Vogue Italia editor in chief Franca Sozzani agrees to be a judge on America's Next Top Model but then criticizes fashion bloggers for being irrelevant, vain and that
they don't offer an opinion but only talk about themselves [and] don't hold a real importance in the business
Ouch! What's with the nastiness? (Especially ironic when I'm reading this on your own blog on Vogue.it !)
I think I understand her point buried in here, though. Everyone and their mom has a blog now and the democratization of fashion has diluted its once rarefied air, but that is not an issue for fashion alone. Everyone is an influencer now on music, electronics, fashion...everything. Companies across the gamut want to make money and will listen to the chorus of the public to see what demand is out there. That's just good business and the definition of democracy. Whether you agree with everyone's opinion or not and how serious or well researched their view may be, well that's life. Everyone has a voice and the internet has given them a megaphone so either listen up or put in ear plugs.
Particularly bizarre in this post is the about face that happens at the end:
I would like to know their opinion to understand a new point of view and not just rely on journalists who have been doing this for thirty years
Not being biased at times helps to see what people who work in this industry miss
That's the most backhanded compliment I've read today. The tone of this post certainly seems biased and many fashion bloggers do work in the fashion industry and the "non reliable opinions" come from copywriters, publicists, stylists, fashion editors and the retail workers who are actually responsible for convincing the public to part with their hard earned money when the hyped up article of clothing and the consumer are actually sharing the same space.
Later the post waffles on the thesis that was presented to us:
Lets wait a minute before acclaiming or hating [bloggers]. There are still a lot of people who don't know what blogger means, and none of us knows how it will evolve. It's still under observation. The only thing I can say with certitude it's that if it were a disease, we would call it a viral cold. An epidemic!
As far as I can recall, you opened this debate of bloggers' role, why be evasive now? Why straddle the fence on whether we're a "disease" or not?
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