Tavi-gate. Enough please!
When people attack fellow bloggers like Tavi or Susie Bubble, I know I shouldn’t wade in to fight their battles but as a blogger I feel involved too. I tried to comment on this article in today’s Independent, but couldn’t be bothered to register so I’ll say my piece here. The article claims there is a Tavi backlash because she wore a big hat in the front row of Dior couture. Yawn.
Firstly, Sarah McCullough, Selfridges’ creative concepts manager (an avid blog follower) said, “it’s mind-blowing that bloggers like Tavi are at the couture shows and being showered with all kinds of gifts. It has soured things a little bit for me.” My answer to this is, what is the difference between a blogger and a celebrity in the front row? To the couturier, it’s all publicity and they are in charge of who they invite to their show. Bloggers are getting the attention at the mo, of course the brands want in on it.
Next, a comment from Vogue.com’s Dolly Jones: “PRs plant stories with certain bloggers who are influential. Those have a ripple effect. It’s a really powerful selling tool.” PRs plant stories with magazines too. Again, to the PR it’s all marketing. For many, magazines and blogs now come under the same umbrella. And yes, there are bloggers who get blinded by the attention and freebies and lose their integrity but it’s a learning curve (I’ve been there). We learn with time and become immune to the flattery.
UPDATE: 10th Feb 2010. Sarah from Selfridges who was quoted in the article has added this in the comments but I am publishing it here too:
Dear Disneyrollergirl,
I’m Sarah from Selfridges, thought I would let you know that I was misquoted in the article. The quote is word perfect apart from the last few words “it’s soured things for me”. I never said it, infact I am very pro-blogger. I use blogs like yours on a daily basis as part of my trend and culture research. Blogs have become more important to me than editorial over the past few years.I think Tavi really is mind blowing. I can understand the Colin McDowell arguement which examines the need for educated fashion journalism but I think blogs are an invaluable, authentic voice. I salute anyone who is brave enough to keep a blog and write with conviction and fervour. Long live the bloggers!
s
(Thanks Sarah and also to everyone else for all the brilliant comments! DRG)
1 February, 2010 @ 1:23 pm
I'm personally loving seeing the fashion establishment come unstuck because the bloggers are democratising their private little club. It's hilarious! I'm not sure about Tavi but I'm certainly more interested in what Garance et al have to say than most mags!
1 February, 2010 @ 1:23 pm
I think the article in ELLE collections about bloggers and fashion's place online was really interesting. Especially the comment that bloggers 'are not looking to ransack the place. They just like the view.'
Although at the same time I felt the whole Tavi front row thing just smelt of PR, no?
1 February, 2010 @ 1:30 pm
bravo
1 February, 2010 @ 1:35 pm
Poor Tavi she's only a young 'un. Well said DRG. I can't abide Lily Allen and Chanel collaboration but I like a few of her tunes!
Times have changed and the commentary is beginning to miss the point, I think you've clarified matters!
1 February, 2010 @ 1:46 pm
I think that it is a bit rude to be wearing a large hat in the front row, but she's so tiny, even with the hat on, I'm sure she was shorter than most! And I think that most of that resentfulness directed towards her is because well, hey, they're double her age and she's three times as successful (in some cases only, of course!)I want the blogger in the front row trend to continue, hopefully to me :)
1 February, 2010 @ 1:51 pm
Great post, the Tavi backlash was inevitable, but uncalled for. I'd much rather see her than a D-List celeb on the front row!
1 February, 2010 @ 2:40 pm
I always thought the argument, that bloggers are used by pr companies through gifts and invites and thus they are losing their independence and authority to be quite weak.
since it is the same as with magazines, the same as with magazines will happen – there will be the ones flooded with pr-seeded-content, looking like a catalogue with noone being able to distinguish ads from content (and to be honest, this is the majority) and there are the magazines and blogs who resist this temptation.
this argument is for me in one line with the others (not being professional, just being a hype) that try to play bloggers down to some kind of temporary side-effect before everything else will go back to normal and people will again listen to what the big players have to say.
1 February, 2010 @ 3:19 pm
I can understand magazine people getting a bit huffy about the coverage and privileges that are being offered some bloggers,many whom have rocketed to celebrity.However I think it's great, and we should all enjoy it while we can, because, like everything in fashion, things come in and go out, and I'm fairly confident this blogger love won't last forever.
At least having the bloggers at shows is more useful to the fashion cause than the plethora of styled actresses, singers and socialites you normally see filling out the front row. Many of them don't give a hoot about fashion!
1 February, 2010 @ 3:19 pm
I've gotten bored with the whole thing. First the love for bloggers, then the hate. Whatever. It's so "red lipstick is in this season, now it's out, now it's in" to me.
1 February, 2010 @ 3:22 pm
Well said.
1 February, 2010 @ 4:49 pm
This is becoming an increasingly interesting issue for us bloggers. Among us, there are real writers – those with journalism or writing backgrounds – and those with insane fashion research or photography skills. And between those two extreme sides of the spectrum is a gray area full of the sketchiness and hype that you can find in really any other industry too. I think the good ones will prevail. Look at Susie – she's been going strong since the beginning because, her blog is fantastic and unique – pointe finale. Should be interesting to see what bloggers have to say at the bloggers conference in New York over fashion week. I think I'm going to do a report on it.
1 February, 2010 @ 5:12 pm
The face of modern publishing is obviously changing and I think all this talk of a backlash is ridiculous.
It's too late, bloggers are there. In time the field will thin I think as some blogs will fall by the wayside for whatever reason, but online publishing isn't going to go away.
1 February, 2010 @ 6:27 pm
Completely agree and it’s good to have the thought of someone who is a blogger and in the industry professionally. Fashion houses are tapping to a valuable marketing opportunity that they would be silly to miss. If this puts a few peoples noses out of joint then so be it. And such a fuss over a hat, get a grip for goodness sake.
1 February, 2010 @ 6:43 pm
Oh dear lord, really what is wrong with these people? Do they not understand that we the general public/fashion lovers can enjoy blogs AND magazines? I am a magazine and blog obsessive but also have a mind of my own, so I appreciate all points of view. It smells to me a little of the fash mags having a little huff as they are no longer the only place people can go to view the shows and they are missing out on "their" freebies. Leave the bloggers alone. There's room for everybody surely.
That t shirt look amazing!
Jox
1 February, 2010 @ 7:37 pm
I read the article in The Independent and shook my head. Talk about scapegoating a very young girl. It is that old us vrs them situation with journalists. Some bloggers may not write for a living but that does not mean that we lack integrity and good judgement. As for that comment bloggers cannot tell the difference between a good collection and a bad one is damm right insulting. Oh and by the way magazines are renowned for not writing a bad review on a collection or designer who is a big advertiser for fear of losing the account.
1 February, 2010 @ 8:22 pm
You and me both, lady. I am sick of this, and since like you I know both sides (blogger and journo), I find it utterly ridiculous that this is even happening.
Anyway, I have said what I thought on the Independent article.
I still think that hat was too big for the front row, but Grazia journo could have just asked for it to be removed if really that was a problem. Whether Tavi is a blogger or not doesnt matter.
Last season, Trinny (or Susanna) showed up with her kid, and they had two seats in the front row. To be honest I'd rather know that a blogger like Tavi sits in the front (she will write about the show) rather that some Z list celeb spawn.
1 February, 2010 @ 9:13 pm
I found this article in the Independent unsurprising and completely ridiculous.
This was bound to happen sooner or later and anybody that was there when grazia posted that picture on twitter new that it was all said in jest.
I do feel that Tavi is too young for all this, I worry that these stories are only going to become more frequent and I don't think I could have handled it at that age.
I think it's really interesting that fashion is opening itself up to people so much more, not just letting bloggers into the show but live streaming the shows for everyone to see across the web!
Fashion is changing and some people aren't moving with the times.
1 February, 2010 @ 10:06 pm
"Fashion bloggers are facing a backlash for falling under the spell of the big design houses they set out to debunk." Huh? How many well-known fashion bloggers have ever set out to debunk big fashion houses? Most of them are devoted fashion worshippers, including Tavi, BryanBoy and Tommy Ton — all of whom have recently sat front-row at major fashion shows, and none of whom seem to have any agenda to take down the man, so what the heck is Susie Mesure on about?
I wrote about the Tavi backlash on my blog last week — please check it out if you're interested:
http://teapartycrasher.blogspot.com/2010/01/style-rookie-no-more.html
2 February, 2010 @ 4:28 am
Can we be supportive of fashion bloggers but not be a Tavi fan?
2 February, 2010 @ 1:47 pm
It's pretty much all been said. She's 13, she's doing her thing, people dig her. I get how it must piss some journos and older bloggers off. That's the nature of envy. In the nd though if there's anything for the naysayers to take away from this it's this: shut up and get on with your life.
2 February, 2010 @ 11:44 pm
I thought the hat was a little ill judged for front row but come on, she's 13! A little case of sour grapes maybe – traditional journos and writers feel they may have "earned" their place whilst bloggers just rock up out of nowhere and are suddendly being comped, gifted and front rowed? I don't know and to be honest dont care, love blogs and mags and I dont see any probs with having the Susies and Tavis of the online world sitting up close to the runway.
3 February, 2010 @ 1:23 pm
I don't read or love all fashion bloggers but I think we should give each other a bit of respect. It's been like the wild west and now it's entering the second stage where a lot of people want to make nice with the mainstream, and it's fine.
Tavi is very young and she's being courted because of the interesting way she looks, and crucially because she is tiny and skinny enough to wear any presents sent her way, but luckily she is also a talented writer.
Print journalists may well criticise bloggers and it's fair enough as I want there to be a paid industry going in a few years as well. I think keeping the blogosphere civil serves everyone.
3 February, 2010 @ 8:58 pm
awww yeah im loving the honesty that blogs give, they're just jealous! well you know.. sort of. bloggers dont get paid generally?! i agree with caroline, i barely read my mags in comparisson to blogs now its so on demand x
6 February, 2010 @ 10:42 am
^what disconaplondon says…the hat might have been a touch annoying to sit behind but it hardly means Tavi shouldn't be there at all! Sure, she's not only articulate but also extremely young and cute and fashion-friendly- it makes her different, and gets people talking which is good for PR, right?
The way the Independent article reads (apparently Susie Mesure contacted some bloggers for quotes which didn't make it to the final copy), it's as if magazine journalists never ran advertorials or drank too much of the PR kool-aid in their lives.
8 February, 2010 @ 5:22 pm
I'm getting really excited for all the recognition us bloggers are beginning to get… but all this press 'backlash' has made me quite apprehensive about the next show I attend!
9 February, 2010 @ 2:04 pm
Damn, I sure wish someone would use me!
Can someone please tell Dolly Jones that the vast majority of bloggers receive nothing for blogging?
10 February, 2010 @ 4:13 pm
Dear Disneyrollergirl
I'm Sarah from Selfridges, thought I would let you know that I was misquoted in the article. The quote is word perfect apart from the last few words "it's soured things for me". I never said it, infact I am very pro-blogger. I use blogs like yours on a daily basis as part of my trend and culture research. Blogs have become more important to me than editorial over the past few years.I think Tavi really is mind blowing. I can understand the Colin McDowell arguement which examines the need for educated fashion journalism but I think blogs are an invaluable, authentic voice. I salute anyone who is brave enough to keep a blog and write with conviction and fervour. Long live the bloggers!
s