The industry's adjustment to the phenomenon of the blogger has been like day and night. Some brands and labels embrace the writers with open arms, collaborating with them and utilizing them as if they were anyone else in the industry. Others have done everything short of physically attacking them and with Purple Fashion Magazine's Olivier Zahm's latest comments it seems as if that's the only thing left.
Olivier Zahm and Lara Stone
The blogger has pushed the industry to do so much more. For example, now that bloggers post images from runway shows sometimes twenty minutes after a show, the fashion schedule has been made even more ridiculous. Industry pioneers, such as Natalie Massanet of Net-A-Porter, even admit to the accountability that bloggers bring to the table citing how at a blogger brunch she briefly mentioned Net-A-Porter's possible future expansion into an outlet store, and how the bloggers immediately began to tweet about it. She also cites how Net-A-Porter decided to harness the power of the blogger to progress and build her brand.
While opinions of these new voices in the fashion industry are varied, it's clear that they more than likely not going anywhere. If anything it only seems as if their influence is growing, tweet by tweet, as they score front row seats to haute couture shows, are sent free merchandise, and preview various lines. It seems that if the saying "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em" is true, then Olivier Zahm, Terry Richardson, and all the others out there who despise the bloggers gallivanting around with their iPads, maybe should choose the latter.
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