The Rise of Personal Style

Re: "Eccentric Company" by Victoria Lewis  in Teen Vogue, and "In Fashion, Are Trends Passe?" by Ruth La Ferla in The New York Times.

     Recently, there have been two standout articles focused on the effects of personal style in fashion today. As Robert Burke, consultant for luxury brands and previous fashion director of Bergdorf Goodman's, said "As little as a decade ago, we would gather at the Ritz in Paris to come up with trend stories, which would then be translated into shop windows and advertising. Forty or 50 of us held the keys to that secret information.", for the article in the New York Times. The fact that so much has changed in the way the fashion industry operates amazes me. I credit a lot of this to the rise of stores that aren't all designer, as well as magazines and blogs. In fact, the term "fashion victim", now used to describe someone who dresses head to toe in one designer with a previously set outfit, used to be the in thing to do. 
    A large factor in this personal style boom, I believe, is all the street style and personal style blogs in existence. According the the Top 99 Fashion Blogs list by Signature 9, the following blogs are the top 10: From Me to You, High Snobiety, 12refinery28, Fashion Gone Rogue, Cupcakes and Cashmere, Stylelist, Garance Dore, Fashionista, Hypebeast and The Sartorialist. Out of these 10, 1 is a street style blog, but 5 are personal style blogs. In fact, the number one position is held by The Sartorialist, a fantastic street style blog by Scott Schuman.
    No matter what the factors are, I am so proud of this personal style boom in the fashion industry. The fact that creativity and individuality in outfits are now shined upon is inspiring. Just another thing to make me want to work in fashion one day. It's a truly incredible industry.

Yours in Fashion,
E