There’s been a spat this week between a mighty fashion staple and the young, trendy bloggers getting in on their action. According to Vogue, fashion bloggers are “Heralding the death of style!”
Really? I’m sure we’ve all heard the statistics about models and eating disorders, magazines and body dissatisfaction? Vogue aren’t doing so well themselves at the moment with this video doing the rounds on Facebook all week either!
I’m holding my hands up here to confess that I watched ‘Absolutely Fashion’ – the BBC documentary about the year leading up to the centenary issue of Vogue. The June issue, with Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, on it sold out and there are copies available for £100 on eBay (yes, I checked.)
The documentary is still on iPlayer, and it’s undeniably glamorous. But now I’m thinking, is it all just a con? Seeing just how much of the magazine, and Cosmopolitan, are made up of advertorial, sponsored content and paid adverts, all designed to make me and other imperfect women feel not good enough, made me think.
We’re paying hard earned money to people who make their money from telling us that we aren’t good enough. Is that right? Wingz ethos has always been body-confidence, and it doesn’t sit well with us. Not that we could afford to advertise our amazing Wingz in the likes of Vogue anyway, but we want women to feel confident and happy in themselves.
If that means you feel better with your arms covered, we’re happy to help. We hope that nobody thinks we’re suggesting that you have to cover your arms though. For many of us, Wingz are a fun way to extend the life of summer clothes into winter or add sexy sleeves to standard sleeveless tops and dresses.
Vogue writers have really upset popular fashion bloggers by calling them ‘pathetic’ at this year’s Fashion Week shows.
Fashion bloggers, who have to be endlessly creative and hardworking to get noticed, don’t have anything close to the advantages that high-end fashion magazines and their staff have when it comes to fashion shows but they still get papped at the shows, seen on Instagram and their words are read by thousands upon thousands of eager followers. Vogue writers criticised them for being in thrall to the brands who sponsor their posts or send them clothes to feature.
Pot, kettle, dark colour?
Do you still buy fashion magazines? Or do you despair at the Photoshopped images of perfection (which, as the video says, aren’t always ever real bodies BEFORE they are Photoshopped)?
Did you realise that women over 40 are not represented at all by Vogue, despite a third of its loyal readership being this age group? I’m starting to feel a bit cheated. Perhaps reading a magazine designed to make me fat, old, short, poor and generally not good enough should just be consigned to the shelves and left there?
What do you think?
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