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.

Possible she is running it as a sole trader business then, but she would be pretty mental to do so as she would pay more tax. I guess if you are that protective of privacy you may do it that way I suppose. Cutting off your nose to spite your face a bit though.

Even if you run your business on a sole trader basis you aren't off the radar from HMRC's perspective, you would still need to complete a tax return. And you are still bound by UK consumer laws if you are selling your services in the UK.

Oh wait, was it The Mummy Smile?

See how quickly Erica Davies got over her Stacey Dooley moment - back to back ads this week.

Absolutely.fabulucy (Rainbow clothes gimmick, tongue out constantly, unfollowed months ago) as been on a massive rant the last few days. I spotted it on my Explore page as she occasionally pops up as a suggestion.

She was talked about on some forum called Tattle (?? never heard of it either) and she's reacted BADLY. Really badly. Repeatedly saying how she doesn't care what people say about her, whilst appearing to care very very much. Unfortunately it has also driven people over to that site (including me, nosy bitch 4 lyfe).

I sometimes feel sorry for the naivete of these people. They simply do not get it. You can't open every door in your life and then wail to the heavens when people nosy in and don't like what they see and gossip about you as publicly as you talk about yourself and your kids.

I used to follow a lot of fashion bloggers on Instagram and I’m ashamed to say that I got caught up in it all and bought a lot of stuff that I saw these women wearing. I’ve now had a lightbulb moment and honestly the amount of clothes that they have is completely sickening. Things that they rave about being their favourite ever thing and you never see them wear it again. They should all watch that Stacey Dooley programme again.

Instagram is one big ad. It's like those word holiday channels or qvc where everything you see is an ad. But at least you know and can avoid those channels. The Instagrammers are not stupid! They know full well that a gift/spon/paid partnership/aff is all one bloody big ad. Ad. Ad. Ad. Why are they so ashamed? You've sold your lives and often the lives of your children for free stuff. Own it. If it feels wrong then go get a proper job that doesn't harm your self esteem or involve manipulating people online.

They're all fuming about the rules aren't they. Every single one of them is granting about it. 'If I'm not paid why should it be labelled ad?' - sad puppy dog eyes.... erm cos those are the rules and an ad is an ad is an ad. That is why.

After sms40 had an epic rant she then spend the next 20 stories unboxing and wearing a pile of cheap polyester tat from Tesco. Showing it off in every angle saying how great it all was.... erm and that's not an ad??!!!

Really sick of all of them. It's greed and narcissism and grabby and hawking. Not one single person I know in real life buys anything these people post about. If anything the minute I see a product on Insta I go right off it.

You wait until the disclosures really start kicking in then, the volume of gifted stuff is beyond anything I had imagined when I first realised gifting was a thing. Emma Hill has done a couple of posts now (fair play to her she has been pretty considered in her comments despite her obvious irritation with some of the rules) and the gifting is unbelievable. Of today’s outfit the coat, jumper, sunglasses and jeans are all gifted or funded from a ‘Monthly allowance’. Even her hairdo was a freebie . She only paid for her boots and bag herself. Confirms my suspicion that a lot of andotherstories gear is undisclosed advertising though.

Lydia Millen has also done a similar disclosure post but her sarcasm comes across as petulant and doesn’t reflect well on her IMO. I noticed Caroline Hirons and Inthefrow joined in with a sarcastic comment too.

Yes, the selling of their children’s lives. Chloelovestoshop is one of the worse for this, her v young boy is always on her stories. I’m quite a private person but I just can’t understand how anyone would want to share everything about their lives including their children. We know their routines, where they go, we know what their houses look like, we know their kids, we know what they think about everything. It’s kisy selling themselves. It’s really weird when you think about it. A blogger friend of mine recently told me she asks her 7 year olds permission to post him online and says that he unserstands its her job and that he is part of it.
Purlease

The whole industry is going to self implode. Can’t be long surely before someone gets prosecuted to be made an example of.

Yep looks like and other stories and sezane both gift a lot then, which is interesting and actually puts me off buying for some reason.

Love all the outrage at the 'curbing of their creativity'...really grinds my gears when influencers call themselves 'creatives', just no.

Why are they all so so pissed off bordering on angry??? I unfollowed justalittlebuild because every single post was an undeclared ad and for someone so wealthy it seemed ridiculous that she would be selling her kids or advertising bloody milk! It's the arrogance of thinking the law of the country should not apply to them that grinds my gears.

How desperate for money must you be to film and broadcast your children and babies every single day? Why do people want to watch a well off non sahm attend free events, eat free food, wear free clothes, get free equip for their latest room refurb etc etc? It's sickening. I'm really glad the asa have clamped down and ii hope people keep reporting the accounts that breach the rules. I'm a lawyer and I can tell you that real businesses (nig and small) spend a fortune to ensure they do not fall foul of the ad rules. The laws are there for a reason. Why should some two bit bored housewife in herts be allowed to ignore the rules when other people/ businesses are monitored all the time for compliance? The absolute arrogance and greed is disgusting. It's why I no longer use Insta as much.

The truth is they're not stupid. They know the minute everything is properly declared an ad people will see them for what they really are. And they are embarrassed and ashamed. If your job makes you feel that then you need to move on sisters.

I think the anger comes from feeling threatened. Their whole business model relies on a lack of transparency. Also a lot of them have an inflated sense of self importance so it must be unsettling to feel the power shifting to the consumer.

Well that Lydia person (honestly hadn't ever heard of her) was deeply unpleasant, wasn't she? I couldn't back-click out of there fast enough.

(CH is always deeply unpleasant, no shock she's chiming in)

Oh gosh, that Lydia lady. What a very, very angry person. You're a salesperson, selling stuff - you do need to own it. CH - I am genuinely scared of her. I know someone like her in real life - I hide whenever I see her.

Who is the Lydia woman so I can check her rant out? I won’t follow her. I’m actually deleting more than following these days.

CH is so tough and unnecessarily angry. I unfollowed her a long time ago

I followed one woman who wore mainly &Other Stories. I was really puzzled how she ‘bought’’ so much every month as her general lifestyle was not in keeping with her clothing budget so I soon cottoned on that it was mostly gifted.

Further to my last post I found Lydia. She is just awful, and quite obviously smarting that 99.9% of her posts are now being revealed as advertising

What is so funny is to see names like Boden desperately "liking" these grammers and posting naff, adoring comments on their posts. Ffs, don't they realise these girls are only wearing their stuff for the money. My dd and my nieces, all 20/30 something, wouldn't be seen dead in Boden - so very safe and middle aged and respectable. Bet their clobber was all shifted on MOD's clearout sale today (cos there is only so much advertising crap a girl can keep!)

Oh god Lydia. She's a complete twat. Always has been.

I've noticed some mummy bloggers stay incredibly quiet though, id love to know if they're going to disclose their affiliate links.

The whole thing smacks of privilege and greed. It's always the same type of woman, middle aged/ white/ nice house/ kids/sahm/ rich.... the shops who send their free tat are certainly being reductive in terms of the demographic they are aiming to reach. How is that good commercial sense? My black/ Asian friends wouldn't dream of shopping at boden/marks/Oliver bonas any more. They feel completely alienated and misrepresented. Surely clothes companies realise that women come in all colours shapes and sizes. I've never seen any woman over a size 12/14 (usually tall and in proportion if a size 14) being gifted the clothes.

It's all smoke and mirrors too. These women are paid to shout about the latest 'must have dress/shoes/lipstick ' screeching about how ' it's rubbing out of stock!!!' Etc. I saw loads of the 'sold out' m&s dresses and jumpsuits in the sale. By then I was so put off them I walked past. I think society as a whole is starting to move away from materialism and over consumption so as a business model it won't last. And they'll have flogged their children's privacy for absolutely nothing.

40plus has already started writing "#ad (affiliate link)" at the bottom of everything.

But if a mouthful but perfectly straightforward. The thing is she's always been very frank so it's no jarring change. I expect if the other shadier ones start doing it it'll be a shock.

I'm very curious to know what Estee Lalonde will do. The Queen of the undeclared gift. She wears insanely expensive ugly hipster clothes and nary a #gift to be seen. The other day she was wearing literally the ugliest coat I have ever seen, by Shrimps, and it cost close to a grand. No way did she pay full price.

£950.

(Not an instamum, but a big influencer all the same who tries to be super relatable, yeah right)

Is that coat made from fleece? Utterly hideous!

I too am totally turned off brands which pander to these ‘influencers’. M&S asking these vacuous women to design shoes for them is a new low, they’re all hideous and most people won’t actually know who they are anyway. I look forward to seeing them in the 90% off sale in due course, but still wouldn’t buy any of them.

There's a lot of anger on this thread. Reading some of these comments I'm quite shocked. Why is it ok to call someone you don't know a 'twat'? It's all degenerated quickly from a conversation to a slanging match. Check yourselves please. These are people having fun and making some pocket money or earning a living. As I've said before you control what you see on Instagram. If it makes you angry just unfollow. Life's too short!

Boden website appears to represent diversity although still identifying with their demographic. They don't claim to appeal to everyone and that's not their goal.

These are people having fun and making some pocket money

This is naive. Some of the people making twattish comments about the new rules have made vast amounts of money from this industry. It is revealing how little respect they have for their followers.