WELCOME TO THECLOSET.COM

After analysing some fashion blogs I've decided to make my own version for my intervention. The world of fashion can be so harsh and unforgiving especially for this who are employed within it and I don't see why it has to be so serous. I want to make a blog that truly takes the mick out of all those serious fashion blogs that take themselves way too seriously. For my own blog I have tried to incorporate the good, and the bad bits that I found in the blogs to make an authentic, if slightly funny, blog.

So I've created THECLOSET.COM 

First off I started by designing the logo in Photoshop. I did a couple of mock ups to see which I liked best. From the research I did I realised that fashion blogs like being in black and white so I didn't want to make my logo overly colourful.

I liked this logo but thought it was slightly too colourful and the text just didn't seem right. 

I've started creating the blog by adding the title I made earlier and taking some photos of myself and my flatmates in the style of some of the photos I looked at on some of the other fashion blogs.

From the analysis I did of the other fashion blogs I defined some good points and bad points that I found on most of them. For this blog I've made I have tried to include all of the points I found, I think this will make my blog look a lot more realistic. The object of this assignment is not to make a better blog, but to make something that looks authentic but proves a point, so thats what I've tried to do. 

• All of the photos I've taken are in ridiculous poses that no one would ever stand like normally. I found that most of the blogs had photos of people like this but they managed to look visually appealing even if they were a little weird. 

• All of the photos are of high street fashion with a few cat walk shots added in. I'm not a big fan of cat walk blogs but most fashion blogs have a mix of high street and cat walk to illustrate where the inspiration has come from so I've tried to do this in my fashion blog as well. 

• I chose 'The Closet' for the name of my blog because it makes it really obvious what the blog is about. I've also heard that a lot of fashion magazine offices have a room called 'The Closet' where they keep all the left over clothes from photo shoots and magazine covers so I chose this to tie in the fashion theme. I got this idea from 'The Sartoricalist' in the way that their name has a double reason. 

• I've used song lyrics for all of the blog posts to make the blog similar to the posts of Lookbook. The lyrics have nothing to do with the clothing or the poses in the picture but I asked all the people in the photos about their favourite songs so it has some personal representation to it. 

• The layout of my blog is plain and boring, similar to many of the fashion blogs out there. The background is completely white and the writing is grey and black... boring, generic but fits with the theme. As you can see from this snap shot from 'The Sartoricalist' it has the same theme. 

• I've put in photos of high fashion and high street fashion to get a balance between the two, as I said before most blogs work like this. 

• Ive signed my name as 'R' at the bottom to add that bit of mystery about who the author of the blog is. Even my name as 'geekgirl' still doesn't give away my identity.

• One area of the fashion blogs that I found quite ironic was the way that the description of the photo described the colours in the photo, however the photo was edited into black and white so you couldn't even see what the colours were! I did this with one of the photos I had where I said I liked the washed out jeans, but the photo was black and white so you couldn't even see the colour of them. 

Good or Bad? 

I love my blog. I think its really effective because it looks like a proper fashion blog but the photos are funny and entertaining, which is what I wanted to achieve from the blog. I think it makes a statement, the comments I've got under the photos are clearly stupid but they're entertaining and the pictures are awesome :) Thanks Euan! 

Fashion Blogging

My personal favourite... LOOKBOOK

http://lookbook.nu/

Lookbook was designed as more of a 'high street' blog. It contains photos uploaded by all its users and is accessible to everyone. The feel of this blog is more open, there is no 'exclusivity' with its users, you don't have to be an editor of a fashion magazine to post a look. A lot of the photos are uploaded by regular fashion bloggers and photographers, and there's some really cool stuff on there. Lookbook seems to act as a website similar to Facebook, you can post comments of peoples photos, 'HYPE' the photos which saves them to the users personal profile and become 'Fans' of your favourite 'lookbookers'. 

A bit more high class... THE SARTORIALIST

http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com/

The Sartorialist is the 'up-market' blog, it contains high fashion from all around the world and focuses on upcoming trends. Its tag line describes the website as 'one of Times Magazine's top 100 influencers' so you can imagine the type of content this blog has. The Sartorialist differs to Lookbook in the way that only the author of The Sartorialist, whoever that may be, can post looks, it is not an open fashion blog for anyone to add to. The fashion contained in this blog seems to have been carefully selected to continue the theme and style of the blog, which is obvious from the way the blog has been layed out and the colours and font that's been used. The entire blog gives off an air of high worth and expense and the clothes and photos selected to be posted show off a similar vibe. 

Magazine-Style... FASHIONISING

http://www.fashionising.com/blogs/

Fashionising.com is more of an online fashion magazine rather than simply a fashion blog. It mainly focuses on high end and couture fashions from the big designing houses across the world and the many catwalks and shows that go on throughout the year. Fashionising covers clothes, shoes, accessories and everything else you can think of to do with fashion. Fashionising has a very 'magaziney' style to it, with all the different articles and photos that the user can click on. 

Generic... I AM FASHION

http://iamfashion.blogspot.com/

I am fashion is your generic fashion blog... random collage at the top of the page, that could have been made in paint, which contains the name of the blog along with some random photos ... loads of random text referring to absolutely nothing but it seems essential that it needs to be said ... loads of white space around the edges to make the blog posts look that little bit longer ... need I go on?? At least The Sartorialist has some kind of class and composure. Blogs like this one just look boring but they seem to be viewed as 'fashion forward', what's individual about white space? Even so this blog looks similar the The Sartorialist so I think its fair to say in the world of fashion blogging the minimalist approach seems to be favoured. 

Funny... Poor Dressed People of the World

http://poorlydressed.failblog.org/

'Poorly dressed people of the world' comes from the people who brought you the FAIL blog. This blog features terrible fashion faux pas' uploaded by many anonymous users for our entertainment. This blog definitely isn't a serious fashion blog and is a good area of inspiration for my own blog. Anyone can view and comment on this blog and upload photos of the terrible fashions they see around the world. This blog is purely for entertainment to take the mick out of people's fashion. The way mine will differ from this is that I am taking the mick out of the art of fashion blogging rather than fashion itself. 

So when it all comes down to it, what are the...

The Good Bits:

• The photos: most photos on fashion blogs are either from the catwalks therefore effortlessly cool, or done by a semi-professional photographer with the model forming some ridiculous yet visual stunning pose. Lets say we would never stand around like that wearing those clothes but the photos look awesome. 

• My favourite blogs focus on high street fashion, these blogs always seem more real to me as I could imagine myself wearing the clothes, and I can use them to inspire my own wardrobe. It's more fun and interesting to see people enjoying what they wear and they way they wear it. Half the time new trends and styles come from people doing just that. 

• Blog Names: fashion blogs always get something right, their name. Sartorialist means: a tailor, someone who repairs/makes clothes and I think thats a pretty good name, it means something and relates to the topic of the blog but isn't immediately obvious(I had to look it up). Lookbook is a bit more obvious but still, it works. 

• Blog Post Titles: LookBook and a couple of other fashion blogs use song lyrics and names as thier post titles, I love this because half the time they never relate to what the person is wearing but does express some more personal creativity. 

The Bad Bits:

• Boring blogs: Why do blogs feel the need to be completely white. It's dull, it's boring and I thought fashion was all about being experimental. But this seems to be a running theme with fashion blogs and I suppose it does make them more identifiable. It also draws the readers attention to the photos and articles without being distracted by the background or pretty font colours. 

• Focusing too much on high fashion: Catwalks are fun and couture fashion is interesting, but lets be honest I'm never going to wear it or be able to afford it so whats the point of telling me about it. Either focus completely on high fashion or completely on high street. 

• An Air of Mystery: It seems the authors of these blogs never want the reader to know who they are, even going so far as to only print their initials on the bottom of each blog post. 

• Great Colours: Its all good saying that pastel shades are in right now, but don't accompany that photo description with a picture thats in black and white... it defeats the point of even showing the photo. 

So now to move on and make my intervention...

Intervention Description

After having a couple of ideas of what I wanted to do for my intervention I eventually decided on looking at fashion blogs...

      I admit, I'm a fan of fashion blogs and spend half my time looking at them...

Although I've never understood why people take fashion blogging so seriously.. using words and phrases like 'incredible way of maintaining personal style' seriously??

So I want to have some fun taking the mick out of people who take this blogging so seriously, I think they need to chill out and have some fun with fashion, so thats the idea.

Definition of a Blog: "a website that allows users to reflect, share opinions, and discuss various topics in the form of an online journal while readers may comment on posts."


Fashion blogging has become so popular over the last ten years and all the big fashion magazines have a blogging section. Most document the various fashion shows that go on over the year with photos from the events showing the various fashions that have been appearing on the catwalks.

Blogging has opened up a whole new world for fashion. It gives everyone the opportunity to show their personal style, all you need is a camera and a computer. Fashion blogs can be written by anyone so there is no element of exclusivity, it can be used and viewed by the entire world. Fashion trends and styles are no longer dictated by the rich and famous and magazines like Vogue or Tatler, they have their own blogs that show the up to date trends but the blogs I find more interesting are written by people the same as me,  I can identify with those who write them and sometimes even see myself wearing the clothes.

However... fashion blogging is a serious game, blogs from fashion magazines take their blogging just as seriously as they do their articles in the magazines and even their blog has a certain 'look' it has to adhere to to fit it. people who blog for fun and upload their own photos all have a certain look to their blogs and photos. Even in the virtual world it seems that everyone is still worried about how they will be judged.


Our digital identity is sometimes of more concern to us than our actual identity. 


Although there is always someone who wants to break the mould, the ever popular fail blog has its own 'Poorly Dressed People Of The World' fashion blog that allows anyone to upload photos of epic fashion fails from around the world. They can be commented on and 'Added To Favourites' so you can save the ones you really like and show them to your friends. There is definitely some scary stuff on that blog but its more popular than most of the fashion blogs on the internet.

So my idea ties in with the style of the fail blog. Mine will differ slightly in the fact that I want it to look more like a professional fashion blog and use elements that I will take from my analysis on fashion blogs.   I think I will need to make the blog like this to make it look more realistic rather than just a stupid blog that nobody takes seriously. I'm trying to make people laugh, and prove a point that fashion doesn't have to be so serious, we can all wear what we want, theres no rules or regulations of seasonal trends that we all have to follow.