Fashion Blogging - Essay Example

FASHION BLOGGING Introduction In this highly competitive globalized world fashion has become an integral part of our lives. Fashion is no more a personal choice for one’s own happiness but knowledge of fashion to some extent has become a requirement in workplaces, universities, social gatherings etc. This increased following and interest in fashion has led to newer ways of searching latest knowledge about ever changing fashion. This has led to the emergence of the phenomenon of fashion blogging. This paper aims at studying various dimensions of fashion blogging. What are the benefits and privileges of fashion blogging along with its some detrimental effects? Fashion Blogs A vague and somewhat loose definition of blogging is the practice of posting information on the website. It is a medium where a strong view point, a differing view or just an attempt to “be yourself” is employed to engage the audience. Personal blogs are the most common where personal affairs of a person are discussed that are of interest to their friends. However the popular type of blog is the topical blog. In topical blogs a topic of interest is discussed and hence it has wider audience. Fashion blog is a kind of topical blog. Fashion blog provides the platform for the creation of an ideal self with one’s online identity. Fashion blog provides the intersection of this self created ideal self and the off line consumer. There are different types of communities of practice created from “top down” i.e. by the fashion industry itself and the “bottom up” i.e. by the women who are interested in fashion. It provides a chance to the ordinary people to share and air their views about mainstream fashion, cover pages of fashion magazines and how they would like to present themselves to the world. Fashion blogging is a relatively new and emerging phenomenon. Fashion bloggers use fashion blogs to pass their views on fashion and style. Fashion blogs are not restricted to individual fashion designer but it is also concerned with large retail stores. These fashion blogs mainly have perspective that is different from the main stream media. Some of the high fashion blogs termed as aspirational mainly discusses expensive designer fashion. High fashion blogs discuss runway shows and the convenient price versions of those run way shows. Another type of fashion blog is like a fashion magazine that gives a glimpse of the season’s offering at the comfort of your home. While some focuses on finding our own style instead of spending a lot of money trying to keep pace with the ever changing fashion. An example of it is Bargain Queen. Another type of blogs only focuses on some of the fashion items such as shoes, hand bags and other fashion accessories. Generally speaking a shopping blog shows realistically priced things affordable by many as well as some aspirational items which are admired by many but affordable by very few (Leung, 2008). The Rise of Fashion Blogs The role and importance of fashion blogging has increased so much that fashion bloggers are now an integral part of the elitist and the most exclusive of fashion functions which were previously reserved for fashion schools and fashion magazines. Fashion blogs has such profound influence over the people that the British fashion blogger Susanna Lau has become a minor celebrity of UK fashion with her blog Style Bubble. Her blog attracts more than 10,000 visitors per day. Same is true for the popularity of other fashion blogs such as BryanBoy, Fashiontoast, SomethingNavy, and TheBlondeSalad. The popularity of these fashion blogs has turned them into an effective marketing tool. This increased importance not only enhanced the number of bloggers on the web but also their role. Now the bloggers are not just satisfied with being invited at fashion parties but they have a professional role to play. Some of the bloggers are now becoming a part of the branded network that is conducted by web Media Company. However their role is different from online magazines because they are not involved in creation but they only curate (Tungate, 2008). Importance and Role of Fashion Blogs Fashion bloggers are considered the “reports”. Fashion bloggers present their own view that is why they are deemed as truth tellers in the world where truth is hard to find. This free expression of their view earned them the title of reports. Fashion magazines do not have such liberty and they also come up as a corporate. A fashion blogger has much more flexibility. There is also a downside to the fashion blogs. It is deemed that the impact of fashion blog is that everybody now has control and ownership of fashion (Corcoran, 2006). This trend of fashion blogging has also led to the emergence of new standards and strategies for fashion blogging as well as commentary and criticism on fashion blogs. Fashion blogs have diluted and blurred the boundaries among real world and virtual boundaries. This increasingly important role of fashion blogging in fashion has led to many customization interfaces. It is one of the many benefits of the fashion blogs. Marketers use fashion blogging as a marketing tool, because of its wide access and flexibility. Many of the entrepreneurs and even large companies make use of blog as a marketing tool to increases their visibility and presence on the web. It also helps them in making long lasting relationship with their customers. This positive and healthy usage of blogger by the organizations themselves gives it the privileged status in the fashion industry. It is acting as a mode of communication between the customers and the fashion industry stake holders. (Bardzell et al 2009). Fashion bloggers enjoy the influence over others by acting as opinion leaders. This status of opinion leaders earns them many privileges. They not only act as reports but also have a significant role to play on the psyche on consumer. This impact on consumer behavior is created by combining visual and textual branded stimuli. Brand association is created through any of the three characters created by fashion bloggers namely Real life Facsimile, Stereotype and Fiction. Most professionalized fashion blogs as discussed above are Real Life Facsimile where bloggers act as fashion professional and give insight about luxury brands. In Stereotype certain prototypes about fashion are created such as Trendy Mom etc. Fictional blogs are the most creative types where association is created with carefully selected brands only (Belk, 2010). Demerits of Fashion Blogs Fashion blogs along with many benefits has some demerits as well. One of the major disadvantages is that the content available on the blog is not authentic and reliable. Hence it can be very subjective and misleading sometimes. For blogs to be authentic some regulatory measures needs to be taken to make it more reliable. Conclusion Blogging is an emerging phenomenon and fashion blogging is gaining momentum. Fashion blogging has come a long way from mere personal expression of views. Company’s today hire professional bloggers for the marketing of their products. Fashion blogger has become such an integral part of fashion industry that bloggers have become a regular feature of the elitist of fashion functions. Fashion blogging is termed as reporters and due to its increased role in influencing consumer behavior it is used as a marketing tool. Despite its privileged status and various benefits fashion blogging also has some demerits. Such as the content available is not authentic and reliable. References Bardzell, J., Pace, T., Brunetti, L. (2009) Emerging Standards in Virtual Fashion: An analysis of critical strategies used in second life fashion blogs, System Sciences, HICSS’ 09, pg 1-10 Belk, Russell W. (2010) Research in Consumer Behavior, UK: Emerald Group Publishing Corcoran, Cate T. (2006) The blogs that took over the tents, Women’s Wear Daily, Pg 30 Leung, L. (2008) Digital experience design: Ideas, industries, interaction, UK: Intellectual Books Tungate, M. (2008) Fashion brands: branding style from Armani to Zara, London: Kogan Page Read More