The fashion blogging movement is sprouting local roots.
Krystal Simpson, a 27-year-old Salinas native who now lives in New York, received initial industry attention from her appearances on MTV’s I’m From Rolling Stone. She parlayed that into the successful blog, “What Is Reality Anyway?” and now lives in Manhattan, where she’s worked on projects that include a black leather fringe bag with the tag, “Krystal Simpson of What is Reality Anyway? For Coach.”
In a recent interview with thefashionspot.com, Simpson said she has more on her plate in the coming years, including a clothing line and “writing an album with the band Little Feather.”
The millennial generation has found a niche – making a ruckus in the ever-evolving fashion industry – by generating outside the box content, with rising stars like 13-year-old Tavi, who started her own blog, The Style Rookie, when she was only 11.
In a recent virtual interview, CSU Monterey Bay professor – and style icon – Angelica Muro of the Visual and Public Art Department, whose outfits incorporate tweed, leather,hounds-tooth accents, vintage Dior, leather heals from Urban Outfitters, statement rings and nail polish colors, shared her thoughts on how fashion blogging is affecting our culture today.
“Many designers are now looking to fashion blogs for a glimpse into how everyday people are wearing their clothes,” she says. “Social media is influencing and inspiring high-end fashion designers and retailers, and in turn their future collections and showcases. I imagine that independent stylists also spend a considerable amount of time looking at fashion blogs.”
She adds that social media is transforming the fashion industry because it has the potential to break long-standing barriers of age, gender, race or class.
“I no longer look to an issue of Vogue or seasonal window displays for the most creative ways to wear clothing,” she says.
Other local fashionistas are rocking our world, too, with influences ranging from Hollywood cool to recession chic, with elements plucked everywhere from Chanel to the Salvation Army.
“I NO LONGER LOOK TO AN ISSUE OF VOGUE FOR THE MOST CREATIVE WAYS TO WEAR CLOTHING.”
Scroll through 21-year-old Drew Garcia’s blog on any given day and you’ll find yourself immersed in fashion whimsy – a hybrid stimulant of intellectual, avant-guard and progressive ideas.
“I’ve always been interested in fashion and the entertainment industry,” Garcia says. “I felt like no one here was interested in what I like, and that spurted me into blogging, where there are visual representations that help me explain [my thoughts] better to the world.”
Another local blogger (and friend), Ashlee Espinoza, whose blog The Rummager incorporates photography, unique styling elements, and colorful and artistic approaches rarely seen in the blogging fashion world, has followers from Hollister to Hollywood. One glimpse of Espinoza and her visually striking outfits demonstrates that she embodies fashion herself after working four years in Los Angeles for master fashion houses BCBG, American Apparel, and assisting prominent stylist Jessica Paster.
“There’s a definite culture of people who feel more comfortable letting out their creativity through thoughts, writing and visual aspects,” Espinoza says. “There’s a fearless revolution of people who do what they feel. Blogging is opening a portal of creativity. I feel like the days that I blog, I got something off of my chest because my mind is running a million miles per hour, but it’s not until I put it out there for others to see that I’ve gotten something off of my chest – it’s like an art form.”
Simpson, Garcia and Espinoza all continue Monterey County’s surprisingly rich heritage of style-friendly arts, from Edward Weston’s photographs ofhis muse, Charis Wilson, to fashion designer and Seaside native Rachel Roy.
As Hita Prabhakar, a retail industry expert and principal of The Style File Group, a retail-consulting firm based in New York, noted recently in an online piece on the fashion industry and social media for Mashable.com, if you’re smart about fashion – or any other industry for that matter these days – you’ll dip into social media.
Fashion journalism is evolving, and the future of blogging remains to be seen, but it’s starting to look more and more like you and me.
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