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.

I think we saw a whole new level of #bollocks when the Torygraph's favourite influencer declared that, after dedicating 2018 to the most shameless level of grabbing freebie holidays, clothes and household goods, we should be showing what virtuous people we are with a #ethical Christmas. My dc can see through this - maybe we should all relax and hope that our children, who are wiser than us, won't be sold to in such a shameless fashion.

@AtHomeInFrance I really, really hope so. Those rushing to buy the latest influencer must-have item or trend are shockingly gullible.

Influencers / bloggers / stylists / call them what you will are all the same, despite even the most vehement denials. Spaffing into their phones for endless insta 'stories'. Pushing the idea that they're 'shopping their own wardrobe' to reduce their consumption of fast fashion, only to swiftly return to daily purchases. Giving advice on lifestyle, nutrition etc that they're in no way qualified to.

The sooner this trend dies, the better. It will go the same way as Facebook before long.

Exactly this @AtHomeInFrance. They all trumpeted how much they agreed with the Stacey Dooley doc and how their new stated goal would be to make their (and presumably our) 'wardrobes work harder'. Yet the endless consumption continues apace. Who can keep up? How many Bella Freud jumpers/Golden Goose trainers/£300+ dresses etc does one person need?!! I think if anyone scrolled back through their blogs to even just a couple of years ago you wouldn't see many of the same pieces still being worn (barring designer items). It's so out of step with the move towards sustainability in society and at odds with the values I want for my children. The retail industry is really struggling and many of the stores (Debenhams, House of Fraser etc) that work a lot with bloggers are in trouble. Maybe they're seen as one last throw of the dice?

AthineinFrance. Who is that influencer? Frugality?

I didn't see the Telegraph feature in full but the contradiction and hypocrisy is so central to this. I saw several influencers specifically mention the Stacey Dooley doc - one said that she was going to do some research. Hmm, right. Nothing changed and it would have been better if she'd just ignored it altogether as clearly any meaningful research would probably suggest that her job is untenable. Another wrote a blog post on Black Friday saying that they did not advocate it as it encouraged people to buy things they don't need. I like this person, she does make me laugh, but I couldn't help wondering, does she think we're thick? Her ENTIRE output is there to encourage us to buy things we want but don't need!

I am not sure where they can go from this - it seems rather indicative of late (end!?) stage capitalism which may or may not be able to bear the weight of its many contradictions (ie endless consumption and growth and ongoing environmental degradation leading potentially to collapse).

It seems to me that it is just very difficult to be an influencer and also have any meaningful commitment to sustainability - I inhabit that hypocrisy too though, so not placing blame or absolving myself. It's easier to claim that you are both an influencer and a friend of women, but that's because we have entirely normalised the idea that it is OK to create need in order to sell stuff and that we should realise our identity and enjoy 'self-growth' through what we buy. They really are just advertising but that word doesn't seem 'naice' perhaps compared to 'influencers.'

Really well put ooglyboo. It really is normalising their actions so they can continue selling, because they are salespeople and they are selling...... I too wonder if it is coming to an end and there will be a backlash against these companies who shower the advertisers with freebies, rubbing ordinary people's noses in it on a daily basis. The "because I'm worth it" culture which has to reward the things that people having been doing forever; raising your own children, working, running your own home is beginning to look entirely vacuous and shallow and hopefully we can all go back to a time when we can just do ordinary things without a sodding great #klaxon alert!

Well, Luludumas has had a sale today!
What is it with F&F clothing? Is it Florence and Fred of Tesco fame?
They seem to be flavour of the week?

I really used to like emma hills style and personality but her style declined as all she wore was blazers and jeans and i was slowly going off her and then she did the blog post about hating babies and that completely put me off her

Instagram used to be good for inspirations but seeing how it has just become business for most bloggers i have lost interest in it

I just wish when they do their ‘high street try ons’ it was really someone wandering about taking the best bits from every shop. Where’s the Dorothy Perkins, Next, Gap, Warehouse, Oasis, New Look etc but presumably as there’s nothing in it for them they don’t bother. But who would? Lots of time and effort for nothing. So it’s endless trawls through H&M and ASOS often on a theme for months on end.

I guess that the ones who do it well, really do a high street round up, are the ones who blog. I think/assume that they are getting revenue from the advertising that runs alongside. Maybe they will outlast the instasales folk. It would be nice to see someone making a success of it, but, as you say, there's no insta money in it.

I’ve started following stealmystyle40 on Instagram after seeing her mentioned on here. I was interested in her as she’s little like me.
Anyway, I’m really, really not a bitchy person and I know I’m out of the loop with fashion so maybe it’s a thing now, but are her eyebrows ok? or did she get something done to them today that I’ve missed her mentioning? Maybe dyed and she needs to keep the dye on all day? They look all most plastic.

I really hate writing this here as I don’t want to be flamed, I’m just interested in whether this is how the cool kids wear their eyebrows now or is this some kind of treatment or something...

They're very heavily dyed by the look of it. I do like her style though. Interestingly I'd never heard of her and she's got 25k followers!! She must not cross over with the ones I do follow.

OMG! Those eyebrows! Mesmerising. Can it be deliberate?

I found stealmystyle40 from here too. I do think her eyebrows are ageing, but each to their own. I like that she wears lots of high street (even if she does have expensive bags and jackets!!).

I like bloggers that don't seem to take fashion too seriously. That's why I am quite enjoying stealmystyle40. I also put PoppysStyle in them same category. By that, i mean I don't always think they 'get it right' but that's what I like about them - they wear what they like.

I have a question, it's genuine but it might not sound like it. I follow Pandora Sykes. Not at all my age group but I like her podcast with Dolly Alderton and think she has some interesting stuff to say. I believe she is an important influencer too. She is currently on holiday and is posting stories and pictures. Some of these include pictures in her bikini in which she definitely looks really fab. The thing is, they seem a bit/especially/more blatantly …. showy-offy? I mean I can understand that she might post pictures of her hols with her family as a sort of reportage thing. Because that is how you grow a following and keep their interest I suppose. But the pictures of her in her bikini just seem to have sort of no specific purpose.

So is she selling the bikini she is wearing? I don't think these posts are marked as an ad. Or is she just saying … here I am in a bikini and I don't I look fab? There's nothing wrong with that I guess, it just seems quite narcissistic and what's confusing about that is she does seem to be aware of and thoughtful about the pitfalls of social media, comparison, presentation of a perfect life / body / etc in her other outputs.

So who is she doing this for and why is she doing it? I am genuinely interested in this, probably being somewhat outside the age group for whom this kind of thing is intended and for whom it's quite normal. Does anyone know?

ooglyboo I've agreed with your other posts and you make valid points, but in this instance I'd respectfully suggest you're seeing something that isn't there.

I guess she is in a "pose" like a model, rather than just casually leaning on that tree (like we would!), but working in the industry she does and the circles she genuinely moves in, she knows how to stand like that, she might even do it instinctively without realising, as she is surrounded by that kind of stuff all the time as the "norm".

She's just in a bikini on holiday and she's confident of her body enough to publish it publicly. I think that's all.
PS Genuinely not being snarky here at all, just disagreeing!

I’ve started to look at Istagram in a whole new way. Before even clicking on it, I ask myself what are they selling this time. I think the increasing awareness of influeners being advertisers is resulting in viewers checking what’s for sale. Personally I think we are all more tuned in, more cynical, more determined not to be taken in by pretty things so we are questioning. That can only be a good thing.

I've similarly unfollowed all the fashion accounts because of the ads and repetition. I still like the interiors accounts though as I'm renovating and find lots of good ideas. I actually find following small accounts where there are no ads, and really huge accounts where it's probably all sponsored but completely unachievable so just pretty to look at the best. It's the ones in the middle with 10 to 30k followers that seem to be caught in a bit of an ad/gift circle and end up all doing the same thing and having the same stuff.

It's good to spot the things to avoid though! No gallery walls, don't paint everything dark, no trite framed memes!

Ie a good thing for us the previously less aware potential consumer. Not so good for the advertisers and certainly diminishing the effectiveness of Ista. influencers.

@Popcorninapot, who do you follow interior wise? I have noticed loads of fashion / beauty accounts moving into the interior space and again there is a lot of repetition and it is very samey. It's a bit boring.

I'm also doing up my house so looking for inspiration. I follow mad about the house who is great but could do with adding some more!

I follow loads ranging from very small to huge.
Big but really good for ideas:

@anitatokoya
@schnordic
@undecoratedhome
@keelyman
@lisadawson (bit ad heavy but beautiful house)

But I follow loads with only a few thousand followers - at that level it’s more a little community of interior decor enthusiasts sharing tips and ideas.

Oh no @blackberrybay, disagree away. I thought twice about whether to write that post because I know it sounds as though I am seeking to shame one individual and actually I totally regret doing so. I wish I hadn't. I do think you're right. There's much less to read into it than I imply (and in fact didn't mean to imply). If I feel uncomfortable with bikini shots more than others then that's my old-fogeyish problem and definitely not hers. I suppose it is so completely alien to me to story your life in this way that I don't really understand any of it!

What a splendid example of passive aggressive bollocks! Well, yes it will if you are promoting/fuelling insecurity so you can carry on flogging crap to people. It really is up there as a silencing technique with the old "if you can't say anything nice, say nothing" . Think I might frame this and hang it above my retro sideboard.

Thank you @popcorninapot!

I like stealmystyle. I often buy things and then see she has got the same, she’s clearly stealing MY style, through telepathy 😬

I try not to look at her eyebrows.