Hello World Post
I have a sick obsession: a passion for fashion if you will. I’m not sure how, or what ultimately fueled it, but I am fashion and pop culture obsessed. My family says that I shouldn’t care so much about the material things, but for me, fashion isn’t about who has the most expensive dress or the ‘it’ bag. It is more about the self-expression and freedom it gives you on how you present your self.
The immensity of the business and it’s far reaching effects on people is astounding, which the character Miranda Priestly in the movie “The Devil Wears Prada” aptly describes when berating an employee who scoffs at the importance of clothing placed in magazines: “ However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs and it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you're wearing the sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room from a pile of stuff.”
But, fashion is not just for those who can afford couture anymore, which I think is an interesting development. I believe part of this is because a fashion designer’s work is not protected by copyright infringement. I used to think that clothes should be able to be copied by the large chains, partly because I enjoy shopping at them and getting ‘in’ clothes at a fraction of the cost. However, after working at a luxury brand, I see the harmful effects it can have on a company.
A few years ago, my ultimate goal would have been to be an editor at one of the top fashion magazines. Every time Vogue or Elle arrived in the mail, I would drop whatever I was doing and read them cover to cover, examining every little purse, shoe, jacket. I saw the beauty in the wild fashion spreads, and enjoyed the thought provoking essays included in every issue.
My thoughts on the fashion world are changing wildly as I get further and further into the business. Magazines are no longer the only authority on what is in, what designers have had a standout season, and what is going to sell. Personal style and fashion news blogs have begun to take away some of the publishing worlds authority.
My favorite instance of this is Tavi, a thirteen-year-old blogger with an immense vocabulary, wacky style, and insightful commentary. Her blog, “The Style Rookie” has given her an ‘in’ into the fashion world. She has become friends with top designers like Miuccia Prada and the Mulleavy sisters of “Rodarte” and is placed in the coveted front row at fashion shows and given couture for free in the hopes she will wear it in her blog.
After working in VIP Relations at Prada this summer, I have more authority on how things work in fashion, especially in fashion PR and celebrity dressing. I’m finding out that maybe my place is not in the magazine world, where you are almost always replaceable. With this class project, I think that blogging about the business and news side of the fashion world will help me not only become more educated, but also give myself a strong voice on the subject and find where I may want to take myself after college. Being a print journalism major, I plan to focus on more of the news side of the fashion industry- what is current and all upcoming things. With that, I will be able to interject my new viewpoint on the interworking of luxury brands.
Profile Post
It took hundreds of hours to hand sew thousands of little black and white beads into the couture Chanel dress Jane Aldridge wore to the 19th Crillion Ball in Paris last fall. Most women chosen for the international ‘it’ debutante ball are the daughters of CEOs, moguls, and on occasion actors. Jane is a country girl from Trophy Club Texas, but was recommended by the editors of Vogue to attend all because of a little blog she started in 2007.
Aldridge has a wacky, but brilliant sense of style, as evidenced by her unusual
dress for the ball, a far cry from the princess dresses most girls were decked out in.
“Sea of Shoes” reportedly garners over 75,000 hits per day. Aldridge, only 17-years old, has become a fashion internet mogul because of her penchant for designer shoes, vintage, over the top animal jewelry, and kitschy accents. Kanye West is also a big fan, making a
shoutout to Aldridge on his own blog.
Readers over the past three years have been able to follow Aldridge and the ultimate evolution of her style. I have been reading her blog for two years, and while sometimes I could never imagine myself styling the outfits she does, I admire her confidence to put herself out there. But really, I just want all of her shoes. Is it embarrassing that sometimes they almost make me drool?
Personal style blogs have become a fairly recent obsession of mine. I first read about “Sea of Shoes” in Teen Vogue and immediately fell in love. I always felt like a black sheep because of my obsession with shoes, and finally, there was someone who was even more infatuated. I began to check back every day to see what new insights and more importantly, shoes Jane would post. It has come to the point where I’m upset if there is no new post for me to examine. But, as her fame has grown and opportunities have arisen, Jane now posts only two or three times a week.
The Crillion Ball is just the tip of the iceberg of opportunities that have sprung from Jane’s outfit chronicles. Aldridge designed her own capsule collection for Urban Outfitters, co-designed a trench coat for Gryphon, and is featured in top fashion magazine spreads. Because her blog has become so popular and a full time job, Aldridge does not attend school anymore and is instead homeschooled. She spends at least 5 or 6 hours per day creating posts, editing pictures, and answering emails.
“Sea of Shoes” has such a diverse audience: from editors to pop superstars to the everyday girl. And as popularity of the blog spreads, so does Aldridge’s authority on all things fashion. While I would never wear cropped cut Levi’s, vintage 80’s yellow-embroidered snowsuits, or large metal beetle belts, I am fascinated with how Aldridge is able to put together the most random things and create such beautiful images. I’m also obsessed with her Prada and Miu Miu shoe collection- she always has the best pairs of the season, including the daisy print maryjanes from her most recent post seen
here.
This site will obviously differ from my work, because as a college student I tend to dress casually everyday, not in couture. But, Aldridge is such an inspiration, and is often spot on with trends, sometimes years before they happen. I think what is so inspiring about Aldridge is how far her blog has taken her: from a girl just posting about her love of shoes to a Crillion debutante.
Voice Post
Tavi Gevinson is a fashion darling. And at only 15 years old the head haunchos are turning to her for her insights. Even though she just started high school, she is casually missing a few weeks for Fashion Week activities. I wish I had started a blog when I was 15. Sadly, I do not have the same wit, pop culture references, or wealth of opinions that seem to flow freely from the wild mind of Tavi Gevinson.
In case you would like to sum up Tavi in a short paragraph, she has already done it for you:
“Wears batman capes and oversized hats. Scatters black petals on Rei Kawakubo's doorsteps and serenades her in rap. I wish I was Daria but I get too excited about things like candy to be deadpan all the time.”
She writes about fashion collections, Britney Spears, Terry Richardson, her life experiences, what she wears, her favorite movies, and extremely random brain rants, like “Justin Bieber Catbutt vs. Frumpy Troll”.
That being said, Tavi has the strongest voice of any fashion blogs I read, and in my countless hours perusing the Internet and following a trail of blogs from site to site, I have read a lot. I find myself checking in on her site every few days not for her fashion knowledge, and definitely not for her outfit choices, but for her humorous outlook on the industry and all things pop culture related. I find myself laughing out loud at her jokes. Tavi is like an encyclopedia for pop culture references, as her blog is littered with throwbacks to shows like Daria and other 90s genre topics that I only faintly recall. Where did she get the time to learn about all of these things?
Her mood boards, a common feature on most fashion blogs, are what I would categorize as ‘different’. In her post, “mood”, Tavi puts images from her journal collages. The juxtaposition of sweet 50s looking dresses in one image and a man covered in bees in another is the status quo on the style rookie.
“Salvador Dali in Balenciaga Fall 2010. That astronomy photo is from a 70's issue of
National Geographic, the Dali photo is from the Fall 2008 issue of
T (have you seen
the new issue? ISN'T IT SO GOOD?) and the pants and shoes are Balenciaga. The
glitter is from a birthday party I went to at
Club Libby Lu in 4th grade. You heard right. And no, I don't know why I still have it.”
Tavi gravitates towards the unusual in the fashion industry, with an appreciation for cult brands like the above mentioned Balenciaga. Tavi is constantly being watched by the industry because of the oddball things she does with the collections, like adding Balenciaga clothes to a picture of Salvador Dali. But once again, she reminds you of her age with a link to Wikipedia explaining what Club Libby Lu is. Tavi constantly links out from her blog to explain her references giving a little more authority to what she writes about.
Her maturity is one of the most astounding things about her blog. Apart from just being majorly successful at blogging, Tavi carries a sense of self-awareness, and is constantly assuring readers “I swear I don’t talk like that in real life”. Her rants to lead her to odd places, and most end in a very keen- what was I just talking about type of conclusion.
In Tavi’s most recent post “you probably don’t even know my middle name”, she chronicles her trip to Antwerp with her father. Her funny side pops out immediately:
“It's such hard work! You have to sit there and move the fork from the plate to your mouth. I took a photo in order to capture the Hard Work, hoping I could show it to my P.E. teacher and get gym credits for doing Hard Work outside class.”
I would totally think eating Belgian waffles was hard work too, if I had to skip class to go to Antwerp to go to an art exhibition. Tavi may not be the most scholarly writer, considering her age and lack of grammatical instruction, but her voice shines through in her witty one-liners and constant use of italics, capitalizations, and all caps writing.
Although, now that I am looking closely into Tavi’s writing, I can see a slight air of arrogance. Maybe that’s my jealousy speaking. But, right when I think I have the real Tavi figured out, I read this in her post titled “Things I learned in High School: Day One”:
“And I have reached the age in which I am too often under the incorrect impression that I am wise enough to make that kind of observation”
Tavi’s self-deprecation and awareness to her own nativity is simply astounding. What teenager is so self-assured? At 15, I was just trying to survive high school. But not Tavi- high school seems like a side project to her busy schedule.
Even though the fashion world seems to be enamored with Tavi, apparently school isn’t such a breeze. You see, Tavi just started high school. And because her blog is whatever she wants it to be at the moment, Tavi talks about school experiences often and reminds her readers that she is not the know-all end- all to fashion insights.
“If you, as a short person, want to get anywhere in the halls, you must push and shove. PUSH AND SHOVE.”
This is a prime example of Tavi’s voice. Can’t you just hear a short girl in glasses and a semi-bowl cut telling you with such exasperation in her voice that getting though the halls in high school requires effort? “PUSH AND SHOVE”, I can just hear her yelling it at me.
Sometimes I wonder if I like Tavis’s writing so much because of her lack of experience writing literary essays and critical pieces. She just rants about what she wants to, and calls it a day.
