Post title inspired by Stylebizarre.
If you're seriously into fashion, I bet my left arm people who feel more passionate about seemingly less ephemeral things have asked you more than once why of all things on this Earth the subject of your passion is fashion. Fashion is trivial, there are other things much more important than clothes and models and magazines, can't you find something more important to do in life?
Yes, fashion is vain, it cannot be anything else but vain because it focuses almost solely on appearance, making it ever so easy to reach prejudiced conclusions about us who have at one point in our lives realized fashion is it, accelerates our heartbeat and gives us that sense of belonging we yearn for so much, just like someone else decides to devote their life to helping others and become a doctor. We all have to find that one thing that makes us feel complete.
In fashion, bloggers often face prejudices because there are still many fashion people (gatekeepers) out there who believe we, mostly lacking formal fashion education and industry experience, don't know enough about fashion to comment on it, that we get too much attention (and, ultimately, business deals and $$$, which I guess hurts the most) for the "fluff" and narcissism we share with the world. They judge us personally for it - judge us on the basis of our fashion blogs. Ridiculous.
It's not just fashion people, though. People in general are often unable to make the distinction between our complete personality and what we choose to share online.
Whenever I find myself in the midst of such a scenario with someone, I can only say:
I am not my blog.
Fashion is a huge part of my life, but it's not the only thing I'm interested in. When I meet someone who knows me from the blog, they're mostly very surprised I'm studying literature and not something fashion-related (my fancy literature degree will come in real handy in 2 years when I'll be getting a fashion journalism MA in London though). Apart from fashion and blogging, I also like to see my friends, travel, go to classical music concerts, dabble in photography etc.
Before I became a fashion blogger, I wanted to be a film director (since I was 13) and spent some time studying filmmaking in NYC in 2008. I also played the violin from age 6 to 17, most of that time we all thought I'd go on to study it at uni and become a professional musician. I did competitions and concerts and who knows, maybe I'd still be on that path today if it weren't for my left shoulder that was constantly in pain. All this (and more) is a part of my life and personality, not only fashion.
Another common misconception people have about me as a fashion blogger is that I won't like them because they don't care about fashion or dress fashionably. There are instances when I too care less about fashion or don't dress fashionably, and I'm sure the same goes for every other fashion blogger because - to answer the question in the title of this post - we do care about other things than clothes too.
Our interest in fashion, although fashion might be what we're the most passionate about, doesn't automatically mean we think fashion is the only important thing in the world. Recently the fashion blogging community responded to the events in Japan by organizing For Japan With Love, which raised a ton of money. Here's the catch: FJWL is a public call to action that everyone can see. How many bloggers helped Japan, only they never mentioned it online? We'll never know.
This is one of many examples illustrating you can't know what someone is really like solely from their online presence. If not before, you're bound to reach the same conclusion when you meet your favorite fashion blogger in person. Chances are we're going to talk about everything but fashion!
18 comments
Bravo! LEpo povedano Eva. Kaj te je pa pripravilo do tega razmišljanja?
Hvala! :) Že nekaj časa sem imela to v glavi, ker se vsake toliko najde kdo, ki si je na podlagi bloga ustvaril okrnjeno sliko o meni, vem pa, da glede tega nisem osamljen primer.
Ne ne, ah kje, nisi, haha, :))) samo ali se ti ne zazdi včasih, še posebaj sedaj v tej krizi na političnem področju in ob vseh naravnih katastrofah, da modna industrija deluje nekako izolirano ob vseh teh dogodkih?
Da daje vse skupaj občutek iluzije in da je ovito v vatko?
Nekako ne razvidim, da bi imelo vse skupaj realen čut ... meni se vse z modo povezano nekako tako da je vse v najlepšem redu, ampak ni.
A misliš, da se tistih resnično na vrhu dotaknejo take stvari kot je recimo vojna ali pa trenutno stanje na Japonskem? (so izjeme)
Meni recimo take stvari ne dajo miru ... ampak ja, ali misliš, da si ljudje ustvarijo tako napačno mnenje, ker modni bloggerji ne pišemo o aktulanih dogodkih?
Mislim, da se tudi v modni industriji precej odraža to trenutno zelo nestabilno stanje sveta. Poglej, koliko pomembnih plejerjev (Doletskaya, Roitfeld, Galliano, Vukmirović ...) je letelo iz svojih pozicij v zadnjem letu. Najbrž tudi ni še konec rošad.
Poleg tega so revije ogromen del modne industrije, tisk pa je na splošno v hudih težavah.
Ja, ljudje vidijo, da nekdo ni pisal o nečem, in potem avtomatično pomislijo, da bloger to ignorira. Ravno taki primeri, kjer se daruje denar, da bi nekomu pomagal, se mi zdijo najbolj kočljivi, ker se veliko ljudi (tudi jaz) ne mara izpostavljati s tem, da so donirali denar ali pomagali na kak drug način. Ampak ne-modni blogerji pišejo o vsem tem in potem izpade, da mi (modni blogerji), medtem ko ljudje umirajo zaradi naravnih katastrof, mirno gledamo posnetke iz revij in delamo sezname, kaj bomo kupili to pomlad.
Za ljudi, ki so resnično na vrhu, ti težko rečem, ker se mi ne sanja, kdo so, kaj šele, kakšni so in kako živijo in ali moraš za to, da si na vrhu, že biti totalno neobčutljiva, sociopatska osebnost. Kdo bi vedel.
Agree...I wrote about this recently. I'm tired of people assuming that fashion people are nothing but their fashion interest. No one assume that sports fans or scrapbookers or video game players tend to their hobbies 100% of the time.
I don't think fashion is vain, because I think many people love fashion yet don't even wear it. Think of men who exclusively design clothing for women.
I do hate how people feel I will judge how they dress because I am a fashion blogger. Seriously folks, you should see what I wear when at home!
I agree w/ Wendy about how no one expects scrapbookers etc. to tend to their hobbies 24/7. So very true!
You know ... I'd never call myself a "fashion person" (maybe a "re-fashion" one, if I have time to do something in this vein and think about it), but I do enjoy your blog tremendously :-) For me, it is quite obvious (from your blog, since we don't know each other) that you have other interests and an interesting personality to add. I really appreciate people who have passions, are informed and always developing and letting the rest of the world participate in their favourite topic.
OK, before I make you go all red (these are not compliments, they are facts): sometimes, the impulse to judge and to respond to a blogger's person solely is quite a strong one. Sometimes I read other blogger's opinions and if I "know" them for some time, my response will be modelled upon this ... erm: knowledge. Still, it is quite a different thing to assume someone is interested only in the topic they are blogging about - "monotopical" blogs do make a lot of sense, but we should all keep in mind that reality behind the blog is always more complex :-)
more & more i tend to think i don't like fashion.
i just like certain, "pretty" things in general, and the wardrobe is just another item on my way.
Really thought provoking post. I just consider myself somebody who likes fashion..among many other things...but fashion of course is a very passionate and more important visual hobby...one that of course lends itself to self expresion and blogging. Thanks so much for writing this.
Uh-oh! I made a little mess giving my post that name haha! I'm kidding, I'm happy that my title made you talk about this topic with such eagerness!
My title was a little provocation because Link à la Mode of this week put together different fashion blog posts not about fashion, or just a bit "deeper" than usual!
I've never wanted to say that all fashion bloggers are vain, though I think this very thing about someone. There are many fashion bloggers who don't talk, and it's better because when they talk they just make their stupidity clear to the world! But this is true for everyone in every field, not just fashion bloggers!
It's just that fashion blogs are the phenomenon of the year, and everyone like to buzz about it just for the hell of it!
And prejudices have always existed, everywhere and about everything, so it can't be helped, they will exist about fashion blogs, too! ;)
omg, I was going to be a film director too :D before I became something else, but wow, that's so cool :)) I am sorry to hear about your arm pain, it hardly seems fair for something like that to pose a limitation on a career, but I have found that destiny does these things because it has other, even greater plans for you, but in some other arena. like for you in fashion :)
I adore fashion, not necessarily the fashion crowd because they usually annoy me (especially the "gatekeepers" ugh!), but fashion I love and always will, because in it's sincere form, it is art, pure and simple. and I totally agree with you about these superficial judgements people make based on blogs, actually "I am not my blog" is a very clever statement, it really says it all...
Thank you for this post!!! Someone needed to say this!!! I am so sick and tired of people judging me only by my blog! I am so many other things!
XoXo
Plami
http://fashion-thrill.blogspot.com/
Fascinating read with many great points! In fact I was musing very, very similiar things for a Friend Friday post about trying to reconcile feminism and fashion as two seemingly opposing forces in my life (I'll give the you the link here)
http://taxonomyofmywardrobe.blogspot.com/2011/03/friend-friday-feminism-and-fashion.html
I like how you stress the difference between the individual and what they choose to share online in what is only one facet of possibly many different interests. And I have many friends who don't give two hoots about fashion and they are no lesser people in my eyes because of it.
I'd love to hear where you are going to do your MA in fashion journalism!
Good point: so many fashion bloggers do something completely different to pay the bills and of course having a love of fashion doesn't mean you look fabulous all the time or care whether anyone else does. Sure, fashion is based on appearance but there are so many ways to express it that it doesn't leave anyone out.
ovo je jedan od najboljih postova koje sam u zadnje vrijeme, točnije danas, pročitala. Iako je lijepo vidjeti sve te šarene slikice i odjevne kombinacije, kad naiđem na neki (podulji) tekst sva planem od oduševljenja, i još kad je ovako dobar... you made my day! posebno mi je zanimljivo saznati svakojake (neočekivane) informacije o dragim mi blogericama, jer bilo bi bedasto očekivati da se sve modne blogerice bave modom kao profesijom. A nije ni Carrie bila izuzetak. A kad vidjeh da si studentica književnosti još si mi draža. Ja sam totalni sucker za knjige i pisano slovo, iako sam studirala filozofiju, al dobro...
Btw, sviđa mi se jako novi blog, i totalno mi je krivo što sam toliko dugo zanemaivala svoje blogerske "dužnosti" i propustila sve ovo...
Lijepi pozdrav iz zagreba :)
you are so right my friend Eva, that's why I don't like to think about fashion all my spare time...
we need to vary our thoughts and interestes...
love,
Kira