Description
Book SynopsisFrom Style Rookie to Style Bubble, personal style blogs exploded onto the scene in the mid-2000s giving voice to young and stylish writers who had their own unique take on the seasonal fashion cycle and how to curate an individual style within the shifting swirl of trends. Personal Style Blogs examines the history and rise of style blogging and looks closely at the relationship between bloggers and their (often anonymous) readers as well as the response of the fashion industry to style bloggers’ amateur and often unauthorized fashion reportage.
The book charts the development of the style blogosphere and its transformation from an alternative, experimental space to one dominated by the fashion industry. Complete with examples of several famous fashion bloggers, such as Susie Lau, Rumi Neely and Tavi Gevinson, the author explores notions of individuality, aesthetics and performance on both sides of the digital platform. Findlay asks: what can style blogging teach us about women’s writing and the performance of a private self online? And what drives style bloggers to carve a space for themselves online?
Trade Review'Findlay has compiled a detailed, well-researched and accessible account of what personal style blogging is, where it came from and how it has grown. She pulls apart the psychology of the style blog and blogger, revealing them to be far more complex and important than they are often given credit for. She writes in an engaging, personal way that does not distract from the academic importance of her subject. Readers can feel her passion for the topic and world of personal style blogging through the voice of her writing, however, and that makes for an engaging academic piece. [...] Personal Style Blogs: Appearances That Fascinate is perfect for readers of any level, be they approaching it at an undergraduate, postgraduate, professional or merely casual level, it is informative and comprehensive and an overall interesting and enjoyable read.'
-- Aislinn Shivakumar, Journal of European Popular Culture
In Personal Style Blogs, Rosie Findlay analyses the development of personal style blogs from their early beginnings and identifies them as a sub-genre of fashion blog. Findlay’s focus on blogs is firstly based on a performance studies approach and secondly identified within a feminist discourse. Thus, this book explores performances of the self through style and situates personal style blogs within the "lineage of feminine sociality"... Personal Style Blogs is an exciting read for students, professionals as well as academics interested in the fields of fashion, media, blogging, digital transformation and creative work more generally.
-- David Khalat * LSE Review of Books *
'Personal style blogging is part of a seismic change in the fashion and media landscape, and it’s the first time that I’ve seen style blogging treated as a serious academic subject [in book form]. '
-- Julie Bradford, Senior Lecturer in Fashion Communication, Northumbria University
The text is a pleasure to read and very informative, I will certainly recommend it to my students not only for the subject of style blogging but as an example of academic research that they will be able to relate and respond to.
-- Jennifer Anyan, Head of Media & Fashion Styling, Southampton Solent University
'In reading Personal Style Blogs: Appearances that Fascinate, Findlay has created a remarkably multi-faceted look into the events that led to a seismic shift in the way all of us consume fashion and evolve our sense of style. [...] As the digital world becomes more complicated and expansive, this book will be a northern star for fashion historians seeking to unravel the bridge into the digital world in fashion.'
-- Rachel Hart, Fashion, Style & Popular Culture
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter 1: A Succession of Quick Leaps
Chapter 2: Blogging the Bedroom
Chapter 3: Intimacy at a Distance
Chapter 4: Performing Fashion’s Imaginary
Chapter 5: Style Bloggers and the Contested Field of Fashion
Conclusion
References
Index
