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.

[HoldMeCloserTonyDanza]

😂 pagwatch my favourite in this genre is the teenage-style selfie of middle-aged woman and all her friends. Friends are blurry/cross-eyed/doublechinned, but picture is still straight up on the feed because dammit, the poster looks good! I would MURDER a friend who did that! 😂

[HoldMeCloserTonyDanza]

I give people a bit of leeway with jobs becuase in fairness lots of jobs would strongly discourage/ban any mention of them on a social media feed. I could talk about my work on my Instagram (or here, where I think I’m still reasonably anonymous) but it would be pretty unprofessional and frowned-upon in my industry. I imagine a teacher or something would find it very tough?

[HoldMeCloserTonyDanza]

Someone on a thread like this recommended teeclutter to me and I really really like her - it’s a bit of a “younger” look than a lot of the accounts previously mentioned but still a grown-up, mother-of-small-children look!

[finks100]

The quantity of clothing most of these instagrammers have astonishes me. I’d like to find someone who dresses well, from the high street, but wears the same things frequently.
A quick look through some of the recommended influencers doesn’t show repeated wearing.
I’d like a capsule wardrobe of neutral colours...!!

[ElspethFlashman]

I think Rachel The Hat was one of those who joined in the horrible pile on against MN back when some Instagrammer got their pride dented by something on here. So I unfollowed.

Wearsmymoney was the "bunch of cunts" one, I believe. I'll correct that if I'm wrong but I remember it as her.

I don't follow anyone who talks about other women that way just because they have a different opinion. Certainly not people who make those comments so public.

They're always telling us to "just unfollow" so I was just obeying instructions!

[Gotstuckwiththisname]

Oh i didn't know there was a backlash against MN! Interesting.

I also really like inmysizeandinthesale. She's a lovely lady too.

[canigetaliein]

Even Kate Moss wears her favourite pieces to death, another reason I love her. 🤣

[strangerthongs]

the plus size bloggers really hate MN, because MNetters 'fat shame' them and it restarts all the eff your beauty standards, body confident messages.

These messages are really counter productive imo - a true body confident person would have no need to defend themselves.

Anyway, what's with all the standing in the middle of the street pictures? Lets see some taken whilst sitting on the sofa eating some toast, pigging out on a curry, taking the dog for a walk, in the asda supermarket aisle.

There are so few relatable instagrammers, in fact the younger members of my family don't use instagram as much so it seems to be losing its influence.

[YouWereRight]

Yes PagWatch the wannabe insta thing is odd. I have a friend who buys shit, then uses #gifted. WTactualF.

I much prefer the sewing Instagrammers. Lisa Comfort, Rosabella Angelica, Jess Sews clothes, etc, are all really well dressed, but can only recommend patterns.

[strangerthongs]

I've just remembered reading something about how instagrammers who did not declare ads would be punished....is that just in the states though, can anything be done by the ASA here?

[ElspethFlashman]

In fairness its much much MUCH better than it was re: declarations.

[finks100]

@YouWereRight
I love these suggestions, I follow Mademywardrobe she is great and I follow lots of knitters- got lots of pattern ideas from them. Anymore suggestions like these are great!

[mrscampbellblackreturns]

I don't follow any of them any more as so bored of the sameness. And also it makes me laugh how the majority get all dressed up but never seem to actually go out anywhere.

I went off inthefrow when she admitted doing hauls and then returning clothes afterwards including a jumpsuit with matching thong bodysuit!!

[Shamalamalam]

I like themuddymummy she’s not particularly a fashion blogger but I like her style

I followed DMBL40 for ages but her style is a bit OTT now.

I don’t really relate to the MOD/FOD/Meldrums type accounts. I have teens and the younger kid stuff turns me off

I follow a lot of the company accounts directly now

[ChardonnaysPrettySister]

It’s true, gifted and paid collaboration hashtags have been much better recently.

[AtHomeInFrance]

HoldMeCloserTonyDanza - I am a teacher and it would be very much frowned upon to talk about my job, especially in an "outing"way. We are supposed to act with discretion and integrity and certainly not to attempt to make financial gain from it.
finks100 - please can you share some of the knitters you follow, sounds like fun.

[EdinaMonsoon]

Try searching the hashtag “30wears” It’s a tag used to inspire a buy less/choose well mentality. I find the constant shopping & gifting plain greedy, inauthentic & frankly irresponsible - both from an ethical & environmental perspective.

[finks100]

@AtHomeinFrance
I follow
Woolfolkyarn (amazing patterns)
Ysolda
kalurah (often has free patterns when they are new)
Weareknitters
Shepnatasha
By Annie claire
Donnasmithdesigns
Marilyn’s

These are a few of the top ones, be warned though unless you are a quick knitter you will see more than you can complete, my ravelry library is huge...a resolution is to complete my projects before buying more!

[AtHomeInFrance]

finks100 - thank you so much for these, will keep me happily entertained til Luther time! Are any of them for beginners do you know?

[YouWereRight]

Thanks finks, I like Mademywardrobe, and I'l check those out.

Some of the people I like are Craftwerking
Selfassemblyrequired
KnitSafari
HeartZeena
the hook nook life
Lottie and Albert
With Wendy

[Clionba]

ElspethFlashmsn you're right about the attacks on mumsnet, they were unpleasant.
As pp have said, it's got very much more about business and advertising. I think some of them look similar because they get given the same things, Hill & Friends bags, Hush clothing etc. I've lost count of the promotions DMBL40 does, I think it does mean they wear what's given rather than what suits.

[Judystilldreamsofhorses]

elspeth Rachelthehat is the absolute WORST for disclosure. Some of the stuff on her blog is clearly cut and pasted copy, with really spurious links. I don’t give a shit if you’re being paid to flog jewellery, just be upfront about it. At one point she was making a living from her blog, but now has a job, so I guess it didn’t work out long term.

[Babbas]

Style me Sunday is awful. I have unfollowed so many recently because they start off high street and charity shop and then goo straight to buying all 5 shades of all saints bikers. Stealmystyle is one of the worst. She is gifted so so much stuff most of it really expensive. And she's also very smug. I love 40plusnotgivingup. She's is genuinely nice and always advises against buying too much. I love her style too and she is very honest.

I've unfollowed so many mentioned on this thread and I think it really is a case of finding what you like and unfollowing the rest. Otherwise it's like grounding day with the ads/links/freebies etc.

[Cuddlecouch]

40plus is great but my goodness the repetition. The same cami (even in winter) and those godawful office boots!! But she is genuinely so adorable and with the loveliest personality I can't unfollow her. I used to like gettingstuffdoneinheels but it became a constant ad with freebies from very/ boden/joules... just degenerated into a complete bore fest with the occasional cancer sob story thrown in. There's just no diversity on Insta. It's all the same group of wedgie middle class women with rich hubbies, who don't work, being gifted the same old crap.

I would never buy all saints biker/ Daniel Wellington watch/ brand alert alley uggs/ very clothes simply because the brands have degraded themselves.

I used to follow the fatfunnyone until she stated capitalising on her friends death and putting up photos of her in her underwear. It's all become so preachy.

They are, on the whole, also very very smug!

[Ivegotthree]

I am so over women putting up a naked/underwear pic as an expression of their confidence or whatever it is meant to express.

I don't want to see slightly podgy/skinny/obese women in their pants, no matter how many #effyourbeautystandards hashtags.

It was clever and bold at first but now it's just hackneyed and I unfollow anyone (Alice J T the most recent example) who bores me with it.