Can editors and bloggers ever just get along?
What once might have been a tenuous relationship — remember when bloggers were banned from shows? — has seemingly matured into a grudging symbiosis. But recent comments from both sides have revealed that there is a polarizing discord bubbling under the poised surface.
The controversy got a public airing earlier this week when an innocuous conversation among Vogue editors devolved into a piling-on of blogger criticisms.
“Please stop … You are heralding the death of style,” wrote Vogue.com creative digital director Sally Singer about bloggers paid to change outfits at fashion week. The magazine’s Sarah Mower concurred, calling professional bloggers “pathetic” and “desperate.” Her colleague Nicole Phelps said it’s “distressing” for brands to participate, and congratulated Versace and Bottega Veneta for abstaining. The title’s Alessandra Codinha also weighed in, laughing at calling them bloggers when it seemed to be about merely turning up and looking “ridiculous.” “It’s all pretty embarrassing,” she wrote on its website.
The undercurrent seemed less about the clothes and more about two camps vying for front-row seats and retail dollars: the “establishment” versus the “rule-breakers.” The bickering has played out on blogs, Twitter and backstage in a way that resembles a high school dram-edy
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