Student blogs, such as SMU junior Marin’s, showcase their personal style. (Courtesy of Rebecca Marin)
Our generation, otherwise known as “Generation Y,” has come to rely heavily on social media.
Fashion is constantly changing, so those involved in fashion have to keep up with what’s “hip” in order to successfully reach their audience.
Blogs, Twitter and Instagram, have changed the fashion industry.
Here’s a rundown of social media forums and mediums to help you keep up with what has come to create a rather “intimate” relationship between fashion and the digital realm and what you can to do stay in the game.
Blogs
If you want to make it in the fashion industry, it is essential to have your own blog where you can showcase your personal style and what aspect of the fashion world you’re interested in.
“Electornic portfolios” are another sort of blog where you can add your resume, examples of your work and whatever else you want potential employers to see.
Employers want to understand who you are, and with the help of a blog and an electronic portofolio, you can prove to them why you’re the right person for the job.
What to use: Blogspot.com is a popular site for blogs, as is wordpress.com for an electronic portfolio.
A quick note on the more technical always look at the AP Stylebook to make sure you don’t make any grammar or punctuation mistakes.
If your writing is not accurate, readers will not take you as seriously.
Contrary to the importance of having a blog, you should always be reading blogs.
Whether the blog is your friend’s, or just someone’s that you are inspired by, it’s so important that you keep up with what’s going on in the fashion industry.
Some great blogs are Cupcakes and Cashmere, Man Repeller and Who What Wear. Also keep up with sites like FDLuxe, Business of Fashion, Women’s Wear Daily and Style.com.
Many bloggers, magazines and fashion gurus have turned to Twitter as an alternate method to entertain their fans.
Because “tweets” can be updated on a regular basis, Twitter creates an even more personal feel.
And, thanks to the high traffic rates on Twitter, these individuals and companies are getting a lot of free publicity.
So if you have a blog or are thinking of creating one, make a Twitter account with the same name, or a similar one so your followers can be consistently updated on what you’re up to.
Some great Twitter accounts to follow are @nytimesfashion, @wwdmarketplace and @cfda.
Also, be sure to check out the “about” section of a blogger’s page. They may have a Twitter you didn’t even know about.
Instagram is definitely one of the most recent fads that has taken fashion to a whole new level.
Bloggers, fashion magazines and anyone else who simply loves fashion can upload pictures of runway shows and their outfits of the day (otherwise known as #ootd).
With the editing option, Instagram has created a more enjoyable experience when it comes to sharing pictures. And, like Twitter, they can use hash tags that will lead the “instagrammer” to similar pictures that have been taken by other people in the Instagram sphere.
But it doesn’t end there. Instagram allows users to “add your location” so you can let your friends know where you were when the picture was taken.
Apps
Then there are the applications, otherwise know as the “apps” that are made for iPhones, Androids, iPads and Tablets.
As it has been said, “there’s an app for that.” This is undoubtedly true – whether it’s to deposit a check or to get some great “pick-up lines,” you can find an app to do just that.
So of course there are apps for everything fashion-related.
Magazines, like Vogue and ELLE, have subscription apps that will give you access to the magazine so you can look at it anytime and anywhere without having to lug around a stack of your favorite reads.
Other apps can give you quick rundowns of current trends (Vogue Stylist), make it easy to shop online (HauteLook and H&M) right on your device or give you advice on how to style an outfit (Style Book).
So why have they all jumped on the social media bandwagon? Well, because social media is making things more easily accessible and more appealing to this generation, which- let’s admit it, is obsessed with all things digital.
