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.

There are two instagrammers who live in my area - last summer it seemed like they were wearing exactly the same thing! I went out one evening and it appeared one in three women were also dressed like them - most odd.

I follow a lot of declutter and minimalist hashtags as I'm definitely at the minimalist end of the continuum. Have unfollowed several who buy/are given so much stuff, and prefer those who rework their existing wardrobes. Quite like the project 333 and 10 x 10 hashtags too.

One of the bloggers/grammers mentioned here is known to me - I find her writing style irritating but people seem to like it, so it must just be me!

tobeclear Indeed! I know lots of these women live in a different world to me but when I hear these things I do just want to switch off from them, so out of touch

Someone said there are no good state schools in London?! Primary or secondary?

Errr..this is Style & Beauty and we’re talking about that 🤔

Well it’s a thread about instagrammers, cherry, they don’t always just talk about fashion!
Secondary

Going back to midlifechic, if you read through her posts you can see, for example, her hair evolution and the time and effort she's taken going to different stylists to find a result she's happy with. I vaguely remember one post where she followed the Insta/blogger herd herself and found it wasn't much good and regretted it. Anyway...is it really so hard to believe that someone can evolve their style and fashion? After five years of fashion blogging you would expect someone to learn how to take better photos, put an outfit together, etc, and therefore look more polished - I don't think that's necessarily a sign of nefarious behaviour. But I can also see the point that more audience equals more paid work equals more convergence, more ability to spend on a wardrobe, and less relatability.

(not midlifechic, btw. But do read her blog)

Yes, I think MidlifeChic has evolved very naturally and shared her experiences along the way. I think a sure sign of her quality is the traffic she generates on her blog and the way she engages. Proper engagement.

Her latest post on capsule wardrobes is a right good.un.'

Read this today and thought it was quite true.
The grubby business of “influencer” whereby popular folk position themselves as a sort of human billboard, salivating over whichever handbag, sanitary, toothpaste or crisp brand has paid them to, is moving into tricky territory. Users have stopped buying into their cheesy captions and brands are questioning how many real followers these people actually have (fake news permeates all). The murky world of declaring whether something is an #Ad or not is becoming no less opaque. There is one fashion editor who is said to be coining in £15K a post without framing them as sponsored projections. But alongside this, there is a feeling that the “instagrammability” of a place or thing is becoming in that most damning of modern parlance, basic. To pose in front of a jaunty brand-made backdrop, to share an image of your breakfast, to offer nothing more than your own narcissistic bent is swiftly becoming passé.

@ElspethFlashman I agree Helenwearsasize18 is fab & very surprised not to see more mention her as she is very high street/affordable, properly real from point of view of figure/feelings towards fashion.

Her and Erica Davies have made a big impact on me in the last year 😊

The sooner the influencer craze is gone, the better. It relies so heavily on the associated greed/insecurity cycle that its days must be numbered. Look at me in my luxury house, with my fairytale lifestyle and my endless wardrobe - all built on reminding you how little you have! It would be interesting to see just what the actual follower numbers are - but it does seem that much of it is very trumped up.

....... and the constant woe is me at having to raise their own children! Most of us just get on with it while working full time, managing friendships and running our house - do they actually believe they are the first people ever to do this. So much faux woe - all designed to flog the next bit of crap.

It will either pass or get worse. Hopefully not the latter.

Some of it will depend on what the youngsters think

Ds (13) doesn’t see the point at all and knows why people do it - to show off or ‘flex’ as he says which makes me laugh. It’d die out with that approach

But perhaps there’s a divide between male and female, and girls are on more image-based SM - a question rather than assumption

My 14 yo dd is pretty savvy. I was discussing this with her the other night and she said with an eye roll, “mum I know they’re being paid to bang on about stuff. It’s pretty obvious.” As a result, she says it turns her off buying the stuff because she knows it’s and ad and therefore ‘fake’ endorsement.

So there is some hope out there that this will die a death soon!

That’s good l love that they are immune

Plus they like better things ecosia search engine where ad revenue plants trees (Ds just told me haven’t looked into it much)

Its a dangerous Echo chamber where women are encouraged to not have an opinion.

More instamums today with stories ‘if you have nothing nice to say then don’t speak’.

Come on! Who the hell are they to think they can dictate the tone. Do you ever see men ask this of men?!

Yes, horrible controlling behaviour where only an echo chamber mentality is permitted. Really makes you wonder how they will cope in the future when their own daughters are being told to shut up for daring to express an opinion.

Good points re being told to only be nice.
I get the sentiment of only say some thing if you only have something nice to say - of course. But surely that doesn’t apply to life in general, we are allowed to express an opinion surely, but apparently
Not in Instagram world

Yes, the shutting down of any comment or query they don't like is dangerous and downright self serving. And personally I find the coquettish teenage pose of inward feet very disturbing! Why do they stand like they are gangly 13 year olds waiting for a bus? It's beyond ridiculous and actually makes whatever shoes/jeans they are flogging look awful.

yy to the weird way they pose. There is one instamum where every picture is her bending over in front of the camera. WTF is that all about? stand up straight!

I really don't like the way 40plusnotgivingup stands in her posts. Her feet are always pointing at odd angles and she looks uncomfortable

I love reading mumsnet, I rarely post but found this thread really interesting. I follow a lot of the accounts mentioned and have an account myself (small under 600). I used to love getting inspo from instagram but I had to take a step back when 'must haves' and the copying started getting out of control. After the Stacey Dooley doc I had to reign in my spending and the need to acquire so much clothing. Like most others i just want to see genuine women sharing their style and inspiring others with their outfit choices, who don't want to be influencers. There are still some of them out there, they are hard to find though.

@Teebag I always think it must be horrible as a smaller account, having to buy all the stuff that the bigger ones are getting gifted just to keep up. And all the endless fangirling!

Im not a keeping up or the fangirling type. Who has the time and whats the point. If I see lots of people going after the same item, it puts me off.