Manolo says, your papers please:
For me this gets to the heart of the whole question of non-regulation of fashion blogging, which has been celebrated as triumph of democracy in a dictatorial world (now everyone has a voice!) but also poses the dangers of opinion being automatically taken seriously, with no real knowledge on the part of the reader about the person opining, and the depth of what they may, or may not, know.
[…]
I’m not saying all fashion bloggers are dangerous (that would be a little hypocritical, no?), but maybe it is worth thinking about some sort of registry, or official database that requires certain disclosures that are verifiable.
The Manolo’s first reaction to this was, “Wait, the Financial Times has the Fashion Editor? Who knew?”
His second reaction, this is egregiously stupid.
Undoubtedly, this opinion, which is not entirely uncommon among the high nabobs of high fashion, is being driven by two things: the toppling of the centralized power of fashion editors at all levels, and the desire of big fashion advertisers to control what can and cannot be said about them.
The not so little secret is that fashion editors have long been complicit in making sure that the advertisers were treated properly, with special fawning photo features, and little to no negative coverage.
And now? While many style bloggers are nothing more than paid touts, many more, who remain independent, are not afraid of reporting honestly on, or even ridiculing high fashion flummery and balderdash.
All the Manolo can say is, welcome to the new era, Financial Times Fashion Editor.
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