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MORE WOMEN ARE CREATING A BUZZ
WITH BLOGS THAT LET THEM SHARE THEIR PASSIONS AND OPINIONS ON FASHION
By Nerissa Pacio Mercury
News
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Poll: What sort of style blog
would you read every day?
``I just got the Bergdorf Goodman spring shoe catalog the other day, and
I'm inspired!'' writes Julie Dam, a People magazine editor, on her blog,
Somelike ithaute.com. ``I've been studying its contents even as the wind
gusts outside my window. Who cares about the 45-degree weather? Get thee
to the shoe department, I say!''
Dam, 34, a music and celebrity weddings editor for the magazine in New
York, started her shoe-centric blog almost a year ago as a promotional
tool for her recently published chick-lit novel by the same name. Writing
in the chatty voice of Alex Simons, Dam's alter ego and the novel's
endearing shopaholic heroine, Dam accompanies each blog entry with a photo
of her feet in a selection from her real-life designer footwear collection
that includes Pradas, Manolos and Guccis. |
`I'm more well-rounded than people think,'' Dam writes. `I'm not just
about shoes. I like handbags and sweaters, too.''
Dam's online diary of fashionable observations is among the vast number of
blogs that continue to explode on the Internet. According to Derek Gordon
of Technorati, a San Francisco-based search engine that tracks 31.5
million blogs, the number of blogs is doubling every 5 1/2 months.
Although most Web logs are musings by a writer and meant as a private
journal of sorts shared with a few select people, more and more have taken
on a large following.
Rock star bloggers
``Most blogs are written for the benefit of the individual and their close
circle of family and friends,'' Gordon says. ``Then there are the rock
star bloggers, about 5,000 in number, who have a large readership,
advertising on their blogs, and focus on a single subject or developing an
expertise.''
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Among them are blogs about style, fashion and beauty.
While some bloggers say they do it simply to share their sartorial
passion, others like Dam have also tapped into blogging to further their
writing careers.
``Lots of authors have their own Web sites, but the blog is actually about
them,'' says Dam, who gets an average of 750 readers per day. ``Making the
blog about my character was something new and different. It's helped get
people who just like reading my blog to go buy the book, and it's helped
with the press I've been getting online.''
Maggie Mason started the shopping blog Mighty goods.com in 2004. The San
Francisco-based freelance writer had the idea after launching her personal
blog Mightygirl.com in 2000 and seeing its readership grow.
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`Wear this long pendant with your favorite
tank top, or let it peek out from a deep neckline. The perfect complement
to your cleavage,'' writes Mason about a minimalist circle pendant
necklace that she found online.
Mightygoods.com, updated five days a week, is a collection of online
retail finds and links to where they can be purchased. Products are
selected with Mason's eye for the clean and modern, from jewelry and
clothes to gourmet foods and housewares.
`I really like stuff,'' says Mason, 30. ``I thought it'd be cool to find a
place where I could put all this stuff I was finding on the Web and have
people click through and own it easy-peasy. Collecting it all in one place
also satisfied my own acquisition instinct. It's a way to tell a bunch of
people about something you've found that intrigues or touches you. It's an
accumulation of my tastes.''
Mighty satisfying
The blog has even attracted a few small advertisers, and while Mason would
not disclose actual figures, she says she makes enough money to run the
site and pocket a little extra. It averages about 3,000 readers each day.
Mason's blogging habit also landed her most of her freelance jobs. Editing
and writing assignments from online weekly magazine the Morning News to
print publications such as the New York Times have come by way of editors
who happened upon her blogs, she says.
``A good blog can keep you at the top of people's minds,'' Mason says.
``They think of you when they need to hire someone, because they read your
stuff every few days.''
What does she think makes a good blog?
``Good writing, quality content, frequent postings and a clean design
can't hurt,'' Mason says.
Heather Cocks, 28, and Jessica Morgan, 30, created noticeable blogosphere
buzz with their punchy celebrity trash talk on gofugyourself.com. What
started two years ago as an inside joke between the two friends about
``fug,'' or frightfully ugly fashions on celebrities, blew up into a blog
with a major online following. They attract 130,000 to 150,000 readers on
any given day.
Consider a recent blog: ``Nicky tried to put on a happy face, but all she
could think was, `I look like Little Orphan Annie with a water-retention
problem in this thing,' '' says an entry accompanying a photo of Nicky
Hilton in a blue Peter Pan collar mini-dress cuffed at the hemline. ``
`That is the LAST time I let Paris approve my wardrobe without giving her
a breathalyzer first.' Fortunately for her, some people may have been too
busy gawking at how ugly feet look when squished into clear plastic shoes
to really care much about her clothes.''
Snide remarks pay off Their no-holds-barred, hilarious commentary has landed the two women, who
are L.A.-based story producers for reality TV shows, spots on VH1's
``Awesomely Badder Fashion'' and a regular weekly column, ``Fashion
Trauma,'' in In Touch magazine. It's been reported that the site makes
about $3,500 a month in advertising.
``There are personal blogs by people out there who are writing for
therapy, or they might have noticed something and want to just write about
it,'' Cocks says. ``We've tapped into something we love to do ourselves
and that other people love to do at home. Getting together with your
friends, flipping through an issue of US Weekly and making fun of Jessica
Simpson in a miniskirt, poncho, boots and a newsboy. . . . It's a shared
experience for those of us who really love fashion and love the celebrity
gossip.''
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Contact Nerissa Pacio at npacio@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5827. Courtesy - Google News
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