"Take My Picture"

 via

FYI: This is a little longer than a typical post...

Have you seen this video from Garage magazine about street style and fashion bloggers? Molly brought up the topic the other day on her Toast Talk, and the whole issue has been in the back of my mind.

I think that a lot of people forget fashion is a business. Yes, a lot of what you see on the runway doesn't actually make it into mass production. But the whole point of a runway show is to show buyers what X designer is presenting for the coming season so they can make buying decisions, for magazine editors to be able to suss out what's trending next season so they can write about it, for stylists to be able to select pieces for their celebrity clientele.

I think that the hysteria surrounding street style stars can take away a lot of attention from the designers themselves. There's a ton of work and heart that goes into a collection and for a designer, a show is their shining moment to show off their creations. Of course there are a million photographers at the show itself, but having a "show" outside the tent is detracting a bit from the real show.

I do understand that bloggers have a lot of mass appeal. I get that if Leandra Medine, of Man Repeller fame for example, is wearing an article of clothing the item will most likely become a sell-out item. From a marketing standpoint, there's a ton of potential sales in the readership of a popular blog. It makes sense that brands collaborate and sponsor popular bloggers.

But is their presence really necessary at a fashion show? I don't know. I think that if all a blogger is doing at Fashion Week is going to shows in order to be photographed for a street style blog and then posts blurry runway pictures and not much commentary or criticism, then maybe their presence isn't so necessary. If they make their presence more unassuming and less about themselves, and are going to post thoughtful criticism or commentary, then maybe it makes a bit more sense. I don't really know and I don't think there's a right or wrong answer.

Obviously, I've written about fashion shows from NYFW. I wasn't there in person, and I'm sure my commentary on the clothing isn't nearly as thoughtful or meaningful as it could be, but I was posting about them because it's something that I'm interested in. If I was to attend a NYFW show, it would be in more of a work/fashion industry capacity than a blog capacity.

I do think that street fashion photography has become kind of insane and a lot of it has evolved from photographs of very well-put-together people into photographs of people in layers upon layers of designer pieces that are just outlandish.

I have a lot of thoughts about this topic, and a lot of conflicting thoughts, so I really want to hear thoughts from y'all. If you need more info, check out this, this, this and this.