I began the Fashion State of The Union by saying I was concerned. Midway through Fashionweek let me just say I am still concerned but for perhaps a different set of reasons.
There are many reasons to be interested in fashion, issues that I have enumerated time and time again here on this blog. But I feel like a broken record every time I say it because I am just on repeat and it isn’t getting us anywhere. But I am coming to the conclusion that Fashionweek is not one of the reasons to be interested in fashion.
Final Fashion has said more than once that fashion shows have a limited amount of benefit as a promotional tool. After experiencing the shows at the tents firsthand I now have to heartily agree.
I am not convinced that I am seeing anymore than any other fashion blogger by having access. In fact, in some ways I feel I am at a disadvantage because my first analysis will come from a quick impact and not a careful study of the collection. I remember promises for quick runway review turnarounds and instant photo access but we haven’t delivered and consequently all we have to offer is our emotional response. Realistically that probably isn’t enough. All of you can see the collections up on Getty two hours after I have seen them and probably do a better job recounting it.
I, on the other hand, have struggled to find internet access, spent time agonizing over where to plug in my laptop and recharge, and generally spent a lot of time and effort dealing with issues that real journalists and photographers don’t have to deal with because they have a support system in place. In other words: they are professionals. I am not. I am a girl with a voice, a viewpoint, and a desire to communicate. Again and always I am still “almost” but “almost” has value.
Because I do not want to say that blogging fashionweek doesn’t have value. It does! I want people to hear my experiences if only to disabuse them of the notion that getting into the tents will be a magical experience. The only reason it seems exciting is because it is exclusive. You want access because you can’t have it. I don’t even have particularly good access, just a badge that gets me in the door. I can fight my way into many shows but too often the attitude has been we will just watch it from the monitor. To which I say no dice.
Many people involved in new media and fashion were upset by yesterday’s WWD article because the focus wasn’t there for many people that have heavily vested interests. Which is really a shame because I think that in time fashion blogging may grow up and become a valuable part of the fashion reporting system. But then again I can understand why Almost Girl was a focus in the piece because the uncomfortable picture I am projecting is of interest to many people. Other types of content that simply mimics traditional press may not have that appeal.
So does fashion blogging suck?. Well yeah a little bit. But it isn’t because we aren’t doing serious reviews of the shows but rather focusing inward on ourselves or the spectacle of the tents. To the contrary, it is because we are trying to be too much like the traditional press in our coverage. Because as Millionaire Socialite reminds us, fashion allows us to play with our identity and drives us towards new experiences. Fashionweek deals in a particular commodified form of identity with expectations, ideals, and pitfalls. Acknowledging this will only make fashion blogging stronger.
Thus I say I will not post another inane collection review about the colors, the makeup, or the tailoring of a collection. Let Suzy do that for you and do it yourself with the Getty Images. I will deal with the identity of Fashionweek and all of the attendant experiences that come with that. Fashion isn’t two clicks behind, but certainly still one, and even if it were instant I don’t know if it would be adding any value. Diminishing returns happens pretty quickly in the fashion world.
I think the emotional stuff does have some value, we like to read personal stories from the inside, just not a recollection of the shows which we already get at the big presses. I think its purpose is really to show that it’s ok you can’t get into a show, it’s not as great as you think anyways. I think it will help some ppl to think twice about putting on a show show or chooseing a career that is solely just living for the shows. What’s interesting about the blogs is everyone’s unique point of view, every blog has its own demographic, that is what makes blog different from big press. We cover stuff that a big press wouldn’t.
i find that delaying your posts is necessary in getting quality out of your own work……..but that’s me – but we both have a different format – I enjoy your friendly banter about what you’ve seen…..also, little advice on getting good net access….hint – seek out a primo wifi location outside of the tents, i know its hard to walk away from the tents…but if you budget your time wisely you are less stressed because you can’t get a good connection…..plus when you remove yourself from the hooplaaa you get more work done…..hell no I am going to give up my location! LOL – hint – think coffee!!!! AHHHH!!!!!!
about the wifi thing, you don’t have to post right away, you can get your thoughts down somewhere quietly onto a word document and paste it in when you are at a good wifi location. But conserving power on the laptop is an issue though….
“Other types of content that simply mimics traditional press may not have that appeal.”
Bingo.
Instead of turning your gaze towards the show, you turn it towards the audience… who in this case are the filters, the intermediaries, between the public and fashion. You can observe the structure, the heirarchies, the trade. Your story this week just got a lot more interesting. Looking forward to it.
If I were at the tents I would use a sketchbook or notepad and a cheap digital camera, and type up in a comfortable wireless spot after the fact. Other people are live – tv is live, there’s even streaming video on the internet these days. But you can actually live it, think about it, and make posts like this one that make me think. I prefer that over fuzzy, unedited “instant” content anyday.
I find blogging isn’t an instant thing. I think about it, I collect links, I edit a draft or two. I’m no great writer, I’m just a fashion student. As a reader I like to learn and as a writer I do to. I’m no genius so it isn’t a spontaneous thing. It took me a long time to write this comment.
Almost is what everything always is…
The Manolo he has crawled out of his sick bed to send you the words of heartfelt encouragement.
You are doing the wonderful thing here. So, do not let others tell you what you should or should not be blogging about, or how you should or should not be blogging.
The joy of the medium it the ability to write about that which catches the interest, be it trivial or profound, philosophical or mundane.
As for the Fashion Blogging, this it is terra incognita!
There is as yet, no right way, and no wrong way. We are all learning how it should be done, and there will be the mistakes and the disappointments along the way.
Ultimately, we must each decide for ourselves how we like it to be done, and then either find the people who do it the way we like, or do it ourselves. Happily, we live in the time when these things they are completely possible.
So, do not be discouraged, Brave Julie, you are doing the good thing here.
agreed with all posters above. i am sure very few of the attendees are actually focusing on anything besides their own appearance…how great it is to hear your observations from beyond that…
a global approach rather than factual.
Nice blogging
Danielle said it perfectly.
I am loving what you are doing. This is more interesting to me than anything else I am reading on the fashion blogs.
Oh, just buy a few extra battery packs. And my friend has a mini digicam that can shoot 1600 ISO (i.e. basically in the dark without flash). That’ll show them.
You know the old joke about NY1, right? They were called NY1 because they had, like, one reporter.
Just wanted to say how much I appreciated your openness and honesty here. Covering fashion week live from the tents is no small feat, and though you might not be getting everything you wanted accomplished, you’re still producing something of value.
While I do believe that fashion blogging has the potential to change the industry (and help propel future designers to fame, as stated in that WWD article), it still has a ways to go. It needs to grow up, it needs to learn, and it likely needs a support system. Julie, you’re at the forefront of those changes. It’s always going to be more rough when you’re on the front lines–it just comes with the territory.
All in all, I applaud you–and all other fashion week livebloggers–for really going where no other fashion bloggers have gone before.
I love the way I cover the shows. Humph. What is wrong with me feeling I have a voice equal to “traditional media?” I want to critique the shows, and give different opinions from, sometimes, everyone else. I think it’s nice to travel around the blogs and get different opinions. Some readers can read my reviews and then view for themselves.
Anyway, it’s not so nice to tell all the bloggers that we’re not doing a good job, if this is our view on how to do it, our way, our special, heart-given work.
If we feel our opinions on these clothes matters, then we should write. And we shouldn’t change the way we want to do things for a reason like one article. We can’t blog about the disillusionment we get, because we are home. We just see the clothes, or other pictures, and we do what we can. It’s better, to me, than ignoring it, for some would have nothing else to say. I don’t care as much for celebrities, parties, business… I want to tell people my view on what makes women look good.
/end rant.
By the way, I have no spell checker at school (where I am, now).
[...] The first mistake the made by the major fashion week blogging backers, Glam.com and Pajamas Media, was that they worked under a false dichotomy – the future of journalism isn’t a contest between bloggers and journalists, but is instead between on and offline distribution and accessibility. Like “official” fashion week blogger Julie Fredrickson said, bloggers shouldn’t have spent their time trying to recreate the coverage of big media and bring down the stogy old media stalwarts but instead contribute their personal, idiosyncratic accounts to the growing pool of coverage. [...]