Step 1. Start Fashion Blog

Step 2. ???
Step 3. PROFIT

Public perception of the fashion industry is carefully groomed and maintained. What we think of as a constantly fabulous, glamorous and intriguing industry has a reality that is wholly different than these basic perceptions. The fashion industry is rife with greed, gossip, drugs, brazen acts of thievery, cover-ups, and personal vendettas. Some people get an inside look at the industry and they are appalled. Some thrive on the malice and histrionics.

However, the same can be said of any industry that purports to possess power, influence and ingenuity. Just look at the NFL, Hollywood, Wall Street - heck, I'm sure there are even corrupt bakers and farmers out there.  Moral tenacity has never been the fashion industry's strong suit, nor have they pretended to be anything other than a pack of bitchy, backstabby geniuses.

Why do I want to be a part of it - especially since I belong to the class of people that is constantly appalled by the fashion industry? I'll admit that part of me loves the shiny surface, the glamor and the intrigue, the industry gossip, and feeling like I'm part of something that most regard as "cool". It's not like I'm in the mix, though, with Bryan Boy sitting on my left and Derek Blasberg to my right (though, I'd break arms for the opportunity).  I'm far away in cyber-land. My words are read by thousands of people, but my influence is minuscule. I'm just a quark in this big old fashion universe.

Yet, as small as my influence may be, I'm part of a new breed of fashion journalism that takes its cues from digital images and lightning fast networking capabilities.  My blog has been around for four years, and just keeps getting better. Bloggers are taking over, and traditional media is slowly going the way of the buffalo.

What does this mean for the fashion industry? More uncredentialed newbies are gaining access to front rows...More magazines editors grow embittered towards the "upstarts" that have put in (sometimes) less than a year of hard work...More women are turning to the street stylings of the Blogger Revolution for fashion and shopping tips. Blogging is turning the fashion industry upside-down, but that might be a good thing.

Granted, most of us don't yet know a pay the Renta gown fom a Versace. We've never interned during FW, fetched Wintour a lukewarm latte, or toiled thanklessly on photo shoots. The learning curve is easy to adjust to with Google at out fingertips.

So, if it's safe to assume that bloggers are changing the fashion industry, it prompts the question: how is the fashion industry changing bloggers? I read an interesting article just now called, Are Fashion Bloggers Selling Out? The short answer seems to be, "Yes, fashion bloggers are selling out." Tavi shills for Rodarte, Bryan Boy's got his MJ bag, and everyone is collaborating and expanding and getting underwritten by this-or-that company. It's nuts! Some fashion bloggers are making a living off of this. Jennine and Grechen and all of the people I've been reading and talking to for years are suddenly exploding with popularity. It's a cultural zeitgeist in the making.

I imagine that lots of people started out like me: with no knowledge of "branding" or "monetizing" their blog. They probably just started posting for the love of fashion. However, humanity tends to favor the individual approach. I'd be much more inclined to buy a jumper that a "real" girl that I connect with through the words and images on her personal blog wears than from some glossy magazine spread. More people started paying attention to fashion blogs, and their influence started growing. The advertising and marketing industry knows this to be true. That's why affiliate sales are up, Up, UP!

But, if you strive to give your honest opinion, how do you do that once you're  in the pocket of some designer, or indebted to the likes of LVMH? How hard is it to maintain integrity as a blogger? I'm going to speak from the heart and just tell you that it's really hard. Now, I haven't been asked to design a line of shoes for Urban Outfitters, like Sea of Shoes blogger Jane Aldridge did, but I have had offers for some things that could have paid me well, but didn't fit into the ethos of my blog. So, I've had to turn down offers because my blog isn't around for love of money. It's around for love of fashion. (That's not to say I don't make any money off my blog. I do, but it's also not a lot of money. Nor would I compromise my ethics to make more)

Susie Bubble said, "The media thinks that bloggers are trying to be authority figures—when it's just a girl in her bedroom, trying to put herself out there with the things she likes." So true. I don't know any of us that claim to be authority figures. I'd never put myself on par with Menkes or LaFurla. I have dedicated myself, in the past four years, to intensive study of fashion (design, history, origins, etc.), and I have a huge base of knowledge floating around in my brain. Most of this fact-finding has been for a book I am writing about fashion, but I've learned a lot and I think I could match collection memory and fashion history data with some of the best. However, I've always approached my fashion blog from a writer's and learner's standpoint. I definitely aim to educate my audience, but I am constantly receiving a fashion education at the same time.

Joe Zee, Creative Director at Elle, was quoted in the aforementioned fashion blogger article as saying, "What I was trying to say is that you can't compare Cathy Horyn and Tavi. One is a fashion critic who has been doing this for a number of years and can reference things that she's seen. The other is doing it to be fun and quirky. Can Tavi reference a collection that happened five years ago? She was 8. But there is room for both in fashion journalism."

He's right. While bloggers may not have the experience of Suzy Menkes or Cathryn Horn, they do have fresh insight and the innocence of an outsider. They view fashion through a new, uncynical lens. I do take issue with Zee when he says that Tavi is writing "to be fun and quirky." I think he is being dismissive because that's not the real reason she maintains her blog. She may write her blog in a "fun and quirky" manner, but that pesky verb usage "to be" is assuming far too much of her impetus for blogging.

Zee does point out that there is room in the industry enough for both, and I hope he's right. You never really know with the fashion industry, though. They love the next big thing and constantly eschew "dated" trends and practices. Next year, fashion bloggers may be relegated to wings of "that's so 2010," but I hope not. I still want to a chance to sit in the front row at Viktor & Rolf.