The Rise of Fashion Bloggers

Fashion bloggers have become an influential force in the fashion industry. From small indie designer to the elite of fashion industry, these bloggers cover ever significant occurrence in the fashion world.

Starting in the early 2000, bloggers shook up the fashion business by changing the way fashion was viewed. Masses of people started following social media around this time and blogs became one of the major mediums of communication. Fashion bloggers started presenting a platform for the consumers to interact and connect. Also, buying habits of almost 31% of people were influenced by fashion bloggers as they held power to shape the public perception of a brand. Realising this, big fashion brands started incorporating fashion bloggers in their marketing initiatives. Even fashion magazines like Vogue, EELLE, GQ, and others started tying with well-known fashion bloggers.

                  

               Kristina Bazan

Leandra Medine

Today, fashion bloggers are seen as A-listers at some of the key shows. For instance, Louis Vuitton invited Fashion Blogger Kristina Bazan for its Gstaad opening. Also, Marc Jacobs Intl, for their Marc Jacobs runway show collaborated with prominent blogger Leandra Medine. Even, Dolce & Gabbana promoted their limited-edition Light Blue fragrance through this blogger network. In India, too, this trend is catching, where famous fashion bloggers like Miss Malini, Rhea Gupte, and Ruhi Sheikh have become a regular at fashion weeks.

    

Miss Malani

        

   Rhea Gupte

 

Ruhi Sheikh

Similarly, hundreds of bloggers today make and break fashion trends. Some of the most prominent ones are Wendy Nguyen’s ‘Wendy’s Lookbook’, Leandra Medine’s ‘Man Repeller’, Christene Braberich’s ‘Refinery29’, and Jennine Jacob’s ‘Independent Fashion Bloggers’. 

             

           Wendy Nguyen

Jennine Jacob

Part I: The Future of Fashion Forum 2015 - Snippets from the Inaugural Session

As a fashion school, Whistling Woods - Neeta Lulla School of Fashion has always endeavored to make fashion more accessible to the aspirants. Thus, the Future of Fashion Forum was conceptualized that encourages a dialogue between the aspirants and the fashion professionals from all walks of industry. The forum is spread across various categories to cover significant aspects of the fashion and retail industry, while focusing on both creative and commercial aspects of fashion.

This one-day event in its 2nd year, took place on the 24th of January, 2015, brought together leaders in the fashion and retail industry to create a 'Think Tank'.

The event kicked off with Meghna Ghai Puri, President, Whistling Woods International, welcoming the guests while Neeta Lulla, Founder & Dean, Whistling Woods - Neeta Lulla School of Fashion, introduced the guests to the Future Of Fashion Forum. Neeta Lulla, Subhash Ghai, Founder & Chairman, Whistling Woods International; Veteran Fashion Designer Hemant Trivedi; Anjana Sharma, COO & Fashion Director of Stylista.in; actor Neha Dhupia, Siddharth Lulla, Director, Business Strategy, Whistling Woods - Neeta Lulla School of Fashion and Meghna Ghai Puri, 'Lit the Lamp', to start the event.

Inauguration was followed by interesting snippet on 'Learning Fashion', by Hemant Trivedi, where he shared his experience of teaching and mentoring Neeta Lulla. While sharing his journey and knowledge as a fashion professional, he said , 'As a Fashion Designer, Be true to yourself, Don't lose your Indian Identity'. He also mentioned that to evolve as designer 'You need to have emotion and be passionate to be a successful designer'. Inspiring the young audience and fashion aspirants, he mentioned that 'People live for 3 things : Money, Fame & Respect, I live for the third one'.

Actor, Neha Dhupia was also present at the event and shared her experience of being associated with Limeroad.com, an online shopping (e-commerce) site, which is committed to deliver dresses and accessories that are unique in terms of style, quality and reliability. Sharing snippets on her 'inspiration' and the principle she abides by when it comes to fashion, she suggested aspiring designers by saying, 'When you are designing, Keep it Simple, Stupid'. Commenting on the two very different aspect that people tend to confuse, she said that Style and Fashion are often mistaken for the same thing. She cleared the misconception by saying, 'Style has to be inheritant, it has to be you. Style lasts forever, while Fashion is fleeting. Hold on to your style.'  She wrapped up the session interestingly by suggesting that 'It shouldn't be about accumulating wealth, it should be about 'creating' something beautiful.'

Subhash Ghai brought in his insight to Fashion, by very wisely proposing that 'Fashion in its beauty is inspired from spiritualism.' Talking on the occasion, he also shared his experience of working with Neeta Lulla as a Fashion Designer, on his film, Taal. He fondly remembers Neeta Lulla's curiosity and inquisitiveness to know and understand the character and visual appeal of the movie to keep the costumes in sync.

Neeta Lulla took this beautiful opportunity to thank her esteemed mentors, Hemant Trivedi and Subhash Ghai, and shared her journey as a fashion designer with the aspiring designers as guests at the event.

Styling a Fashionable Career

Becoming a Fashion Stylist is grabbing the attention of young fashion enthusiasts. Styling as a career has been around for a long time but is just coming into the spotlight. Before opting for the career, you must know what fashion stylist's entitles. A fashion stylist also referred as Wardrobe Stylist, this line of profession is different from a Costume designer or even Image Consultant both is often confused with styling. For a Costume designer films are the main area of work. 

The traditional job description of a stylist includes selecting correct clothes for editorial features, prints, television, advertising campaigns, movies, music videos, award functions, music concerts or any other public appearance by celebrities. Helping a designer put together a fashion show is also included in their job description. Basically the stylist decides what and how to wear a particular outfit. They collaborate with the designers, hair and makeup artist and create the perfect look.

Fashion, is said to be a tough industry to break into, which is true, the industry demands the best. To be an established stylist a lot of hard work and perseverance is required.

An interest in fashion alone would not suffice; you need to be fashion sensitive. The next step is formal fashion education. Even though you may not sketch or draw designs and are not the one making the decision on which fabric to use, knowledge about the subject is an absolutely necessary. ‘Know the fabrics’ should become one of the many mantras. Fashion business is another critical area that a formal education will provide. 

One way to strength your foundations is to get as many internships as possible. Create styling portfolio showing your creativity and skills. Be up to date with the current trends, this is extremely important. Research and read a lot, this will help in predicting future trends. A stylist has to be flexible to the changing trends and versatile to keep up with the ever changing fashion.

Pearl Shah, Tanya Ghavri and Pernia Qureshi are some of the top fashion stylist of our times. They broke through this touch fashion business making fashion a stylist a hot new profession.

Fashion industry has developed immensely in the recent years leading into new streams and the courses at Whistling Woods Neeta Lulla School of fashion encompassing every aspect of fashion industry which in turn can help you venture into these new budding areas of fashion confidently.