Can we chat about fashion Instagrammers/influencers..

[Cherrypie32]

..because I don’t have anyone in real life to carp about it to. So, I follow a few, am addicted to the stories/feeds of some but don’t always know why. The ‘high end’ ones, The Frugality, Dress Like A Mum, Emma Hill etc pop up but quite designer and high end for me. I like the ramblings of Does My Bum but I’m nothing like her body shape so don’t wear her clothes. There are a few more ‘high street’ ones I follow, Steal My Style, What Kathy Did, Forty not Frumpy and more but they tend to be repetitive. Is this because they are so heavily sponsored to flog something? At the moment they are all banging on bout All Saints leather bikers and maxi skirts. And they all copy each other so there’s not much new to look at. There are a few I follow with nowhere near the amount of followers that seem more creative and have different body shapes so I presume that they have more liberty to do this as aren’t under afflilate deals.
I don’t need advice to ‘unfollow’, I enjoy looking at it all, just interested in how it all works really.

Another midlifechic fan here. i've just re read her blog,and in her defence she does berate herself for posting on IG whilst her mum in law was in hospital.
i have to say however that even her blog seems to have changed. She also seems to have an increasingly enormous amount of clothes and looks a lot more polished than in the early days. She is quite clever at advertising a product whilst not really confirming or denying that she is doing so. She likes to say that she has been asked to test a product.
I would still prefer her style to many of th others though. She stays away from the H&M, Zara, gravy train.

Based on this thread, I followed Styled by Susie and she talked about this thread on her Ista stories today, about how she will always put disclaimers etc .She seemed ok except I didn't particularly think she looked well so have unfollowed her.

What bugs me about a lot of them at the moment is they appear to have become authorities on 'wellness'. Half of them are talking about healthy eating and the other half are giving out about followers being put under pressure to look a certain way etc. They don't really need to talk about it at all.

The Frugality has signed off Istagram for awhile. I enjoy her house renovations and also she speaks about the reality of motherhood which I appreciate.
DMBL40 has swung waaay too much to high end but she is entertaining.

40+ is very repetitive and I dislike when she goes to Primark with a few other istagrammers and they all try on the same clothes but in general, she is lovely and although I don't follow her for her fashion advice anymore, I am very reluctant to unfollow her because she is so sweet and helpful and seems one of the few genuine people on there.

I can't see any of the stories or blog posts you mention where the bloggers refer to this thread, or admitting an error. Is that just a lie to drive traffic to their sites then?

@splatpancake thanks!

@strangerthongs styled by Susie talked about this thread in her stories on IG. It may have gone by now though. She thinks the comments on this thread are "quite nasty" which I think was unfair of her as I've not found any of the comments to be so. only people fed up of being sold/lied to under the guise of 'I'm normal me'

Regarding the blog post a pp linked to it certainly had some valid points & I can see how you lose the very thing that made bloggers different in the first place. However having worked in fashion retail I can also see their side. If no content control you often see spelling mistakes, the wrong links, promo code etc..
Often companies target a load of bloggers/influencers because brands aren’t sure on ROI etc so it makes more sense to attempt to reach as big an audience as possible.

While i wouldn't say anyone has been nasty - just stated opinions - it must still be hurtful for them to read. It does come with the territory of putting yourself out there of course but in doing so and trying to build a name for yourself it still can't be nice to read peoples comments. And I htink being honest most people who start a blog etc as a hobby are not going to turn down any opportunities that arise ie being able to actually make money from it, get freebies etc. i think if we are honest with ourselves most of us would do the same......we start businesses etc to grow not to sit in the one place so I can see it from both sides

I just read the Midlifechic post and was intrigued about how much the diet meal plan would cost so looked it up and it is £24 a day!! What a total waste of money (not that she is paying for it of course!!)!

Strangerthongs Just because you didn’t see that particular Ista story doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. Get a grip!

Not sure if anybody allows their children to watch YouTube ‘unboxing’ videos? Basically they are people sponsored by toy companies who open up toy collectibles such as LOL dolls. After each item they unwrap, they exclaim in apparent wonderment at the toy and speak inchildren’s vouces while ‘playing’ with them. They are unnerving and really awful things both to watch and expose children to as they create a desire to want to own all the toys. Istagram influencers are the adult version of ‘unboxing’. They driver consumerism as constantky flash up new things to buy. Of course the answer is to unfollow. This year Ireduced my followings to people who offer style advice or who are entertaining. I’m a lot happier for it.

• and speak in children’s voices.

Don't like something don't do it. Don't like an account on Instagram don't follow. It's as easy as that. I think there's so much jealousy involved in tearing people apart. If you think you can do better give it a go! It's out there for everyone- some do, some don't. Never sure why it creates so much controversy.

Aaaahhhh..... The old "Y'all jus jellus" response. As predictable as a German train.....

@ElspethFlashman maybe not you right?but I know there are criticisms driven by 'I wish I could do that and get free stuff' else why would it be so bothersome what these women are doing? I've used Instagram since 2012 and have seen it become an amazing inspiring platform where I have met incredible people. Those I don't agree with or aren't appealing to me I just don't follow. Easy peasy. No one is forcing me to get my credit card out.

As a mother of 2 small children I will always be critical of social media, even if I don’t use it. Individually no one is to blame but collectively the culture of consumerism, narcissism, the need to portray an amazing existence, etc is not good for society imo.

@canigetaliein people said the same thing about television. It's all about moderation. You can't stop progress. We live in a first world country.

Is it really comparable to tv? Perhaps only the QVC channel? Istagram relating to fashion for the most part is non stop advertising.

@Bloominglovely it's really not. There are some amazing accounts out there, international ones included, that don't push any buying. Many I follow are committed to buying less and shopping their wardrobe. Just unfollow the ones pushing purchases if that's not your bag!

ToBeClear Disagree with that, Look at the facebook & all the data breaches. Progression is good but needs to be moderated.

@canigetaliein that's how China operates. Not keen on that model.

Advertising on TV is surely just an "old fashioned" way of advertising on insta? product placement in programmes, kids toys adverts on in between kids programmes, music adverts on xfactor ad breaks, celebs endorsing products etc etc. It's everywhere

tobeclear I’d look at the non consumerism accounts if I could find them. All I really want are tips about how to dress for a particular shape, and how to style clothes. They really are few and far between in the hundreds of accounts I (used) to follow.

Istagram is not the new tv! Tv air programmes that are informative and interesting or entertaining. Advertisements can be skipped and the programme still watched. Fashion Istagram is simply advertising, and very little else. The majority of it is fake, I follow one account where the Istagrammer used return from holidays to literally hundreds of deliveries. The amount of time she spent unwrapping deliveries and the amount of ‘stuff’ was overwhelming and then I got quite disgusted by it. And no I absolutely do not want to do it myself or get free gifts that I never thought I wanted in the first place before that is suggested. I have enough clutter without adding more.

Yes I looked through mid life chics posts from the beginning the other day and feel she has definitely gone from "one of us" (no offence but bad outfits and bad hair days) to extremely polished. I don't know if this is the point though, is it her natural evolution of style and now knowing what works for her or her getting a tonne of freebies and skincare treatments to look distinctly more polished. Her confidence in front of the camera is a world away now from her earlier posts.

I do like her generally and love her blog it's just that last blog post that left a sour taste...

The thing about public criticism of influencers and whether it is valid I think is confused (and confusing for them perhaps) partly because they position themselves and start out as individuals operating blogs that don't make any money. No wonder criticism feels unwarranted and overly personal at that point. But once they become 'successful' in terms of followers, they operate in order to generate money/profit from their customers (followers). At this point, they become a business - while also masquerading as the followers supporter and friend. I think that makes them a legitimate subject for discussion and criticism, just like any other business. I don't think that means that criticism should be unpleasant or deeply personal, which is never justified. But as I mentioned up-thread, most people in most jobs get feedback, positive and negative.

I agree with @canigetaliein that though we can all exercise choice, the overall culture that social media creates and perpetuates is deeply problematic. I mentioned up-thread that I find DmBL40's personal style increasingly bizarre and the sheer amount of stuff she buys (often to fill 'gaps' in her wardrobe - SURELY SHE HAS NO GAPS) a bit sickening. From her point of view this shouldn't matter as I am sure she couldn't care less what I think of her fashion sense and rightly so! I'm not singling her out other than to say she is one of the few I continue to follow nevertheless because I also think she is engaging and funny. I battle with myself daily, wanting to see her and other people's updates but also knowing that doing so will make me want more of everything, and make me feel that what I have is not enough.

It's complicated and I think that makes the whole thing worthy of discussion - and critique. My sense is that people like the Frugality are more aware of the problems and contradictions associated with what they do and more concerned about it than others. Another contradiction is the slew of new year messages about being one-self etc etc when one job of influencing I thought was to encourage followers to be more like them!

@Bloominglovely check out #50daysofshoppingmywardrobe you might find some lovely accounts

i didn't say instagram was the new tv i said advertising on tv is the old version of advertising on insta......there are plenty of insta accounts that are not advertising....and you can simply scroll/delete app if you're not interested much like skipping ads on TV (which you never used to be able to do)