Far too much fun was had on Thursday night at the Advanced Style book launch when London’s funnest and finest turned out for Ari Seth Cohen’s party at Mary’s Shop, House of Fraser. I ran around like a crazed photo-blogger taking my piss-poor photos of Virginia Bates, Duggie Fields, Jibby Bean, Bernstock & Speirs’ Thelma Speirs, and the lady on page 28 of Advanced Style. (more…)
Latest on the ‘brands as content creators’ tip: Armani is launching a series of discussions around the fashion industry, all to take place on Twitter. Starting on June 1st as part of Armani’s One Night Only in Beijing event, the #ArmaniTweetTalks Q&A discussion will be moderated by Peter Howarth with a panel composed of Vogue China’s Angelica Cheung, ‘publisher and tastemaker’ Hung Huang, fashion critic Godfrey Deeny, Yoox’s Federico Marchetti plus Susie Lau and Tommy Ton (you know who they are, right?). (more…)
There has been quite the brouhaha over River Island showing a ‘blogger-inspired’ range to the press at its AW12 press day. Consisting of statement accessories and clothes (think texture clashing, fearless colourplay, bold prints, embellished everything) a few style bloggers have taken umbrage at being thought of as people who just throw on gaudy mis-matchy outfits to get attention from streetstyle photographers or other bloggers. To this I say, lighten up! Keep calm, keep your head down and carry on. River Island (and H&M with its forthcoming Anna Dello Russo collab) are just thinking commercially with this idea. Because to achieve this look (which I’d say is a particular experimental-eclectic blogger look than a general blogger look) you do need to buy things in multiples. So River Island, H&M et al will maximise on sales of say, a top, a bag and three necklaces, rather than just one piece. It’s smart business thinking innit!
Having missed the press day and the chance to appraise the AW12 collection myself, I asked River Island’s press office for their thoughts. Senior press officer Melissa Collins says, “the blogger story is representative of a look that’s interesting, exciting, not afraid to experiment, not afraid to try looks that break boundaries and to push limits and fashion forward. Bloggers are ambassadors of street style which has become such a key element of the fashion industry today. As a brand, we are defining what real people are wearing and we feel that bloggers are the voice of the real people.”
I think the debate is quite an interesting one as it does beg the question, where does style blogging go next? I’m sure this one will run and run and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see the debate discussed further in Grazia next week…
Image: River Island Instagram
Ive just finished writing 2000 words on the power of the stylist but frankly 2k wasn’t nearly enough to write about this ever-changing subject. Stylists and fashion editors are now becoming overall content curators as evidenced by initiatives like Anna Trevelyan and Simon Foxton’s stints as guest curators for SHOWstudio’s Tumblr and Nicola Formichetti’s hugely popular personal Tumblr.
Latest on this phenomenon is the news that Hanneli Mustaprta has been tapped as a contributing editor to Calvin Klein’s Tumblr. Not a stylist in the traditional sense, but a ‘self stylist’ with a creative eye, this is a fresh way for brands to work with those who share their visual point of view. I quite like this new strand of content curation for the attention-deficit generation. If anyone wants to hire me as their Tumblr editor* (but pref not the naughty brand who picked my brains and then vanished without a trace) then let’s talk!
*PS: my beauty Tumblr is here
