media seems to be changing as Fashion Houses and Designers are finally awakening to the endemic twittering and tweeting that goes on about them. In fact they even seem to be encouraging it.
After a drought of interactive websites’, no three-way communication and zero interest in the Internet and its potential we saw a monumental flood of activity at the Spring Summer 2010 shows. Designers and their lackeys were instructed to tweet and blog before, during and after each show, giving us an insight previously denied. Some of it, as it always is was meaningless drivel, but some was gem-like and juicy in its revelations. We also saw a front row awash with new faces – the bloggerati. They were being courted and pampered as their opinion and proclamations have just as much, if not more, impact than the celebrity crowd. With adorable 13-year-old Tavi Gevinson of Style Rookie as a case in point; ruffling the feathers of the old and inspiring the new.
With ‘Web 2.0’ entering the dictionary this year and Fashion’s final acceptance of the Internet as a fashionable medium we have an exciting year ahead of us. The Autumn/Winter 2010/11 shows get underway in February, I can’t wait to see, read and feel what they will come up with.