Does The Fashion Industry Snub Bloggers?

Fashion week has always remained a very elitist affair where we're used to seeing celebrities sitting on the front row and relying on magazines and mainstream media to showcase the upcoming designs, trends and looks. The emergence of blogs has created a new outlet for fashion week coverage, one where we, as bloggers, are able to put our own twist on what used to be considered normal and ultimately, share whatever we want but does this lead to being snubbed?

Since the emergence of blogs, we've seen huge mainstream media outlets reach their peak and many closing their doors when it comes to print, which is probably something most of us didn't expect to see in our time. Having said that, the online presence blogs now have is incredible. So many of us are building our own space on the internet, creating content we're proud of and sharing words we've thought long and hard about. But blogging is still a relatively new industry and the in's and out's are still being discovered as we go along. It can be hard to be noticed amongst the crowd and to be considered worthy. 

I've always felt like I don't belong at fashion week - bar one season I absolutely loved, but I think that was purely down to it being one of the earliest ones for me, everything was so new and I was completely in awe of it all - the whole vibe of fashion week is really different to what I'm used to within the blogosphere. As bloggers, I've generally found that we're all here supporting each other, empowering each other and just generally feeling proud to be a part of a new and growing industry. At fashion week, the mix of celebrities, influencers, bloggers and mainstream media creates a divide. It's the somebody's vs. the nobody's.

Whilst many brands have opened their doors to bloggers and the influence bloggers have is being understood more and more, I feel fashion week is still falling behind.

As a micro blogger, I find it hard to get tickets for shows and when I do, they're usually extras that are sent out in order to avoid empty seats on the day. What I mean by that is expect to either be standing at the back or to be queueing for a show and then be turned away when full capacity is reached inside the venue. It can feel like a huge blow and really knock your confidence.

The ever-changing blogging world has already seen so many changes and there's no doubt in my mind that the blogosphere will continue evolving but will this be for better or for worse? More and more bloggers can be seen attending shows nowadays and I imagine that this will continue to change, and hopefully continue to flourish, throughout the seasons.

With that said, I can't help but feel excited about the future of fashion week, but even more excited about the future of bloggers at fashion week. The inclusion of more and more bloggers we love will, in my eyes, make fashion week a much more relatable affair and therefore more enjoyable as both a reader of blogs and as a blogger.

Admittedly, this post has come much later than planned but I've been patiently waiting for this dress to come available online but it's just not happening! Unfortunately, I found out last week that this particular design ended up being cut from the collection which is such a shame. I decided to publish this post anyway as I had written so much on this topic and thought it would be interesting to share, and possibly debate in the comments, anyway.

Which finally brings us to what I wore; for day 1 at LFW I chose to wear a beautiful maxi dress by Ilse Jacobsen, a new brand to me (who, after some research online, actually specialises in coats and boots believe it or not). As soon as I saw this sitting in the showroom I was instantly drawn to it, the colour, the print, the length - it all spoke to me and I envisioned it as the perfect fashion week gettup. I wore a pair of brown suede boots from Next because despite my height, I still needed a bit of a boost to match the length of this dress, and I flung a biker jacket over my shoulders because fashun. Jewellery consisted of my two favourite layering necklaces, a small gold pendant with my initial from Thomas Sabo and a larger pendant with my star sign constellation engraved on the front. Lastly, earrings are by Matthew Calvin - a gorgeous delicate pair of tear drop earrings.

Dress - (c/o) Ilse Jacobsen
Boots - (c/o) Next
Biker jacket - (c/o) River Island
[Photos taken by Maria]