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.

Yes 3 biker jackets all the same! It's gobsmackingly ostentatious but they don't see it. They wear the jackets like I wear cardigans. It's all so ridiculous and I hate accounts that are gifted hundreds of pounds of free stuff but then expect followers with not much money to go buy 'this season's must have animal print boots.'

40plus at least returns loads, isn't always showing expensive gifted stuff and I absolutely love her kind gentle personality. I hate the oft mentioned office boots though! Although she's tall and skinny she's a good style account to follow because she's still high street and always honest about fit and cost and she pays her way.

She's also a 12-14 and they're few and far between in Instagram, let me tell you.

Yes! Here are my people! I had a mighty Insta cleanout a while ago and scaled it back to pretty much a bunch of my mates praying around. Too much same old, same old, ads and promotions.

One Mentioned on here I unfollowed as she is so brutal about her daughter. Fair enough complaining about your teen to your friends, not so much to your 400,000 followers. My teens would treat me like a dick if I did that too.

Thanks ElspethFlashman. God I didn’t even know that was a thing. I do this constantly, just privately 😁Spent about £650 at Asos & Topshop during the sales but keeping just 3 items.

And I have a credit card spefically for this so that it doesn’t impact my cash flow (obvs pay off what I keep). If I have a wedding or party I order a ton of things to try & compare. I’m incredibly fussy though.

YouWereRight

I like the sewing bloggers, but it is starting to creep in there too. Lisa Comfort has had her bedroom decked out by West Elm, and Pfaff seems to gift a lot of the larger sewing accounts.

It doesn't bother me, but alas I think with my paltry Instagram following I'll be saving up for my own fancy sewing machine rather than being #gifted

Alifetostyle’s Avril also comes across well. She used to be SchoolGateStyle I think and was all about fashion but seems to story about life and other stuff now. She has a very gentle delivery (lovely Irish accent) doesn’t seem to #ad or #gift much.

I noticed luludumas and her very sulky teenager yesterday too! She made reference to loosing lots of followers lately - she comes across as somewhat grabby, and her lastest thing is trying to be a travel influence

Ha I was just near there got a shock - glad she wasn’t at my resort doing photos

I really like Midlifechic who though she does occasionally stray in to advert territory[ Seven Seas Supplements anybody?] is interesting and manages to remain modest.
Luludumas , I find to be quite false and shallow. I notice that she has recently been complaining about being trolled etc. She is quite vocal whenever she comes in for criticism. I am not defending those who are responsible for the nastiness etc, but when you plaster your presumably paid for Christmas holiday all over Instagram then I don't think you should be too surprised when someone has a go at you. Unfortunately it is human nature.
Similarly there is a Cheshire lady who blogs, who has recently plastered pics of her lovely new very expensive house all over Instagram. This includes an aerial view of the whole property! Crazy, and a huge security risk in my opinion.

Avril from A Life To Style is a shining beacon of integrity. She often talks about turning down collaborations as she won't allow her kids to appear online.
Oh dear, MOD really isn't empowering anything but her bank account with that ad for lingerie. Just another brand I will never buy. So contrived and so, so vacuous - is this really where society has sunk to?

@ElspethFlashman just had a look at Ystyleeireland (had never heard of her) and I love that the stuff she is wearing is all so affordable! Not all high end stuff way out of most people's price range, it all seems to be mostly high street and she looks bloody fabulous.

Yeah, she's pretty cheap, lol. She just classes it all up!

I used to read school gate style and stopped for a while, then wondered where she'd gone to. Going to follow again now.

I agree with those who are questioning the RL jobs the instagrammers have - how can they be allowed to post things like that without bringing their employer into disrepute or identifying where they live/work? My employer has very strict rules on social media use as well as second incomes needing to be declared, in our own time, not linked to our main jobs in any way.

Fallingforrosie I agree about Lisa Comfort, over the last year or so, she's been styling herself more as an instamum for sure.

I have noticed that people don't seem to declare the things they've been given for blog posts as #ad or #gifted, I'm not sure which they'd actually fall under. I asked the crafty pinup about her posts recommending skills are because they were blatant ads, my comments got deleted, but she did edit the posts, and now I think she's a bit of a twat.

I follow sewing insta’s too and am rapidly going off Lisa Comfort she’s definitely creating a lifestyle brand and losing integrity. Most of the sewing bloggers who do sponsored posts do it in return for £20 worth of fabric, I can live with that.

a life to style has used her kids though. I remember posts with shoes (m &s I think) and also school uniform from Next. I’m not knocking her, I’m just saying that she has used her kids in the past.

I think maybe now they are a bit older she doesn't use them.

The only fashion blogger who doesn't irritate me and that I’ve stuck with is Style Guile – Beth Goodrham. I’ve discovered lots of new brands from her (Asquith; Air and Grace) and get good ideas from the way she puts things together.

Am just dropping in to mention my favourites who haven't popped up yet - candicebrathwaite

• hannahfgale

I do love sewing blogs too and kateevadesigns is a recent discovery.

Thanks for all the new suggestions!

I like accessstyle too. Another Irish one, very down to earth, no high end stuff.

I seem to follow a lot of Irish instagrammer's too, I do like thestylefairy and pipsy_pie is stunning. Also follow stylistmum and have just started following mymidlifestylist whilst it is aimed at a slightly older range than I am I find it more wearable ideas. I get a lot of German or Texas recs and they seem to be better than the UK ones but then I can't get hold of the clothes.

@HolidayDreamer - why are the German/Texas recs better than the UK ones? Are they more relevant or is it about the #ads?

Started following almost all the suggestions, and will weed out the worst ones in the next few weeks.

What’s with the #partnership hashtag (as used by teacherfashionista) Is it another way of not saying #ad? Or that they got a discount instead of a #gift or #freebie?

Oh, and I’d like some German recommendations!