Friday, November 16, 2012
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Friday, October 12, 2012
Saturday, October 6, 2012
W-H-A-T??????????
Front Row Fashion Bloggers | Photo: Yvan Rodic, Facehunter
Today, in a guest Op-Ed piece, Jennine Jacob, founder of Independent Fashion Bloggers, exposes a transparency problem that threatens the future of the business of blogging.
NEW YORK, United States — Old media often seems to portray fashion bloggers as publishers gone rogue: online personalities thirsting for free product or paid public appearances. Ruth La Ferla’s recent piece in The New York Times, “New York Fashion Week Street Style Is Often a Billboard for Brands,” suggests that it’s common practice for bloggers to accept payments from designer brands in return for wearing their product at fashion week with the goal of being shot by street style photographers.
Numerous media outlets picked up the story. But when pressed, several people who were interviewed for the original article denied having first hand knowledge of an actual, specific instance in which a brand had paid a blogger to wear its products for the purpose of being photographed for street style sites.
Nonetheless, many people believed that the activities depicted in the story could very well be true. Evidence or not, they sounded plausible enough. More that anything, I think this points to the fact that fashion bloggers have a serious transparency problem. They are far too hush-hush about the business side of blogging, which can lead people to assume the worst.
Bloggers need to generate income. Brands need to reach consumers. Partnerships are natural. And when a partnership between brand and blogger is successful, it can work wonders for both parties. The Man Repeller’s collaboration with Gryphon and From Me to You’s work with Tiffany, Veuve Clicquot and Oscar de La Renta come to mind.
Indeed, for me, the critical issue surfaced by La Ferla’s piece isn’t that bloggers are partnering with brands, but the obvious lack of transparency around some of these partnerships.
Unsurprisingly, many bloggers are shy about discussing the brands they are working with for fear of losing credibility with their audience. But if a blogger doesn’t feel good about disclosing a particular brand partnership or they fear a revolt from their readers, they probably shouldn’t be doing it.
Unfortunately, traditional fashion media doesn’t set a particularly good example when it comes to transparency. While newspapers like The New York Times enforce strict ‘church and state’ separation between their editorial and advertising departments, many fashion magazines preach these principles, while, in reality, adopting ‘pay for play’ policies that ensure top advertisers get favourable editorial coverage.
Bloggers often act alone, or in small teams, meaning that content decisions and business decisions are often made by the same people and true ‘church and state’ separation can be impractical to implement. Nonetheless, bloggers should strive to be more transparent and clearly distinguish between editorial and advertising.
Shouldn’t readers know if a bag a blogger fawns over in a post was gifted by a brand? Shouldn’t they know if a blogger was paid to write a post about a certain pair of shoes?
Thus far, perhaps not enough bloggers have lost their credibility to enforce a universal code of ethics around this issue. But I believe strongly that the community could benefit from a more transparent approach. Do readers need to know the financial details of a blogger’s brand partnerships? No. But the difference between editorial and advertising should always be clear.
Come to think of it, bloggers have a responsibility to be more transparent with their brand partners, as well. Honest campaign reporting, using inexpensive tools like Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, Hootsuite, TweetReach, Statigram and Bit.ly can help brands better understand and quantify the impact bloggers can bring to the table.
Ultimately, greater transparency with both readers and brand partners is in the long-term interests of fashion bloggers, because businesses built on smoke and mirrors can only work for so long.
Jennine Jacob is the founder of The Coveted and Independent Fashion Bloggers (IFB), a community resource for fashion bloggers.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Katie Holmes’ Valextra For Holmes & Yang Working Two Tone Bag
| Who: | Katie Holmes carrying a Valextra For Holmes & Yang Working two tone bag |
| Shop: | Barneys.com $4,350 |
| Where: | Out & About, New York |
Credit: AKM-GSI
Monday, September 17, 2012
Question: Would you like a Style-Guru for Men?
If you were searching for great looking “skinny jeans” for men, where would you start? I mean, really…how would you go about the mission of starting an undyingly long, and passively-aggressive hunt to scout out your best pair of men’s jeans? They would have to be in your size, and definitely fit the masculine physic, and totally take the guess-work out of being the perfect pair for you, right?
Would you consult an online “style-wizard” after recording all of the necessary data that creates a personal style-profile of casual, black tie, or anytime clothing, just for your favorite and essential things? Maybe, the answer is always, “yes,” but never who, what, where, when, or how do I find this style tool with digital techniques to find exactly what the style trend, obsession, or object of fashion desire (is for any season)!
Just when you’ve lost all hope of finding the best stores to shop from, and you are still waiting around for the perfect outfit to wear, don't give up yet because there is a Style Pilot navigating the online fashion wears to have for any man's closet!
Just think, is it fair enough to combine most of the world's most fabulous outfitters in one main place and establish "chic-at-a-glance?" For your essential wardrobe and style potential to become exactly the type of clothing you've always dreamed of, your style buttons have to be pushed to react to what it is you've wanted all along! If you'd like to give up unnecessary jaunts to the mall and heavy shopping excursions that make you jump in and out of your car, for tiny pieces of clothing that won't fit your budget or maintain your well-established push in the right direction, then give the internet one more try!
Locating your best looks are going to be only minutes away, because internet shopping has never been so easy! This new type of shopping site for men helps chart and find every stitch of clothing that goes with every fashion-wish a man could ever dream up! Getting every style recommendation displayed directly on your personal computer is a "no-brainer" after you have the knack! All it takes is a few short minutes of locating exactly what it is you wanted in a year-round wardrobe that makes looking good an inevitable journey of instant gratification!
The main reason for the above introspective look into the existing reasons for the lack of shopping inspiration for men, and how to re-trigger its fruition, can be a quest in itself. So, many designers and technicians have been enabling other types of shopping into the world of men's deepest fashion wishes to make outfitting an even greater success in keeping up with the dress code for ages to come.
If you are having trouble being the “online” recipient of awesome wardrobe updates and are always having style dilemmas, then make the click over to a guru of your own! Fill out your profile and discover recommendations to hoist your attitude and fashion confidence through the roof! Make any occasion a chance to hone in on the skill of internet shopping and become an instant style maverick with ease!
Just push a button and hover over to the best fashion designs ever made for men! Watch for any season, any occasion, and any type of style to invite itself onto your style profile and make looking great something you used to worry about! If you have a favorite guy in your life that gets a little bit stale when it comes to finding, purchasing, and fitting into great clothing, you may want him to have some help.
Regards,
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Double Your Runway Success with A Gallery of Supermodels
By the time the clock struck 7:00 on Sunday evening, the fashion crowd was ready to get going. The sun was setting and the weather on the Avery Fisher Hall balcony at Lincoln Center was perfectly breezy -- bring on the Zac Posen Spring/Summer 2013 collection!
Except that 15, then 30 then 45 minutes went by and Posen's show still hadn't started. "Divas," a fellow show-goer said to me. "Must be those divas backstage holding things up."
He was probably right, because after about 45 minutes of waiting, the lights came on and out walked Zac Posen's first model of the night: Naomi Campbell. Following her were Karolina Kurkova, Alek Wek, Angela Lindvall and the jaw-droppingly gorgeous Coco Rocha, who presented the finale dress, a creamy, multi-tiered bridal look, to an awe-struck crowd.
There were other impressive elements to Posen's show, including an impressive array of current modeling stars (Lindsey Wixson, Hilary Rhoda, Isabeli Fontana and Posen fave Crystal Renn) and a star-studded front row (Kelly Osbourne! Lourdes Leon!) But it was the Supers in all their glory that stunned everyone, particularly because one had said she wasn't walking Fashion Week at all.
Coco Rocha, one of Posen's most loyal fashion friends, tweeted last Friday, "This September would have been my 17th season of runway, but I’m sitting it out to film The Face. :)" But Rocha's upcoming role as a mentor on "The Face," a modeling competition series airing on Oxygen next year, didn't keep her nor her "The Face" co-mentors, Campbell and Kurkova, from Posen's runway.
Which leads us to believe that perhaps Posen will play some sort of role in the upcoming TV series, too. Fingers crossed!
Check out photos from Posen's beautiful Spring/Summer 2013 show and all his super pals.
Read more and view slideshow...
Except that 15, then 30 then 45 minutes went by and Posen's show still hadn't started. "Divas," a fellow show-goer said to me. "Must be those divas backstage holding things up."
He was probably right, because after about 45 minutes of waiting, the lights came on and out walked Zac Posen's first model of the night: Naomi Campbell. Following her were Karolina Kurkova, Alek Wek, Angela Lindvall and the jaw-droppingly gorgeous Coco Rocha, who presented the finale dress, a creamy, multi-tiered bridal look, to an awe-struck crowd.
There were other impressive elements to Posen's show, including an impressive array of current modeling stars (Lindsey Wixson, Hilary Rhoda, Isabeli Fontana and Posen fave Crystal Renn) and a star-studded front row (Kelly Osbourne! Lourdes Leon!) But it was the Supers in all their glory that stunned everyone, particularly because one had said she wasn't walking Fashion Week at all.
Coco Rocha, one of Posen's most loyal fashion friends, tweeted last Friday, "This September would have been my 17th season of runway, but I’m sitting it out to film The Face. :)" But Rocha's upcoming role as a mentor on "The Face," a modeling competition series airing on Oxygen next year, didn't keep her nor her "The Face" co-mentors, Campbell and Kurkova, from Posen's runway.
Which leads us to believe that perhaps Posen will play some sort of role in the upcoming TV series, too. Fingers crossed!
Check out photos from Posen's beautiful Spring/Summer 2013 show and all his super pals.
Read more and view slideshow...
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