'What is style?' Photography: L.March Styling: Fran Tyler MUA: Mia Hughes Model : myself
Oxford graduate writer, poet, style blogger and model Rosalind Jana, currently digital editor of the magazine Violet began blogging in 2009 at just fourteen, whereas Rosie Findlay, lecturer in the Cultural and Historical Studies department and Dissertation Coordinator at LCF, blogged while doing research on style blogs for her doctoral thesis at the University of Sydney, which has now been published as a book - Personal Style Blogs: Appearances that Fascinate.
The event was well attended, indeed I was very lucky to be able to get a ticket. I really relished the discussion which addressed a number of topics, from creative blogging to communities, hidden labour, commodification and, naturally, the concept of 'influencer', a word that has entered our vocabulary, globally, but whose meaning is not fixed. Different sets of people understand being an 'influencer' in ways that can be poles apart. What does being an 'influencer' really mean? Is it about consumers and brands, is it about being aspirational, is it about the number of one's followers?
The conversation around such issues was stimulating and I felt really inspired to do some soul searching and engage in some reflection on what blogging has become and what it means to me, as I too am a blogger, though not exactly a fashion style blogger.
Agnès Rocamora, Rosalind Jana and Rosie Findlay
I personally believe that the efflorescence of creative style blogging that we have witnessed is definitely on the wane. Blogging as such is undergoing a major transformation, Instagram seems to have taken over and the stories bloggers told through their disciplined writing, giving vent to their creativity though the written word is now being translated by the very same individuals into the visual narratives of Instagram. Instagram has greater immediacy, it cannot be denied. Through their Instagram accounts, style bloggers and former style bloggers can pay greater attention to images, curate content by adding short write ups under photos to complement their visuality, ensuring that the right hashtags are used. This is, effectively, the death of blogging as such, as we have known it.
I have often toyed with the idea of wrapping up my blog - I started in May 2010. The Real Does Not Efface Itself has been a personal exploration of modelling, of the visual image, and the written word, leaving behind my academic persona. I have never accepted to collaborate with any brand, to me blogging has to be first and foremost a way to express myself.
But I have felt the lure of Instagram and I can see its potential, the opportunity it affords to use the written word in a different way. I am of course aware of the commercial uses of Instagram, but I am not particularly interested in that.
1960's inspired. Styling: Suzie Coulon. Photographer: Scott Salt
So why should/would I carry on blogging?
I shall continue, integrating it more with Instagram perhaps, but I shall definitely continue. It is to do with the discipline of writing, something that came up in this evening's discussion. I do not know how many people read what I write - I used to get comments, not so much now. But blogging is still deeply satisfying and as I have now done it for a period of eight years, going nine, it gives me an overview of significant incidents and/or issues with which I have engaged over a considerable time span, including research notes. A sort of public journal/notebook, if you like.
This alone makes it worthwhile to carry on.
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