A Look at Fashion Blogs and Fashion Magazines
A look through a fashion blog such as Steph Finny is like a walk through an individual's closet, while a look at the Vogue Magazine is like picking up an editorial of the high fashion world. Such is the difference between a fashion blog and a fashion magazine. A fashion blog is basically defined as a website often run by an individual that covers information on fashion, accessories, celebrity and personal style. These are websites that are easily accessible to anyone who has access to the internet except for a few where one has to pay subscription fees to access certain information. Magazines, on the other hand, are more like print media. One has to subscribe for them or walk to the paper stand at a shopping or retail center to purchase them. Looking at the obvious difference that exists right from the definition, it is quite obvious how technology has not only changed how the very items of fashion are created but how trends are made and spread. Additionally, it is quite obvious just how the print media and the electronic media have redefined how information is passed on the same issue. Besides the medium used in the blog and the magazine, several other comparisons can be made of the language, content and rhetoric in both genres.
Insiders, Outsiders, and Aspiring Insiders
One outstanding aspect of fashion blogs is that they may be written by outsiders, insiders, or aspiring insiders (Colliander and Micael, 314). The insiders are the mainstream fashion gurus who may want to share their ideas on the internet. Outsiders are the individuals who may be described as fashion enthusiasts or just dedicated consumers of fashion, while the aspiring insiders are people who may want to enter into the fashion industry or use their blogs as the backdoor entry into the mainstream traditional fashion world. Steph Finny's blog, for instance, is written by an aspiring insider. The writer describes herself as an individual who intends to inspire the readers through her lifestyle and is inspired to join fashion the fashion industry after completing a degree in Fashion Technology from the Heriot Watt University. In fact in the introduction of her blog, she states that being that she lives in Scotland, her intention is to find an opportunity to move to Los Angeles. At the end of her introduction, she even allows her audience to suggest the kind of posts they would like her to post in future. In light of this, it is quite apparent that the writer makes this blog for a young audience that is more interested in inspiration from her experiences while at the same time looking at the trends in fashion despite the fact that she hardly mentions the fashion in this particular blog post.
Tone and Style
Throughout the blog, Steph's tone is quite relaxed. She is quite casual with the readers and seems to be making conversation with friends. For instance, in her last post which was made in June 17, the writer starts her blog with the words "Let's Have a Talk Happy Sunday!" She then tells the reader about her absence and her feeling about life before talking about the chaos that has been her life. In this way, she is able to appeal to the pathos of the reader. She does not disarm the reader from the start but rather draws them to be interested in what she intends to talk about in her blog. She accompanies the blog post with a photo of her experiences and the clothes she has been wearing during the time she was absent from the blog. She speaks very little about the accessories and the clothes she has been wearing before and only dwells on telling the reader about her experiences. At the end of the blog, it seems more like a gossip column than a fashion blog.
Fashion Magazines: Formal and Informative
Fashion magazines, on the other hand, are more formal. The contents are quite researched and the shots are more professional (Colliander and Micael, 319). Vogue, for instance, holds photoshoots for the models featured in their editions and even have fashion journalists who conduct interviews, write, and edit articles. Vogue, for instance, dedicates its fashion columns to pure fashion trends with little or no gossip at all. Being that the audience comes from diverse walks of life, Vogue uses formal language to a large extent. For instance, the November 8, 2018 column titled "How Do You Reinvent Mary Poppins for 2018? Emily Blunt has a Few Ideas" the writer gives the audience a new way of reinventing a trend that was worn several years ago. The writer begins the article by appealing to the pathos of the reader. She does this by alluding to the character of Mary Poppins and creates imagery by describing the character. The first statement in the article is a rhetorical question as well. It is quite apparent that the editor of the magazine recognizes the influence of celebrities on fashion and as such uses a popular one to talk about the character. This aspect is an attempt to appeal to the ethos. Having an individual who is fashionable and popular implies that she has the credibility to talk about fashion. Besides, being a movie star also gives Emily blunt the credibility to talk about another movie character. It is quite prudent to note that the magazine has a full-time employed editor (Anna Wintour) and that Emily Blunt was an acting one in this particular edition, perhaps to appeal to her followers and the audience and make the article more entertaining to the readers.
The Tone of Vogue Articles
While in most cases fashion magazines are expected to be formal in their tone, in this particular instance, the tone is semi-formal. This implies that in some instances, the writer uses a formal tone while in others the tone is rather casual. Most of the reported speech are rather casual. For instance, the writer writes that "with a rather Mary Poppins-like firmness..." to describe the character of Emily Blunt as she describes the fictional character. It is rather obvious that in this statement the writer casually makes an adjective from Mary Poppins' name and makes it sound quite streetwise. The relaxed tone also appeals to the pathos of the reader as it draws the reader closer to the author of the article. Additionally, the entire description of the character is an attempt to appeal to the logos as it intends to give the logic behind considering her as a fashion icon for the issue. With Emily Blunt as the cover model for the next monthly issue, it is quite apparent that there is need for the editors to elaborate the style and the inspiration behind it going by the influence that fashion magazines have on trends and style. The allusion to a character drawn from the 1960s movies implies that the audience of this article are individuals who have an idea of the movie scene during in 1960s. In addition to this, bringing her back in 2018 through a popular celebrity is intended for audience who would like to experiment with recurring fashion trends.
Similarities and Differences
The fact that both fashion blogs and fashion magazines speak about fashion is a major similarity between the two. Another similarity between fashion blogs and fashion magazines is that they tend to diversify in their content (Kulmala et al, 37). Mostly, they talk about fashion and style as well as celebrity trends and accessories. They also refer to lifestyle issues such as personalities and celebrities and how people may live a healthy lifestyle. Both are accompanied with photos to give visual representations of the main ideas and topics thus appealing to the audience's pathos (Kulmala et al, 33). The use of rhetoric and the tone are dependent on the personalization of both genres. The fact that blogs are more personal implies that the tone is more casual and magazines are often more formal since they are done professionally by employed and established professional. However, the blogs tend to be more personal and thus sometimes they may diverse to other personal gossip-like stories. There is also a difference in tone in most cases and the way the articles are presented as seen in the blog posts by Steph Finny and the articles in Vogue.
Works Cited
Colliander, Jonas, and Micael Dahlén. "Following the Fashionable Friend: The Power of Social Media: Weighing Publicity Effectiveness of Blogs versus Online Magazines." Journal of advertising research 51.1 (2011): 313-320.
Finny, Steph. "A life and Blog update." Steph Finny, 17 June 2018. Blog Post. 14 November 2018.
Kamp, David. "How Do You Reinvent Mary Poppins for 2018? Emily Blunt Has a Few Ideas." Vogue 8 November 2018. Article. 11 November 2018.
Kulmala, Marianne, Nina Mesiranta, and Pekka Tuominen. "Organic and amplified eWOM in consumer fashion blogs." Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An International Journal 17.1 (2013): 20-37.
