love, serenissima

Me Versus You

*Trying something new here, playing around with font sizes for emphasis along with bold, underline and italics... bear with me and let me know what you think!


Cheap Thrillsss

VS.

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What I Wore

I've been reading blogs for awhile now, and with the one year anniversary of Sartorial Me coming up (in March, woot woot!), I just wanted to share some commentary with you guys on what I've been seeing in the blogosphere. The longer I read blogs, the more I see that most style bloggers are grouped into one of two factions... I'll call them Ready-to-Wear and Couture.

Many of my daily reads belong to both factions. For example, Cindy, Rumi, and Liz are diehard couture, while Tania, Kendi, and Jessica are firmly ready to wear (Cindy wears five inch heels every day- every day- and Tania's blog is actually called What A Nerd Would Wear. I don't think it gets more divided than that).

Both groups are equally successful. Jessica, of What I Wore, has a style book coming out, and Rumi, author of fashiontoast, was picked to be the face of Forever 21's Fall 2010 line and had her likeness plastered all over billboards in Manhattan. And that's actually where the trouble lies; while reading an article about Rumi, one commenter stated that:

"I am not really a fan of Rumi's, simply because she represents a brand that sells inexpensive clothing while she rocks attire that's rather on the expensive side..."

Dun dun dun. And there it is, the REAL divider between the Couture's and the Ready-to-Wear's (or, one might say, the have's and the have-nots): price point. Rumi regularly rocks Elizabeth and James jeans and Marc Jacobs bags on her blog, sending her outfits way into the thousand dollar range. In contrast, Elaine, of Clothed Much, lists each item she's wearing along with the price and store links. The tagline of her blog is 'I'm poor and I like clothes." However, Elaine has about 2,000 followers. Rumi? Or, better yet, blogger magnate Karen? Almost 5,000.

Why do the have's have so much more than the have-nots? (That's a mouthful there.) You could say that's because the Ready-to-Wear girls are selling an image, a label, just as well as any advertising company. And while that's true to a point, I think lots of girls also admire the artistic value of these blogs. These aren't just outfit shots with your point and click digital camera; the Couture girls live up to their names and put large-scale productions on their blogs, fully equipped with lavish backgrounds, mood lighting, and clear, crisp shots on high quality SLR's. Much like in a professional campaign, the designer duds can't help but stand out.

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fashiontoast

VS.

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Kendi Everyday

But what the Ready-to-Wear's lack in purchasing power and artistic license, they more than make up for in sheer quality of posts. For example, Rumi has zero text on her blog, just photographs, while Elaine and Kendi are paragraph heavy and freaking hilarious. They're the literal, 'laugh-out-loud' kind of funny, and it shows in their following... because Liz's pictures of herself on a fantastic holiday in Alexander Wang shoes may have scored her thousands of views, but it only received 75 comments. Kendi's red thrifted skirt in a parking garage post, on the other hand, has 176 comments. That's probably due to the fact that she included little factoids like that the coat she was wearing in the post "... puts me one inch closer to having a full-on lunatic obsession with Kate Middleton."

Her readers feel like they really know Kendi, Everyday. Not just the perfect glimpses the more high-end bloggers allow into their worlds. (Because seriously. Nobody can be this ON all the time. And especially not in the privacy of their own home- which of course is also fabulous.)

But where does that leave a blogger like me?

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Me

VS.

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Me

I like to think I have an edge, a quirk, a little something that, while not as out there as some of the other bloggers, sets me apart (My race, of course, notwithstanding.) But I definitely can't afford to wear Giuseppe Zanotti boots and YSL rings... heck, you're even pushing it with J. Crew. And yes, I consider myself to be more verbal than visual, but doess that mean I'm relegated to witty banter meant to distract you from the fact that, at the end of the day, I'm just wearing jeans and a t-shirt? Is it a classic case of beauty or brains?

6 comments:

  1. I love, love, love this post. Well said. Everyone needs to read this to gain a bit of perspective about the lure of fashion blogging & what makes it stand out.

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  2. Tell'em why you mad!

    This was very well put btw

    It is true the standard on what make people follow certain types of blogs are retarded. Perfect example is tumblr, its a more visual type of blog, but its not really blogging its more like "look at the cool stuff I saw"
    I personally enjoy blogs in which I feel I can hangout with that person not something in which I'm feed a manual on how to be an "individual"

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  3. I love this post! Sorry I'm a bit late to comment, but it really is hard to decide which you want to emulate and which you like more. With the more couture bloggers, I appreciate the quality of the photos and the mystery to their persona. But with the more ready-to-wear bloggers, I like that I can relate to them in ways, that I could actually see myself wearing what they post.


    http://yasemin-d-l.blogspot.com/

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  4. Wow, seriously, this is an incredible post! Probably the best I've read in a very long time. Incredibly well-writen and beautifully articulated. I agree with you on all points. If you're a member of IFB, I'd highly recommend you submit your posts to their Links a la Mode. You're a great writer!

    theblogofobsessivecoolness.blogspot.com

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  5. ^^^ Thanks for the compliment :) I am a member of IFB, how do I submit?

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