With a fashion blog, anyone can share their personal style and express their personal opinions. Readers can actually communicate with the creators, asking questions and commending or critiquing their posts. Bloggers can easily build a community of fellow fashionistas from all over the world. Who would have thought that one of the most stylish girls in the industry would come from Trophy Club, Texas and another would be featured in major magazines at age 12?
These bloggers are taking the entire industry by storm because they are real people who know what real people like. Many blogs feature items for the budget-conscious reader, while others are completely anti-trend and pro-vintage. It sure is nice to see photos of regular people with an interesting take on style, instead of typical supermodels wearing outrageously-priced, ready-made looks. But, if you've got a high-end appetite, the myriad blogs out there allow readers to see into the real lives of models, PR reps for designers, celebrities and just those fortunate ones who inherited money along with haute couture style.
If you're interested in starting your own blog, there are several different platforms from which to choose. For a classic blog, one with no limits and that is completely personal (and free!) check out Blogspot, Typepad, WordPress or, Posterous. Fashion-specific blogging platforms include LookBook, WikiFashion, Chictopia and Boutiques.com. And then comes my personal favorite…
Tumblr is unlike any other blogging platform. It even comes with it’s own terminology. All the tumblogs (blogs on Tumblr) users follow are compiled onto what is called a dashboard. Users can reblog (take an item from another tumblog and post it to their own, with or without comment) and heart (similar to Facebook’s “like” option but the hearted post goes to its own separate list) posts that they love and want to share. And, for those who are too busy to dedicate all of their free time to Tumblr, there is a queue, which posts reblogs over a designated period of time. Users can follow thousands of blogs at a time and find even more in the Directory, which divides tumblogs into multiple categories, including one for fashion. Users can ask fellow tumbloggers questions, which because of the intimacy and immediacy of the blogosphere, they most often answer quickly and openly. Most importantly, users can post original content like their own photos, rants, quotes, links, videos and GIFs (a series of still images that appear to be animated). Some users even become Tumblr famous, like the 20+ fashion bloggers that the platform sent to cover New York Fashion Week this season!
To me, Tumblr is an expression of personality through a compilation, an organized collage that reveals a lot about the creator. So, go scour the Web for some fashion blogs that inspire you, or better yet, start one of your own! Andy Warhol’s vision of fifteen minutes of fame has arrived and people want to hear what you’ve got to say. If you’ve got a favorite style blog you think we should know about, let us know in the comments!
