16 comments

9 Fashion Bloggers Worth their Weight in Words

9 fashion bloggers
There are more niches in fashion blogging than we could ever begin to cover, but its worthwhile to explore bloggers whose main tool is words, not photographs.  Those who are exploring (and blogging about!) fashion through its history and design, sociology and anthropology, or gender issues within the fashion world.

It's easy for us to get stuck within our niche or favorite category, but there's a wide world of fashion beyond shopping and personal style… so the IFB contributors weigh in with their favorite fashion reads worth their weight in words.

Cora's Picks:

The Lingerie Lesbian – The Lingerie Lesbian creates a bountiful blog full of beautiful lingerie and images, but also explores issues like “the power dynamics of lingerie and gender,” beauty and vanity, and lingerie from non-American/non-European markets.

Sweet Nothings NYC – While Sweet Nothings is loaded with great images, she's got knowledge and experience with each brand and event to share. Covering events like Lingerie Fashion Week, and sharing styles and fit information for women of all sizes, and shares the occasional decadent and delicious dessert as well.

Cora says “They're both lingerie blogs… while neither site is very image heavy or personal style heavy, they both spend a lot of time talking about issues related to gender and sexuality and self-esteem within the lingerie space.”

Jennine's Picks:

Exposed Zippers – This site gets fashion's insiders to open up: whether about their recent collections, competition in the fashion industry, and discovering game-changing designers.

Startup Fashion – Calling themselves the “go-to resource for helping independent fashion brands create successful businesses,” Startup Fashion really is the go-to resource, providing information about trade shows, branding, crowd funding, business management, and more. For the fashion blogger who hopes to launch their career on the design side, this is a must read.

Ashley's Picks:

Final Fashion – Danielle is a fashion illustrator, and you're unlike to find a far more unique take on Fashion Week than her site. She's got wonderful insight to the industry and blogging, coated with keen insight, observations, and challenges.

The Beheld – I'm always captivated by Autumn's observations about beauty and culture.  She's intelligent, well-read, and well-written.

Style Bubble – It seemed remiss not to mention Susie; often her infamy (and flamboyant style) overshadows what it is she does, which is talking about fashion in an educated, informative, and yet personal manner.  Susie set the bar for intelligent discussion and dissection of collections, designers, and style.

Fashion Into Film – I recently came across this site when looking, well, for fashion and film. Written by critic and academic Pam Cook, there's some wonderful discussion of the intersection of fashion and film (my two loves!).

Business of Fashion – Embarrassingly, I just discovered them not too long ago. But I love reading about the literal business of fashion from an insider's perspective that is honest, introspective, and digestible.

Share with the rest of the class– what bloggers have something to write about?  Whose voice are you addicted to? Who can write a 1200 word post and you don't even notice?

[Image credit: FinalFashion.ca]

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16 Responses

  1. The Lingerie Lesbian

    Thanks so much for including me on the list, Cora! It’s fantastic to be in such good company.

    Another fashion blog that’s has excellent words is FashionPirate.net. Arabelle never pulls her punches.

    Reply
    • Castle Fashion

      I second Arabelle. I admire her ability to be open and honest regardless of opposing incentives.

      Reply
  2. Shannon

    Great list! I love bloggers who write well and show knowledge about fashion and not just pretty pictures. Nicolette Mason would belong on this list as well.

    Reply
  3. Lolitame

    I think that when it comes to writing quality should always be over quantity. Images should be there to work alongside your writing not over shadow it. That’s how I see things. 🙂

    Reply
  4. Kathleen Lisson

    I regularly read Jessica of Chronically Vintage and Joanna of Dividing Vintage Moments. For me, personal style blogs are about both the clothes and the lifestyle of the woman who wears them. Jessica and Joanna share inside details about how they find, choose and buy vintage as well as how wearing vintage clothes makes them feel.
    Chronically Vintage – www.chronicallyvintage.com
    Dividing Vintage Moments – http://dividingmoments.blogspot.com/

    Reply
  5. I AM TURQUOISE

    i ve thought of this before and i notice that readers dont even bother reading 2 sentences you ve written, let alone 1200 words. people are attracted to visually beautiful things and thats photos. So the blogger who put so much thought and effort into a 1200 word post is disappointed most of the time.

    Reply
    • Ashley "Ashe" Robison

      We’ll just have to agree to disagree! My most popular posts, in regards to comments and pageviews, often have 1 image– and a wealth of text. If your content is compelling and appeals to an emotion, people will read AND respond to it.

      Not all readers are simply looking for visuals– we all have our preferences for what we look for in a blog! I personally would rather reader 1200 well-written words than look at 14 pictures of the same outfit with little change to pose and scenery.

      This is a post to celebrate a different niche of writer, and I’m sure you will find that very few of them are disappointed with their sites.

      Reply
      • .

        I so agree with you on this! I too am one of those bloggers who love a bit of text on the side and enjoy a well written article. For quite some time, I’ve been battling with people not reading my posts but just leaving those “Cool post!” comments. And then I realized that there are readers who actually love my writing and that stick to reading my blog. The others just come, leave their shitty comment and go, and are definitely not worth paying attention to.

        xx,
        http://www.moiminnie.blogspot.com

    • Kimberly

      I think this depends on the type of site you’re running. If it’s a site for industry insiders who want to learn something, then yes people will read. If it’s a fashion blog, then no they probably won’t…or at least I never do lol.

      Reply
  6. Jessica

    How could you guys leave out Leandra at Man Repeller?! Her writing is so fun and fluent and bouncy- I enjoy her insights and prose, often, more than I enjoy her clothes. And I like her clothes a lot. 🙂

    Reply
    • Ashley "Ashe" Robison

      Jessica– it’s funny you mention Leandra, because I gave a LOT of thought to whether to include her or not. I love her site, but at the same time…. wanted to focus on someone else for once? We’re all big fans of her site, and she surely fits into what I was looking for, but she gets so much press I felt it’d be nice to include some other bloggers for a change!

      Reply
  7. Harling Ross

    I have been thinking SO much about this lately!! It’s really hard these days to get a reader to STAY on your page long enough to digest what you’re trying to put out there, especially if it’s an essay instead of a series of eye-catching images. If executed well, WORDS about fashion are far more captivating to me than images. I love a well-written personal story about style more than anything else. But I think we’ve trained ourselves to click, click, click through the internet which is why it’s so difficult for a writer to grab a reader’s attention and keep it. I’m so glad you posted about this topic though. Definitely worth discussing, especially since blogging is generally so visually-based.

    Reply
  8. Sweets

    Thank you so much for including me, Cora! I’m really flattered to have made a list in such distinguished company.

    Reply
  9. Manuela

    I think that as fashion is of a visual nature, images are more appropriate.
    As fashion for me, is about clothes, personal image creation, looks creation, I prefer to see rather than read someone’s opinion about that subject, since everyone interpretation of an image, on anything in general, is relative to subjectivity. It is OK to eventually attach your personal opinion to an image, but to solely insert writing in a fashion blog, that transform it into a story teller, life style or fashion critic blog, which are different categories.

    Reply
  10. Kim

    I love Christina of Profresh Style. She always keeps it real, even if it isn’t the popular opinion or if she’s not having the best day. It’s interesting following along with her highs and lows and how she’s trying to make it happen in New York.

    Reply
  11. Serena

    I’ve been following Final Fashion for a while. I think Danielle is brilliant. I appreciate you including her on this list despite her criticisms of many aspects of the fashion blogging community (one of the many reasons I love her blog).

    Reply