The Bloggers vs. Editors! thing is tired. If there was a real competition, editors wouldn't be willing to give bloggers press. Blogs and magazines are good for different things; it's like comparing apples with oranges. Collaboration, not competition. Always!
This stuff about bloggers' voices no longer being honest and fresh? The Business of Fashion had a good post on this. I am selective in saying yes to freebies, because I realize that if every post of mine was talking about something I got in the mail, my opinion wouldn't be valued or as pure. And if the freebie-offer-er will only send it off if I say good things about it, I decline. Not that I expect a journalist to know this, but I do expect that they're professional, don't jump to conclusions, and don't decide that they know the truth to something they haven't even asked about.
And speaking of deciding they know the truth to something they can't back up, a journalist can't determine a designer's intentions in gifting a blogger something without actually asking them. While I often feel that it's very possible that sincerity will one day be nonexistent, it's still here, sometimes in the forms of very curious Star Wars-obsessed sisters* and Mad Hatter milliners. Maybe some people just want to be nice, or are genuinely fond of others, or genuinely inspired by them. But this is irrelevant in how much I liked a collection. To quote Roger Ebert:
If you give one [a negative review] to the work of a friend, and they're not your friend any more, they weren't ever your friend. As Robert Altman once told me, "If you never gave me a bad review, what would a good review mean?"And speaking of a journalist deciding they know the truth to something they can't back up, my parents and I are the ones who know my school's absences policy, how my teachers feel about my missing school, and what my grades look like -- not anyone else. I know everyone's intentions are warm-hearted because they're just so concerned for my health and future because they're so caring like that, but it is irrelevant to arguments being made about my blog or blogging in general, and a cheap way to distract people from the actual problem they're focusing on. If we really want to bring it up, can we talk about models that travel without guardians?** Dudes and traveling sports teams? And if I didn't take up the offer to travel to Paris to see couture shows, I would think I'm too good, right?
Bloggers being negative = typical, snarky, no-life, Internet trolls.
Bloggers being positive = only because they're too afraid to be mean, and they're suck-ups, and etc.
Me being a normal teenager = She's average but gets to do awesome stuff? Unfair.
Me being weird = Poor girl can't just be normal. Can't believe her parents let her wear that, don't they know that it's much more important to conform to boring stuff other people will find suitable as opposed to wearing what you want at the risk of being laughed at by narrow minds and big mouths?
My, LOOK at all those contradictions! Nobody else has ever depicted me in a way that I felt was accurate. People continue to have diarrhea of the pen, writing out all the possible ways they can somehow make me look like a bad guy. For accepting a gift. For sitting front row (no one mentions the shows where I've had less-than-stellar seats?) For giving a positive review of a show I genuinely liked. For saving some content for a magazine that funded my trip, nevermind that I still have 450 pictures for this blog, and did anyone bother to find that out? Of course not.
And, probably the most important reminder: I know myself a little bit more than anyone else. Y'know, just a tad. While I always try to be honest, I still keep myself separate from this character wearing sunglasses indoors. This isn't to say I am totally self-assured, but I know what I don't like, and I know to take everything with a grain of salt. Let's be realistic here -- I don't look at rail-thin women sucking on cigarettes outside shows with admiration. It seems that with all this "Backlash!" many people have lost sight of what MY blog is actually about: fun, dammit! I thought my let's-go-all-out-and-enjoy-ourselves outfits were of any indication here, but apparently a giant pink hairbow just means I don't want editors behind me to see because bloggers hate editors and vice versa, apparently, apparently, apparently.
I'm going to New York on Saturday. I will be wearing some more hats. If you happen to be sitting behind me and you'd like to be able to see, just ask.
*I'm not talking about the Target stuff.
**This isn't directed towards models, just critics.
