Almost Girl

My dear Danielle at Final Fashion, one of my oldest and favorite blog friends, is upset at my blogging malaise. She can’t imagine why I am bored. Thus I have responded to her and added in a few other observations

The community I engage with is filled with some of the brightest, most enthusiastic, talented and downright interesting people I have ever met. They warm my heart and constantly inspire me.

But fashion blogging in general? I am really down on it right now because frankly I barely recognize it from two years ago. It has gotten fawning again. Its almost as if the second we all got access the critical perspective we once took went out the window. It has become a competition for access and ass kissing which totally defeats the purpose of blogging in the first place. Everyone is so focused on why they in particular are so special and deserving that we have forgotten that we have to earn it first.

And maybe its because the fashion publicity regime is so tied to the “smile while you lie” mode of operation that we are simply scared we will lose the access if we are forthright again. And then what happens to all the nice party invites! Trust me, I get told all the time to be nicer because I need to sweet talk the publicists to get access. And it really pisses people off when I just don’t feel like doing it. People seem to take my refusal to play the game as a slap in the face. But I say real slap is that they themselves don’t want to take the risks. Trust me, the rewards are worth it.

I think bloggers need to begin focusing on creating value in our own right. We need to move beyond commentary. I want to find new creative outlets that add to the experience of being online. Not all of us have the luxury of a budget or full time attention so one solution I see is creating a tool set to make blogging better. Make it more than a blog if you will. That way no one can complain that with the big names getting into blogging that we are being pushed out thus necessitating us being even more simpering and silly to keep our access. I understand it can seem difficult to compete with the pro-bloggers working at one of the best pro-blog establishments around. But as we evolve I assure we that everyone can be back on equal footing again reasserting talent. Which I suppose is my way of saying now that the hierarchy has been reestablished let’s get rid of it! Blogging is mainstream media again.

I think what Coutorture did this fashion week with our unique photography is a start in the right direction. And a project that is in the works at Sugarland that I am working on is a HUGE step in the right direction. I want to enable people to do better work. Not enable people to go on feeling smug. The smugness makes me yawn and say NEXT. Fashion Week was one long cloud of smug. Hence my boredom. We have grown complacent as we have gained success and that is soundly a horrible thing.