Material World

Prada -- image by Catwalking.com

Interestingly, given all that has been written about the hoo-ha of brands placing bloggers in their front row and the supposedly retrograde reaction of the established glossy press (yikes! Barbarians at the gate!), this week American Glamour has invited and imported to Milan, on their own budget, five of the “guest bloggers” on their new “Young & Posh Blogger network,” part of their website. The bloggers are seeing some shows, meeting some designers and otherwise becoming part of the family. If you can’t beat ‘em, employee them.

They are: Susie Lau (Susie Bubble), Erica Baldi (Blue is in Fashion this Year), Kelley Framel (The Glamourai), Deni Elias (Chicmuse) and Tamu McPherson (All the Pretty Birds). Yesterday the magazine had a party to welcome them, although half the attendees had to leave part-way through to go to the Prada show. That was a little weird, but also probably a good peek into the reality of life during fashion week: just as things are going well– Bam! everyone deserts you for some other brand.

Prada -- image by Catwalking.com

Anyway, in the brief moments before I had to go to the show (which will be reviewed at www.ft.com/fashionweek, but for those who want to know now, was focused on transforming our ideas about, and use of, grown-up fashion totems like fur, sequins, python and organza into less…mature modes) I had an interesting and  revealing conversation with Kelley Framel.

We were talking about her blog versus the Glamour blog, and she noted that her own space was very personal, and people tended to comment there in peer-to-peer, personal ways; “they feel like they know me,” she said, and they talk back to her like they would talk back to a friend. Now, theoretically, one would assume that this is what the magazine wants to capture – womens’ mags are often going on about being a reader’s “friend” – but Ms Framel said the way users interact with her on the Young & Posh (that’s a little hard to write with a straight face) network was notably different: she said they were much more critical, and distant.

“It’s a brand,” she pointed out, “and people talk differently to a brand.” It’s more like talking to Big Brother, or Big Momma. You can make them your friend, but only to a certain point.

This is something fashion brands, which are constantly trying to friend their Facebook users, should take to heart, and it gets to the essence of the contemporary brand/designer paradox: companies want their brands to be their consumer-facing stars, because designers can leave, and that’s dangerous, but the brand relationship is less immediately emotional than the personal relationship; a brand personality is, after all, a manufactured personality. And just franchising a real blogger’s content, the way Glamour does, isn’t necessarily the answer (though it may help a bit). They’re stuck between a rock and a handbag. What to do?