Fashion blogs: Who cares?
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Catching a growing trend abroad, more Chinese are writing fashion blogs in a bid to influence the way people dress.
When Piksi from Finland posted her photos on her blog, she never expected that the H&M dress in that photo would trigger such online enthusiasm. Malaysian fashion blogger Bryan Boy became so popular that top US designer Marc Jacobs designed a special bag and named it after him. A number of designers have asked American blogger Cory Kennedy to wear their clothes and take photos to share with her blog readers.
Chinese fashion bloggers are also trying to make their voices heard in fashion circles. Wang Hao, blogger of My Boyfriend is Very Sexy, has just been invited to Hong Kong to its fashion shows.
His blog is the most visited fashion blog on blogbus, sohu, and sina and carries tips on style, schedules of major fashion weeks, comments on the fashion industry, and celebrity gossip.
Wang, 23, started his blog in 2006 under the name "Panda Gugu". It is now reportedly the most visited fashion blog in China, with 800,000 hits to date.
A fashion editor with a Beijing magazine, Wang majored in film direction from the Sichuan Conservatory of Music.
Having watched the proceedings at Paris Fashion Week recently, Wang predicts on his blog that the 2010 Spring Summer collections will be all about torn and faded jeans, and outlandish hairstyles.
Qin Di, 26, a graphic designer and ardent fashion blogger does not agree. He believes the look of the upcoming season will be big colors and stripes.
Qin started his blog JC Homme in 2005, and mainly included comments on parties, fashion shows, exhibitions, and the latest fashion collections. He updates his blog two or three times every month and is working on his online magazine.
Qin is not a fashion designer and says that is his biggest advantage. "The most interesting part of this work is I don't have to look at those clothes in a professional way. I don't comment like a fashion critic, I just see them from a customer's perspective. That is why fashion blogs are popular - readers like the fact that they are free of PR language," says Qin.
More Beijing and Shanghai-based public relations companies seem to be recommending bloggers to their clients in the fashion industry. Justin Zhang, an account supervisor at Ketchum Public Relations Beijing office, keeps the contact details of 10 top fashion bloggers on hand. Usually, only blogs with more than 50,000 visits get consideration.
"There are not many fashion bloggers in China," says Zhang.
"Usually, if the event is a show, a concert, or an opening party, we would like to invite bloggers, but if it is in the form of a press conference, we still mainly invite the traditional media," says Zhang.
But some dismiss the significance of fashion blogs. Eric Shya, fashion editor with Time Out Beijing, says he has no need for the opinions expressed in these blogs. "Some so-called fashion bloggers are writing about trends that exist only in their imagination. Even their fashion tips are mostly useless. Some others just pick up some fashion gossip and open a blog to spew rubbish."
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