Audience at the Emporio Armani Spring/Summer 2012 show
You know the awkward moment when people who don't have anything to do with fashion shows feel entitled to dictate who has the right to sit front row and who doesn't? Usually the sole purpose of their relevant, well-informed remarks is to downgrade one of the groups of people who – much to their chagrin – frequently do find themselves sitting front row no matter what anyone thinks. Editors and bloggers still seem to be favorite targets, though I think it's high time for people to realize it's pointless to keep adding fuel to the "bloggers vs. editors" debate. You don't compare apples to oranges either, do you? (Much to my chagrin, people do not realize.)
The thing with individual opinions on who should (not) sit front row is that unless you actually have an impact on how the seating chart will be arranged, nobody cares.
A view I encounter ever so often is that bloggers should be banned from front rows by default because unlike editors, journalists and buyers, they don't do any "real" work. I think it's rather cheeky to act like you know better than the person responsible for the seating chart. Essentially, you assume fashion houses are incapable of picking appropriate guests. Fashion houses aren't stupid. Every person attending the show is there for reasons beneficial to the brand. When they seat Rumi and Bryanboy in front row, it's because they'll tweet and post photos from the show on their blogs, transmitting the brand's message and aesthetic to an audience of hundreds of thousands. The same goes for non-major bloggers like yours truly, except our audiences are smaller.
Bloggers do the same as editors, buyers and journalists: promote brands. This is why we don't exactly have to point guns at PR people's heads to be invited to shows. It's a reciprocal situation, and it's up to each fashion house who they decide to put in their front row. There's no "should" that applies to all of them. It only depends on how interested they are in global online coverage and promotion.
(I mentioned editors as "targets" in the first paragraph because I've heard ambitious bloggers say front rows should be bloggers-only, which is ... not how this industry can work.
The other side of the coin and all, though more harmless than the one I discussed.)
7 comments
Bloggers Vs. Editors debate is pointless. Brand with good PR knows who should sit in the front row. :)
In Slovenia: more buyers than editors would be great for brands.
I agree *so much* with your second point! I'm actually writing a post that briefly touches this issue.
I dislike the arguments that seem to pop up every fashion week about bloggers "versus" journalists. If the PR organising the show has decided that blogger X is more entitled to be on the front row than editor Y, then there should be no discussion.
(Oh, and bloggers only front rows? Perhaps this is why editors/etc get so annoyed by some peoples attitudes?)
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Personally i think that those arguments start from bitter persons that want to whine and complain for such things that don't even matter.
i agree that editors should sit front-row at fashion shows, but i also think that bloggers bring a lot of attention to brands and brands seek this attention so its inevitable for these bloggers to be invited.
apart from this, there are bloggers hightly educated, who know what they are blogging about and have a profound knowleged of fashion, those bloggers deserve to sit front row as much as editors.
lets not be extremists, you cant take off editors and you can't take off bloggers of fashion shows (as long as blogging is in fashion, this will go on and no one can stop it. fortunately or unfortunately)
I don't think people should be complaining at all. High fashion shows are such an honor to be invited to. I think the people that should in the front are the buyers because I think they need to be close as possible to the models so they can see the fabric and the details so they know what to buy. I don't think there should be war for sit placement, just be happy you are there:)
Journalist vs Blogger, well it all comes down to their reach doesn't it. Some bloggers these days are getting far more daily impressions than any magazine. But then again there are millions of bloggers out there who get very few. As you said, fashion houses don't just send out invites on a whim - they have careful consideration and work with their PR agencies to come up with the best possible FROW.
Thanks for the post - you have great opinion pieces!