(Delphine wears Cashmere Wrap Cardigan in Black, Kristin wears Wool Tweed Short Dress with Heavy Tweed Jacquard Coat with Drape Front)
At Amanda Wakeley, we appreciate how prominent blogging has become in shaping and forming the world’s opinion of fashion. The bloggers have become the fashion designer’s muse and are claiming their places at the front rows of the big shows around the world. So, we wanted to turn the tables and talk to two of our favourite bloggers who recently did a great blog piece on Amanda Wakeley. They are Kristin Knox (www.theclotheswhisperer.co.uk) and Delphine Hervieu (stylecartel.com).
The Amanda Wakeley team talk to them about the the world of blogging at large, what shapes their personal blogs and where their journeys are taking them.
We’re blogging the bloggers!
Kristin Knox: The Clothes Whisperer
For this Oxford academic turned fashion journalista and blogger at large, it’s all, as Hamlet would say, words, words, words and style, style, style.
From runways to photoshoots to showrooms and more, the Whisperer and her trusty pomeranian sidekick seek to flush out the whisper of truth at the heart of fashion.
The Whisperer also writes for the FT Weekend’s Style Page and is the New York columnist for Schön! Magazine. She is the Fashion Editor of both Sketchbook and Connoisseur Magazines.
Delphine Hervieu: Style Cartel
Online marketing maven Delphine Hervieu relocated from Paris to London in 2006 after completing a Masters in Marketing for Luxury Brands at leading French business school, ESSEC. Delphine is currently the Fashion Editor for quarterly print publication, Urban Life Magazine. She has also worked at Halston in New York and Chanel in Paris and my-wardrobe.com in London.
Not just behind the screen, Delphine has also worked as a stylist and model in both London and Paris, has a degree in fashion design from Central St Martins and is a London College of Fashion trained makeup artist.
Delphine is the fashion editor of the ever-evolving blog Style Cartel and is about to launch her online Art & Fashion platform: StyleStudio42.
AND NOW FOR THE QUESTIONS….
AW:What do you think makes a great fashion blogger?
KK: Fashion know-how is the number one must. Not just funky personal style (that’s important too), but an industry-standard understanding of how this world works is essential. Strong writing skills are a must, and at least a good command of SLR photography and ability to pose in photos. I also think every great fashion blogger should have a fun persona, and create a little world of their own – a world so fun and cool that others can’t wait to dive in and take part. The great thing about blogs and the internet is its capacity for people to interact directly with each other, you can’t post a comment on the bottom of a Vogue feature. Therefore, a great blogger has to be a mover and shaker, somehow who can take charge of a topic and start a conversation and motivate others to get involved!
DH: A passion for fashion, a strong fashion background, a sense of style, and curiousity.
AW:Who, in your opinion, are the ‘hero’ bloggers out there really leading the way?
KK: Scott Schulman of the Sartorialist hands down is my favorite, the only fashion blog I actually looked at before starting my own. Susie Bubble is also great, but I am not a Tavi or BryanBoy fan…won’t go into that though, if I can help it!
DH: To me social media is made up of more than just individual personalities, it is about great content, a personality should emerge from the content. The bloggers I like are The Sartorialist and Fashionista.com.
(Kristin wears Georgette Dress with Metal Plait in Pearl)
AW:Why do you do what you do, how have you managed to build up your reputation and get where you are today – was being a blogger always your career plan?
KK: Blogging, and in fact, fashion as a career on the whole, were never in my grand plan until a year or so ago. I came to England in the fall of 2007 as soon as I finished my BA at Wellesley to pursue a masters in Classical Languages and Literature at Oxford University. For me, law school or a PhD had always been the plan. But then, the summer between the first and second year of my Mphil, I fell into this internship at the Financial Times. I was really inspired by their Fashion Editor, Vanessa Friedman, who writes amazingly smart, witty and socially relevant copy, and realised that I wanted to do something more creative.
Fashion has always been my passion, so there you have it. Through my work with the FT, for whom I still contribute, I basically got on the fashion carousel and was always out and about at events, shows, and London Fashion Week. It was around February that I was spotted by Glam Media talent recruiter, Charlotte Smith, who urged me to start a blog–a thought which had never even crossed my mind. So in March, with Glam already behind me, I launched the Clothes Whisperer. And I haven’t really spent much time in the library since.
DH: My grandma used to work for Hermes Haute Couture until 1956, my Danish grandma had a clothing store in Copenhagen and was one of the first to stock Jaeger in Denmark, my Mum was modelling in her twenties…
In a word, I was born with an issue of Vogue in my hand.
It took me sometime to put myself out there as a blogger. Being a blogger or a columnist is risky; you need a good understanding of who you are, to be able to write and convey a strong message to others.
Fashion editorial seems to be the best medium for me to express myself; a certain design, a fabric or a colour can help me to express my state of mind.
AW:Do you think offline publicists and editors take bloggers as seriously as they should? If not, why not?
KK: I think it depends on the blog, really. Blogs like BryanBoy which are just a few sentences here and there of what he’s doing or a picture of the Moscow airport do not really offer key players in the offline world much to work with. It’s a different genre. But I think bloggers who work alongside the PRs have a much richer platform upon which to draw and can elevate the status of blogs to something in between a personal platform of self-expression and a professional space where informed opinions are shared and conversations begin. There is a whole new form of fashion communication just waiting to spring out of the right marriage between the right bloggers and the right offline publicists and editors. It’s also lower budget and recession friendly!
DH: They are taking bloggers more and more seriously. On the front row at the fashion shows you have bloggers sitting next to buyers, and some offline editors are lucky if they can get a standing ticket sometimes. As great content is fundamental to fashion moving forward, having a strong presence within the search engines is key for bloggers. Google gives preference to blogs on their result pages as blogs are seen as containing trustworthy content not driven by trade or any kind of direct profit.
AW:What makes a great blog?
KK: The perfect balance between gripping visual content and snappy editorial. Just because it’s online, quality doesn’t have to go out the window. A blog should tell a story, a blogger should have a persona, personal diary type blogs just don’t do it for me. Also, DIY style sites don’t do it for me either, unless you’re Alber Elbaz, I really don’t care if you glued a bow onto your old ballet flats…tell me something I don’t know, or else I’m just going to go read Sunday Times Style. Or–gasp, a book!
DH: The content, the writing, the personality behind it, the dynamic (frequency of posts), the variety of subjects covered within one specific domain, a domain of expertise. Last but not least : accessibility, visibility on the search engines, you write for READERS and they must be able to find you.
(Kristin and Delphine both wear Georgette with Metal Chain Top in Black and Lapiz, Delphine wears Wrap Wide Leg Pant in Black)
AW:Which brands do you think are truly embracing bloggers and social media?
KK: Chanel!! They invited me to their SS10 show in Paris, I was absolutely flabbergasted. They have been so great with me, and even shared exclusive Audrey Tatou Chanel No 5 video content with me for my site. They have really reached out to the blogging community and we love them for it (as if we didn’t love them anyway!). And, of course, the lovely Amanda Wakeley.
DH: Asos, Net-A-Porter, Gap, Topshop : generally online retailers or high street brands, which make sense as the high street brands’ target audience is the mass market. As opposed to luxury brands that are trying to reach a very select and specific market, a blog needs to be reachable by everyone in order to be recognised and to stand out. It’s great that brands like Amanda Wakeley are standing up and really taking notice of bloggers.
AW:Who have you loved working with?
KK: I have really loved meeting different designers and photographers. The folks at Exposure PR have also been great in pitching me out of the box stories that take specifically into account the content of my blog. For example, they are gifting me a pair of shearling Doc Martins and have suggested I shoot Butters, my dog, in the boots. This is right in line with what my site is about and I love that they have reached out to me with these fun ideas.
DH: Harold Tillman, I interviewed him in his office for Urban Life Magazine. A great entrepreneur, open minded and accessible.
AW:What do you think of celebrity bloggers?
KK: I think you can probably guess…not a big fan. Honestly, Jessica Simpson already has a reality TV show and a Twitter and all the rest–how much more about her personal life do I really need to know? I think Twitter is a much more interesting form of celebrity social media, you get little up to the moment snippets of what they’re up to, but don’t have to listen to their poorly written ramblings. The ramblings diffuse the mystique that celebrity is all about, whereas the Twitter, as just a glimpse into their fabulous lives, makes them all the more compelling.
DH: I think they will be on the scene for a limited period of time only. Like the boy bands in the 90’s, they attract the teens and the wanabees and will disappear with them.
Society thrives on gossip – celebrity bloggers represent the gossip side of blogging.
(Delphine wears Strapless Superfine Dress with Tulle)
AW:Will people get bored of blogging, is it just another fad – like reality TV?
KK: I’m not bored of reality TV! Hills girl, all the way!! Again, it’s like anything else really, those with a real message and a real story to tell, true creativity to share with the world showcased in a fun and interesting way (think: Scott Schulman) will last. But I think the sensationalism will fade, individuals where the success of their blog is based solely on their personal style and not much more will get old very quickly. I mean, will you want to read Tavi when she’s all grown up and no longer the self-dubbed 13 year old fashion geek? Probably not. I also think when the industry itself opens its arms to blogging and editors and true trained editorial professionals take to the blogosphere (as they’re beginning to do), the content will become a lot more credible and more engaging and we will see some real internet fashion powerhouses coming out of this decade. I’m just waiting for Anna to log on…
DH: Blogging is just a virtual version of word of mouth, it is the online version of the 24hours news channel but specific to a domain.
It is online, it is live reportage.
I do not think that blogging will disappear, I think it is still in its infancy, it will become more and more refined. The competition amongst bloggers will help real quality to emerge.
AW:What is the future for fashion blogs, and what are your personal plans and aspirations?
KK: For now I’m just riding the wave and having a blast! As I said, I never read fashion blogs before I started one, and still don’t really, so I’m still learning, growing and evolving my site. It’s a process and an adventure and I’m loving it! I am about to start writing my first book, it’s one which I’ve been brought on board to pen, but I’m still so excited about it. It’s about ethnic influences on Western fashion design. A second one looms off the back of this one, so after that, I’d like to do one of my very own devising, fiction perhaps! I just love to write, and be it a blog a book or a magazine, as long as I’m allowed to type away for a living, I’ll be a happy bunny. I have also just begun consulting for fine jewellers Dinny Hall and am having a great time so far. This is definitely another direction in which I could see myself heading. But I just turned 24 last month, so for now, I’m just taking it all in as it comes!
DH: I think it is still to early to draw conclusions. I would like to continue to develop my editorial skills and be recognised as a fashion writer/ editor by contributing to blogs and online websites. I will go where my thoughts, passion and writing will take me, I am ready for the journey!
