Embellished Insights

Taken from Style Bubble

On Friday afternoon I found myself in the world of the industry talk as Susie Lau, of Style Bubble, addressed an audience of interested writers, fashion followers and culture vultures about her experiences as a full-time fashion blogger.  She was nothing more than humble and insightful, and just like her blog, highly articulate. She was also wearing a sparkling forest-green tracksuit outfit...I respect her preference for comfort.

Lau's intelligent insights enhanced my interest in the relationship between the fashion industry and publishing, through the different perspective of an insider.  However, I was surprised to come away thinking more about Lau's role in the fashion and blogging ecosystems, because right now she's basically the queen bee.

Publicity regarding the event described Lau as 'fashion thought leader and internet icon'.  Her talks coincided with her front-row attendance at Mercedes-Benz Australian Fashion Week. How is it that by simply creating a blog and gathering readers a whole new world of travel and professionalism and influence is opened up to you?  Lau's blog was created as a hobby in the face of a boring day job, and didn't set out to achieve the status it has today.  Nor do I think she expected to become a voice of expertise for brands such as Prada and Dior.  This notion of authority today is blurred between the expert and the self-taught, the celebrity and (the former) non-entity.

There were plenty of times Lau alluded to things 'being easier' or 'more intimate' when she first started blogging in 2006.  A testament to how far social networking and the phenomenon of the blogger has come, perhaps, but again, this made me think of just how ungovernable the whole enterprise has become. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but just a symptom of accessibility. Lau even noted her endeavours to establish things 'offline', away from Style Bubble, as a means of creating a tangible existence off the screen - which I think is very clever and almost old-school in that strange way of remembering how to have a life off the internet, which I'm inclined to say everyone has forgotten.

The question and legitimacy of citizen journalism has become a recurrent theme throughout my media and communications degree. The view of it as a threat to the integrity of the industry I believe is valid, but at the same time any person, journalist or otherwise, who denounces the existence or influence of the blog is poorly blindsided.

None of these ideas are revolutionary. I think that perhaps as much as we don't know about where the future of the industry and technology is going, neither do we know why or how certain things or people become trends or celebrity. But like anything we need influential individuals and Lau, regardless of circumstance (or because of, depending how you see it) is astute, considered and like her nickname, just sparkles.