Self-Selecting
Seeking Seattle’s most inspired naval gazer.
Posted by: Laura Cassidy on Jan 13, 2009 at 12:00PM
12 Comments
More on outfit recycling, and blogging: Have you noticed that street style blogs have gone the way of Ugg boots and that what I’ll call me-style blogs have replaced them? (Wo)man-on-the-street style-hunting sites like The Sartorialist and Altamira will probably always be online destinations but sites like the horribly named Fashion Toast and Karla’s Closet are gaining on them. Me-style bloggers have dispensed with the notion of actually leaving the house and finding great style out in the world; instead, they just take extra care getting dressed in the morning, and become really familiar with their camera’s auto-timer function. I’m not saying it’s a good thing, I’m just saying it’s most definitely a thing.
And what could be more bloggish? It’s literal naval gazing, and it’s getting noticed. Bloggers like Rumi and Karla, of the aforementioned me-style blogs, are getting into fashion shows and industry parties (and once in, they take more pictures to post, but still of themselves) and they’re getting clothing samples and wannabe “it” bags from designers and retailers who are hoping to get blogged. And blogged they get, because that gets the bloggers more stylish swag. Again, I’m not saying it’s good or bad, it just is. Afterall, many of the old rules of advertising have also gone the way of the Ugg boots, and lots of people are watching these me-stylers.
I do mean lots. Over coffee each morning, my husband cruises cnn.com and his favorite blogs on the wars, the economy, and the news, and when he glances over at my laptop and goes, “Oh, more hot chicks taking pictures of themselves?,” yes, I do feel a bit sheepish. But while The War Room and How the World Works, his favorite Salon.com blogs, average about 15 or 20 reader comments per post, Karla and Rumi are getting like 50 or 60. I’m just saying.
What I’m wondering is: Is anyone in Seattle naval gazing and posting their outfits? If so, I haven’t found them. The closest I’ve seen is Camille, who blogs on her Childhood Flames from Portland. Rumi, Karla, and Camille seem to make up the top three—in terms of readers (at least as far as I can surmise via comments)—me-stylers, though for my money, Susy at Style Bubble is far more inspired and enlightening. She indulges in pictures of herself in dip-dyed tights and “jumpers”-worn-as-skirts, yes, but her outfit posts are informed by industry news and a wonderfully esoteric sense of what looks good with what. I also love Tavi who blogs at Style Rookie. Miss Thing, pictured above in the harlequin tights, is like 12 or something, and totally obsessed with Comme des Garcons, horrifying her Old Navy-wearing middle school classmates, and recreating runway looks out of her old toddler duds and stuff she finds in craft bins. She’s freakishly smart, and wonderfully, wonderfully imaginative.
But I digress. We have Jasmine’s wonderful Pike Pine street style blog, but I don’t believe we have a me-style blogger. Do we need one? Oh hell no. But fashion and style—and the blogosphere—are not about need.
Seattle: Give me some naval-gazing outfit posts.
Bellevue: Turn thy camera on thyself.
Tacoma: Where you at? And what are you wearing??
(Image from Style Rookie)
Tags: Seattle Style Bloggers
this is hilarious. i agree…me-style bloggers is definitely a BIG thing. i like the sartorialist; pike/pine, not-so-much. jasmine just rarely updates, and i find her street-style captures pretty one-dimensional.
my friend and i started a blog, but we definitely discussed it and forewent a blog about ourselves. although it is alluring, it is pretty desperately look-at-me-look-at-me trending.
however, that doesn’t mean that i don’t enjoy a lot of the same youthful designers as rumi/karla/camille/taghrid/lucretia/jane/lulu/etc.
i do think tavi’s blog is interesting. she is super quick for a 12 year old, and she cracks me up. i love how individual her style and, most importantly, her thinking are.
i actually think camille is pretty sophisticated for a 15 year old living in suburban portland. however, she was home schooled and is in college now, so her experience is a little different from “the norm.” her love for CDG and Junya Watanabe is intense and real…and i love how she channels that into diy sewing and deconstructing projects.
i as well have looked for seattle me-style blogs….the only one i found i was not interested in at all and is linked to a competitors blogroll, so i won’t bother mentioning its url.
oh wait, i did find another seattleite, but it was on chictopia, which is community of me-stylistas….and the list goes on.
Hey wait! You can’t tell me all that and then not include a link to your blog! Well, I mean, you can, but you shouldn’t! And yeah, I agree that Camille’s sense of style is really evolved and her wardrobe is enviable. Plus, it’s amazing that she can whip up drop-crotch pants and Rodarte-ify her tee-shirts. And chictopia — yikes. There were a few days a few months ago when I was really trying to crack that nut (it was just, What the hell is this??, but then, I realized there was nothing worth cracking. And also, it’s really sort of sad. Sigh.
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at first i was a little hesitant to share my url, but then i though, “isn’t the point of this self-serving experiment i call a ‘blog’ to get my opinions out there to an ever-expanding dominion, i mean ‘readership’?” anyhow, it’s not very cohesive and still needs more consistent posting, but take a gander: www.venividivolui.blogspot.com
and “veni, vidi, volui” means “i came, i saw, i wanted” to all you non-classics majors :)
Awesome — love it, and I’m psyched to have another Seattle-made blog to add to my reading routine. And man, genius url.
thank you! that’s very kind. i think the most difficult thing when blogging with more than one person is getting a cohesive idea together and moving forward. we have yet to do that :). i’m trying to think if there are any other style-oriented seattle bloggers i stay up on….if i think of some, i’ll send then your way.
iamstyle-ish.com and lookrichbitch.blogspot.com are two that I have come across.
Tiffany at iamstyle-ish.com definitely has a me-style blog. She frequently writes posts about her style-ish outfits.
For me, I do it – sometimes. I’m a little bit lazy and possibly a little fearful of exposing so much of my (fashion) self. I’ll be the first to admit that I have my stereotypical Seattle fashion days that I’m not exactly proud of.
I do however, like to shop! And I love finding fun things on sale and I’d like to think that I post mostly about my great finds in the city. I hope I’m doing it in a humorous way.
To be honest, I don’t really know where else to take my blog. I read really organized and planned blogs but I don’t always have the time to do the same. At the same time, sometimes I feel me-style blogs can so self-indulgent and on the verge of bragging that it gets annoying. (Gosh, I hope I’m not one of those bloggers! Say it ain’t so! Seriously. I don’t want to be one of those.)
One of my favorite reads is http://diabolinafashiondiary.blogspot.com/ because she’s intelligent and witty and willing to just put it all out there. I can appreciate her sense of style and life! And she does it in a self-depricating way that makes it less about “look at me” and more about “share with me.”
Maybe once I figure out what I want to do with www.lookrichbitch.com, I can put more energy into it.
What do you think about WIKILEAKS?
By the way, anybody home?!
I need to contact site admin urgently. Can you understand me?
Hope for no silence
I confirm. And I have faced it.
And something similar is?