Thursday, April 22, 2021

Fashion Blogs

I discovered fashion blogs a decade ago and embraced them tightly. They supplied the shot of femininity I craved all my life. I especially like ones created by real, normal women who are stylish but not aspiring to become fashion models or "influencers." They offer me information, education and entertainment.

There used to be thousands of blogs to choose among. Then fewer. Then even less. Many of my favorite blogs dried up after a few years. I maintain friendships with a dozen or so former-bloggers despite their choice to stop blogging.

Now, with the pandemic, I'm finding critically few blogs to follow. I'm searching for new ones but the field is smaller than ever. Are you finding this? Have you lost blogs that you followed?

What's going on? Is fashion blogging in general becoming less popular?

Are there any new blogs you'd recommend? I'm eagerly looking for some. 

Thanks!

18 comments:

  1. Can you believe it's been so long?? Check out Lucy here: https://www.blogger.com/profile/13600064401395449845 - I "discovered" here through one of Shelbee's link-parties (those are a GREAT way to find other bloggers! They are still out there!).

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  2. Love that photo! Just a little naughty! :) Sadly I think other online platforms (Instagram, Tiktok etc.) killed blogs. All of the fashion ones I used to follow are gone too and many makeup blogs. I did find a newer blog I like, it's not updated very frequently and isn't strictly fashion, but it's really interesting: http://mermaidens.blogspot.com/

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    1. I believe you're right. Thanks for the recommendation.

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  3. I feel like blogs have already become antiquated and it makes me sad. I miss those days when I'd wake up and open up Google Reader with my cup of coffee. People don't want to click and open up links when it's so much easier to scroll, scroll, scroll. Grateful to still be a part of some communities that find beauty in the blogs!

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  4. I've been blogging for 5 years now and only started blogging well past its heyday. During that time, I noticed a fall-back on the number of bloggers that remained active. They's all over at Instagram now, which is kind of sad. Sheila's tip is a good one, do check it out, Ally! xxx















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  5. I know for myself and other fashion bloggers that the bottom seemed to fall out as feed readers were less supported. User friendliness has a lot to do with keeping blogger friendships going.

    I fell away from fashion blogging after my mom passed and my health grew poor.

    I, and many like me, transitioned to instagram. It's a smaller form of blogging, letting the picture do most of the talking, quicker than using the point and shoot digital cam, uploading, finding hosting, writing long text. Instagram also let's me "heart" photos and give support to posts without always commenting.

    Plus i feel less pressure to shop while not posting daily.

    I do really miss it. I made a lot of great friends through my blog and real lasting friendships.

    Oh and around the time I quit blogging, many of the bloggers I followed were having children. This was great, for them. I'm happy they were expanding their families and following their happiness... and I do still follow/interact with some of my friends who have kids, but I'm childfree and never plan to have that as an aspect of my life. Maternity/babies/childhood+mommy blog skewing blogs soured a good many blogs for me.

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    1. *sigh* You're right. I forgot about smartphone cameras. Ease always wins.

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    2. Yep. It's why tiktok is so.wildly popular. I think insta is about how far my maturing brain can handle though. Lol.

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  6. It's really weird how the blog world has changed. But I guess I changed with it too. I used to post "outfit pictures", but that stopped being something that made me happy, ya know?

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  7. I miss all the friends who used to post their outfits a lot. Do you follow Anna at all http://www.annasislandstyle.com/ ?
    She's a lovely person (who I met!), lives on the most fabulous island and posts amazing, colourful outfits- she also takes part with other fashion bloggers in a monthly challenge which seems them take on a style challenge. Also, Salazar has a lovely vintage style too www.14shadesofgrey.wordpress.com and I enjoy hers- a lot of the people who take part in Style Imitating art post outfits too and you can see those as part of the Style Imitating Art round ups!
    I really like doing outfit posts too but I'm not so good in the winter at doing as many posts as the light is so awful and I'm not so enamoured by my winter wardrobe!
    Love that picture of you- so sultry!x

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    1. Thanks for the recommendation. I go to their blogs.

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  8. What a fabulous photo of you! I started my blogging journey about eight years ago and I noticed the same thing, the fashion blogs becoming more rare.
    I think many blog users transitioned to social media.

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  9. How right you are, my gorgeous friend!

    Between the gradual decline in blogging (in general) and the meteoric rise of SM (especially Instagram), not to mention the time, energy, and commitment that one needs to actively keep up a fashion, blog it's not surprising to me that far fewer people are engaging in this wonderful act any more.

    Like yourself, I miss the heyday of blogging (be it fashion or otherwise) massively. I've come to realize that I will always be a blogger at heart and that it is the digital medium in which I feel most at home. I love the freedom and space, the community and inspiration, the highs and lows - every bit of it.

    Though fashion is not at the forefront of my current blog, I too still follow a number of fashion blogs and have seen many retire or simply "abandon" their sites (said with zero judgement, of course - I get it, I truly do) over the past few years.

    Case in point, of over 300 vintage (and similar) related blogs I used to follow, all of about 10 - 12 have been active in the past couple of years.

    While the numbers aren't that drastic in some of the other areas I follow as well, they're still pretty steep (I'd say that paper crafting sites are a notable exception thus far) and continue to plummet further with each passing year.

    Starting a blog doesn't mean you're committing to run it for life, of course, and I can know firsthand that there are tons of reasons why bloggers retire (some of which one may never see coming).

    I have the utmost respect for both long-time bloggers and those who are newer to the art. Passion drives many of us and will, I like to believe, help keep some semblance of blogging sphere going for many years more.

    Autumn Zenith 🧡 Witchcrafted Life

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    1. Like you, I'll never stop blogging. We'll be the last to turn out the lights. :)

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