Establishing Voice

Leandra Medine is one of the most prolific fashion bloggers that exist today. There’s no denying the power and influence she holds over the fashion community, as I’m sure you’re already aware. However, one of the main reasons Medine has shown to shine above many other aspiring fashion bloggers in such a short amount of time (only 2 years! WTF) is due to her unique voice and sense of humor. Medine’s dry, unfiltered comedic sense becomes extremely palpable through her fashionable blogs posts. 

Let’s examine one of her recent posts, “Precious Details” from October 4, 2012 to see how exactly does Medine exhibit her voice within her writing:

“And here’s the thing about Paris Fashion Week: this particular week tends ro set the tone for whatever will become it-trends of the coming seasons. Yes, the trickle affect starts here, well, there.

Unfortunately though, few vaginal inspiration was recorded.”

^^ Clearly the part about "vaginal inspiration" isn’t something a writer from the New York Times would write or the Wall Street Journal; however because Medine is writing on a blog and not in a traditional medium as a newspaper or even magazine, Medine can get away a lot more from the restraints of typical journalistic writing. Medine is able to be much more free with her diction, sentence structure, and overall tone. Medine often times marries informative and engaging fashion content (as we will see more as we examine her post) with her humorous/casual writing style. Which in this case, “Classic Leandra Medine” is exhibited by her choosing to use the word vaginal in this situation to describe the (inadvertent) focus on a model’s lower region when photographing fashion runway shows. 

See below pictures for Medine’s references:

credit: manrepeller.com

credit: manrepeller.com

A great point that Medine points out about “details” is how:

“Now, no matter how lovely a runway show could have been–no matter how immaculate the clothes, interesting the makeup, clean (or messy) the hair, nothing is quite as lovely as a strong detail shot. This, I believe, can be added to the roster of things I’ve learned from Instagram. Allowing viewers the liberty to mentally mock up an image giving them fundamental blocks: e.g. a dash of gold, hint of denim, is far more lucrative and thought provoking than displaying a full look.”

(Notice Leandra's use of a hyperlink above too btw) Medine goes on to dissect six specific shows (Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Valentino, Chloe, Celine, and Miu Miu ) she saw in Paris, and the various details each collection adhered to. A few instances where Medine showcases her more conversational writing style is when she inserts extra comments and punctuations to emphasize her p.o.v. such as “rendered a collective (three thousand people!) gasp.” or using Oprah’s signature phrase “a-ha moment” to describe a moment between Karl L. and Anna W.

Medine also shows that even though she’s funny, she knows her fashion:

Note how here she uses the word “minaudiere” as opposed to simply saying "clutch:"

“Season of the Valentino it-purse is near and this time, it’s not as much a handbag as it is a minaudiere."

She also incorporates her historic knowledge about fashion shows/designers here in discussing Karl Lagerfeld and Chanel:

“At Chanel which was–believe you me–the most extensive show of Paris Fashion Week, it wasn’t so much the beautiful bright colors (and they were beautiful) and some indications of a resurgence of trends Lagerfeld loves (see: his collections for Chloe ca. 1990 and the embroidery on closing looks,)”

Medine shows a bit of her fun and comedic sense in her writing quite literally, writing “hehe” and “WTF” within her post:

“I didn’t notice these red striped pants while at the Chloe show last week perhaps thus proving my detail-oriented (hehe) hypothesis correct.”

And 

credit: manrepeller.com

“As for the biggest WTF of Fashion Week: Celine‘s fur Bikenstocks.”

Medine ends her posts in her signature style, combining lots of adjectives (“bonafide hooker intimate” and colloquial language (i.e. stating “butt-loads”)

Seen here: 

“Nothing will be more relevant than a pseudo-lab coat with bonafide hooker intimate just beneath. And believe you me, it will make for a brand new strain of man-repelling and that we will have butt-loads of fun with.

Never end a sentence with a preposition. That’s a wrap.”

However, in another short post from October 23, 2012 titled “Contrived,” Medine continues to show her humor in referencing Britney Spear’s popular hit “Hit Me Baby One More Time:"

“This particular series of three photos was taken on a side street in the 6th Arrondisement in Paris last month and while I may not be able instigate your imagination as rigorously as I’d like, I will debunk the wildly brilliant and famous American literary rhetoric of a certain Brittany Spears.

For, what you see is not what you get, baby.”

credit: manrepeller.com

credit: manrepeller.com

credit: manrepeller.com

Medine then continues to describe how her seemingly perfect, candid street-style photos were not generated as naturally and gracefully as they appear. 

Medine’s posts always incorporate photos and hyperlinks to better exhibit her points and give visualization to her underlining ideas (as seen in both of her posts we examined here).

Medine is a fantastic example of how to portray a distinct character voice, especially within a blog format. However, just because Medine uses humor to showcase her voice doesn’t mean you have to do the same. You have to figure out what method best showcases your own particular voice whether it’s found in your word choice, punctuation, and so forth. 

Good luck! 

Blogger Profile: Aimee Song

Blogger Profile: Aimee Song 

Aimee Song- credit: songofstyle.blogspot.com

How many of you are bloggers? I presume maybe a few of you at least since you’re reading this blog.

Out of those of you who answered yes, how many of you earn thousands of dollars a year from your blog?

Now I probably presume none of you said yes. (or if you said yes, I apologize in advance)

Now how many of you have heard of Aimee Song? If you’re fashion obsessed or immersed within the fashion blogosphere Song should be no stranger to your ears. 

Aimee Song- credit: songofstyle.blogspot.com

But for those of you who haven’t heard of her, Aimee Song is one of the most famous bloggers on the net right now, having collaborated with everyone from Net-A-Porter, to Botkier, to Seven for all Mankind, and so forth. Not only that, but Song has been featured in numerous publications from Who What Wear, to Teen Vogue, and New York Magazine. 

 

Aimee Song - credit: NY Magazine The Cut

Not only does Song’s blog, Song of Style garner numerous press coverage, but her readership is just as large. Let’s just say if her Instagram is any testament to her followers (she has 395, 452 followers on Instagram), then you can only imagine how many readers Aimee’s blog receives.   

I think one of the reasons that Aimee’s blog is so successful is foremost because of her unique fashion eye and taste. However, the quality of her blog’s photos is very high, her personal voice is vividly apparent, and she consistently posts about 4-5 times in one week, not leaving her readers hanging for new content, but not suffocating them either. Aimee is also involved in all aspects of social media, manning her own Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram pages further eliciting new fans and maintaining interest for her current ones.  

Aimee is strong in providing rich content that is original, but also a personal behind-the-scenes look into her everyday life as she takes photos during her various blogger collaborations, travels, and simple outings. Here are few examples of Aimee’s versatility in posts:

1.     Video of Aimee at NYFW:

2.     Aimee with her blogger friends for Mango

3.     Aimee in Rio (shown via Instagram photos)

It’s obvious who Aimee’s main target audience is, Females, 18-24 year olds who are interested in fashion, art, or design but I’m sure there are some outliers to this general audience segmentation. I think that Aimee’s blog is a great representation of what not only a successful fashion blog is, but successful blog in general. She’s a great benchmark to measure my own blog to as she maintains a fashion-related blog providing readers with original fashion content, has a unique personal voice, and consistent in her blogging.These are all goals to strive towards in my own blog.

All in all, you should definitely check out Aimee’s blog if you haven't done so already. Be forewarned though—like the rest of the world—you may become a little obsessed.

Print vs. Online Media

Credit: www.businessoffashion.com

“It’s really not possible to get together in a room full of journalists anymore without having a conversation about the profession itself and the future of the profession,” says Eric Bates, executive editor at Rolling Stones.

Within the last 10 years there has been an ongoing debate on whether or not the print industry is indeed dying or if it will continue to thrive. Specifically, in regard to the fashion magazine industry—I don’t believe this is the case at all! If anything, this theory is more applicable to newspapers rather than print fashion publications.

Let’s face it, newspapers are just too big, too dirty, and just plain inefficient. You have to open up a near 2 ft. tall packet of paper just to skim through the stories and you all know the feeling of ink-stained hands after holding a newspaper for too long—not. fun. at. all.

So when exactly was the moment when newspapers made their biggest mistake? It was when they decided to give away their biggest asset for free: THE NEWS. I mean— how idiotic is that? There’s no denying that nearly every newspaper publication has a website now and pretty much gives away their content for free now if you think about it. But now after sticking to this method for so long their decision to backtrack and attempt to charge subscriptions for their online content is going to be a harder feat than it may seem. Also, because the news isn’t exactly a niche interest for the masses, but rather something we all consume and is pertinent to everyone, it isn’t a subject everyone would constantly seek out as opposed to let’s say football, basketball, fashion, music, and so on which are all niche interests. Therefore, the actual print-newspaper industry is fading away, because really—who wants to spend money on a paper copy of the newspaper when they could get the same content on their phone or computer for free?

So why do I think that print fashion magazines in particular will survive the transition into online media?

As mentioned earlier, fashion magazines are read and purchased by a large population of the world because of their inherent interest in the topic. Fashion magazine consumers are committed to going out of their way to purchase their favorite magazine whether it is anything from Nylon to Teen Vogue or W magazine—every magazine caters to a different niche group that are keenly interested in the content they provide. Further, fashion magazines are different from newspapers in that because their content largely focuses on shopping essentially: i.e. clothing, accessories, and beauty products… people want something tangible they can actually touch, fold, tear out, and mark-up as opposed to clicking through hundreds of pages on a website looking at different dresses, pants, handbags, or whatever the product is. I don’t know about you, but my eyes can’t take looking at a computer screen too long or else things just get ugly. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of people who do enjoy the online shopping aspect in having everything situated on their computer, but a print fashion magazine is unique in that someone can easily toss a magazine in their purse on the way to work, pull one out and read while having a cup of coffee, or read while laying out on the beach with your ipod on. Not to mention magazines are much more compact than newspapers and obviously the image quality is exponentially superior. In my opinion, hundreds of full-color glossy 8 ½ x 11 page booklet of editorials and fashion spreads— all carefully designed and written is more than enough reason for me to fork out $4 of $5 a month, or better yet get a year subscription for only $10-$20!

When it comes down to it, I love to hold, touch, flip through and actually feel my favorite magazines as opposed to clicking on a mouse through different pages. The experience is entirely different according to the medium and there’s just something really special about having a tangible magazine as opposed to an online version of it as it feels like all the hard work poured into it can actually be felt. But hey who knows what the future will bring, all I can do is hope print media is here to stay.

  

Instagramania

Instagram—the latest social network platform to infiltrate our lives has become a dominant force in how we not only communicate with another, but share photos. This recent billion dollar acquisition by Facebook is not only a tool used by everyday people, but especially major fashion houses, designers, celebrities, stylists, bloggers, magazines, and every other possible fashion affiliate you can think of. Marc Jacobs has one. Who What Wear has one. Jane Keltner De Valle has one. Emily Weiss has one. Garance Dore has one. Even Jessica Alba has one. Seriously, if someone in this industry doesn’t have an Instagram, you kind of have to wonder—they either live in a box or they are just completely detached from all things social media. Needless to say Instagram has garnered a huge following within the fashion industry and offer people something Facebook and Twitter lacked.

If anything—Instagram enhanced Twitter—yeah you know what I’m talking about. The tool that allows everyday people to get a glimpse into the coveted minds of major industry taste-makers and leaders, or just plain people we are darn curious about! Either way, Instagram is the new player in the game that now allows people to take a peek inside the coveted doors of these fashion celebrities using actual visual images (illuminated by a unique vintage filter) rather than just a mere 140 characters of nonsense  "genius."

On another note, have you noticed NYFW is going on? You must know right, how could you not? Anyways, like you and everyone else I’m assuming —I’ve been feverishly following the nonstop NYFW footage posted on every fashion related Instagram including Leandra Medine’s (often hilarious) photos to Eva Chen’s myriad of extraordinary backstage footage and Hillary Kerr’s up close and personal catwalk snapshots. It’s amazing how now, these once private and elusive  “fashion shows” have become so accessible through social media—but in this particular case Instagram. Within seconds of Alexander Wang debuting his latest collection using glow and the dark—I can instantly see photos via Instagram as though I was actually there.

photo of Leandra Medine on The Man Repeller's Instagram during NYFW, credit: The Man Repeller

photo from Eva Chen's Instagram, credit: Evachen212

photo from NYFW on Hillary Kerr's Instagram, credit: Hillary_Kerr

Alexander Wang, S/S 2013 NYFW, credit: Asos

Some may say that the mystery and intrigue of sitting at a fashion show dissipates by having so many media tools that allow real-time public viewing or even live streaming (as seen on some designer’s websites *ahem Louis Vuitton), but in reality—I think that social media tools like Instagram further promote a brand by making it more accessible and available to more people and in turn creating even further anticipation than if a collection only appeared on a few select sites like Style.com and not on someone’s Instagram News Feed that they probably check more often than niche sites.

All in all the Instagram craze has swept across the fashion world, and I’m pretty content with this new piece of technology. What about you?

The Fashion Blogging Phenomenon

If you told me 10 years ago that girls as young as 13 (ahem Tavi Gevinson) could rise to the ranks of high fashion fame—brushing shoulders with Anna Wintour and Karl Lagerfeld all while attending fashion shows for Marc Jacobs and Dior—I wouldn’t have believed you. 

Tavi Gevinson with Anna Wintour, credit: zimbio.com

Yet, Tavi of the "Style Rookie" is just one of a handful of fashion bloggers who are what we call making it “big.” Not to mention other fashion bloggers as Aimee Song of "Song of Style" who has been reported by Refinery 29 to be making hundreds of thousands of dollars through her partnerships, collaborations and event hosting duties, not to mention the revenue earned from the myriad of ads that appear on nearly every fashion blog nowadays. 

Aimee Song of "Song of Style," credit: songofstyle.com

And how many celebrities out there really have a collaborative line with mega fashion chain H&M? I’m looking at you Elin Kling (of "Style by Kling"). Or how about a new hot line at mega-fashion house Mango? Carolina Engman of "Fashion Squad" just released a line there. I think it’s safe to say fashion blogging has exploded in recent years, but let’s see why that is: 

  

Elin Kling posing for her H&M line,  credit: http://stylebykling.nowmanifest.com

A blog comes from the world web + log, but blogs have extended themselves to become so diverse that they cover almost every facet of life from music, fashion, food, and movies to politics, religion, and so on. But the way in which fashion blogs in particular have been able to garner so much attention and become an active influence within the industry is particularly fascinating. 

There’s no doubt that this new web tool has certainly changed the way we view street style as well as personal style. But some may ask what do blogs offer that professional magazines don’t? Well for one, they’re more personal. These are all individual people all around the world who spend at least a few days a week writing as well as photographing their outfits while they’re out on their daily musings. So why are we so obsessed? People have an innate sense of curiosity about what? Other people! And especially for avid fashion followers: we're obsessed with fashionable people! How do you explain our crazy obsession with celebrity style? 

Anyways, fashion blogs enable anyone with a camera, computer, and interest in fashion to speak their mind, showcase their fashion sense, and in a way—act as their own fashion magazines manning all positions of model, stylist, writer, photographer, and editor. There's something especially raw and special about this. It's not a team of 50 people shooting one model with an enormous budget. It's usually just the blogger or blogger and photographer working together.

Fashion blogs unlike fashion magazines offer an insider’s peek into the lives of everyday fashionistas and essentially offer an ongoing online catalog depicting real-life street styles from around the world! 

How cool is that? 

Today, fashion bloggers are being plucked from obscurity and placed in the forefront of fashion events, shows, and campaigns as a new “pseudo” celebrity due to the enormous amount of readers they’ve been able to garner and can draw in to fashion events. Although many of them are being paid to host parties and events, it’s much cheaper on the wallet than let's say tapping Kate Bosworth or Kate Moss on the shoulder for instance—another reason why they’ve become such a hot commodity.

So where is the world of fashion blogging going to be in the future? Only time will tell. But at this point—fashion bloggers have become a key integral part of the industry in driving not only fashion inspiration, but sales. 

So you better grab your camera, put on your best outfit and start blogging because who knows if you’ll be the next one to make it “big.”