When fashion bloggers started posting their looks and short after that they became a huge success giving a run for high fashion magazines and their editorials money I thought “it was about time”. Because back then I was a little tired of fashion editorials being way too dreamy, way too far from reality. I was hunger for fashion inspiration that was more relatable to our real lives. More down to earth-ish. Something still dreamy but that we could easily pull off in your daily life, if we want to. And that whole idea, of real clothes worn by real people in real life, who would have guessed, could indeed be something possible, inspiring AND profitable as the fashion bloggers proved to be true.
Because yes, the fashion bloggers’ looks of the day, at their beginnings, were pretty much that: a more relatable source of fashion inspiration. It was worn from girls next door not typical fashion models. A totally different vibe from fashion magazines and their editorials. It was refreshing and reinvigorating. Woo-hoo!
However that didn’t last for long, unfortunately. As soon as fashion bloggers became major fashion influencers (even before they adopted this name) the whole aesthetic of the looks of the day started gradually but steadily morphing into the ones we used to see in fashion editorials. If you have a look right now you will see that the majority of young fashion influencers’ feed on Instagram looks like they belong to a high fashion magazine not from a person’s life.
Right?
The photos are professional looking, so well thought and executed, the scenario is photogenic, the light is amazing, the clothes are div(a)ine…
It looks like a fashion editorial. In everything. And it is far from evoking a little sample of anyone’s real life. Even from a Hollywood diva. Too done, too glam, too unreal. Even if the look itself is kind of relatable.
But most of the time, not even the looks are that relatable…
I mean, who the hell is gonna wear a bikini on the beach with lots of stripes all around the torso and risk to get those ugly tan marks in real life? Or would opt for a one shoulder bathing suit for the same obviously reason? They are not practical and certainly will not look good, nor fashionable in real life. They can make a great picture, but that is it.
The same can be said about beauty bloggers. The make up is so heavy and done that personally I wouldn’t even consider it for a night out. And they are wearing for their morning events… Oh, my!
Then why wear something like that to portray what is supposed to be your reality; your reality aka your selling point, back then?
Ok, I get it: to sell a specific product or to portray a certain enviable lifestyle or even a personal style, but common, fashion people? This looks more like a make-believe style/lifestyle than the real deal. And in my opinion, young fashion influencers got their cake’s slice for daring to be an alternative to what fashion mags stood for so many years… they got it for being different, for being more people’s people, for being more the woman next door rather than a Hollywood diva and because of that, not despite of it, they became a huge success. And when the success came they just forget about it and shift into the opposed direction they were pointing to, the usual ruler’s aesthetics.
For me, particularly, it is sad and makes no sense.
Of course I know this fashion editorial aesthetic is selling, otherwise it would not have survived, but I just wonder if they have kept their initial spirit whether or not they wouldn’t be selling double as much…
Or maybe not. And I am the wrong one here. Who knows?
Even so, I do feel that is such a pity. A disappointment even. And a loss of opportunity. That is why I am here, giving my two cents about. I think everyone should do whatever they feel up to and I respect their choices. I only hope that this table turn again and women restart to crave for more down to earth, doable fashion dreams. That is the only way to shift the wind, regardless.
Detail: I am giving my two cents on the younger fashion influencers although I am a 4.7 woman because as a Personal Stylist, to keep my fashion finger on the pulse, they are mostly the ones I have to keep my eyes on. They are the ones portraying what is supposed to be going on. Plus, there are not so many, let’s say, after 40s fashion/beauty influencers and almost none with the range of followers that the younger ones have. This is a niche still crawling in the profitable social media ground.
Having said that, one thing that is still refreshing for me to see among them is that many of the after 40s influencers keep their foot on the ground, they are way more reality driven, way more relatable and yet inspiring like those two fabulous women. And I confess: I was not aware of any of them before I started this blog. Firstly, because social media is not really my thing (I like blogging! hehehe) and secondly because I have never heard of them before in my internet research. I had to do some specific research to reach them. And I am glad I did.
Just hope this niche gets its proper cake slice. But keeps this refreshing real-deal spirit all the way through and beyond.
Keeping my fingers crossed.
Fab After 47 