The Life of a Fashion Blogger

The blogging community has grown tremendously over the last few years and is so huge that it has been segmented into different areas. Genres such as fashion, beauty, travel, interiors, books and pop culture have been developed into sub-communities of their own. The sizes of the sub -communities vary tremendously; there are thousands of fashion bloggers out there while the pop culture blogger community is pretty tiny. A few communities even have their own blogging informal organisations such as Independent Fashion Bloggers for fashion and Brown Beauty Blogger, Inc. But what is it like being a travel blogger and how does it compare to being someone who blogs about fashion and what about if you are ones of those people (like me) who blogs about a mixture of topics? We call ourselves pop culture bloggers as we cover a variety of topics with the sole aim of picking up on trends, events or anything that is simply popular. I set out to find out more about the different cultures of blogging by talking to prominent people from the different scenes. I will be posting the interviews up through out the week. Today I am starting with Ella from Coco's Tea Party who has been blogging since 2006.

Why did you start blogging?
I mainly started on a whim, as it was something to do when I was bored. Ever since I could read I have devoured magazines and writing about fashion was something to do in between the monthly magazines coming out. I was also about to apply for Fashion Journalism degrees and I thought it would give me an edge in interviews if I looked like a pro-active kind of person.

Why did you choose to write about fashion?
Fashion is the only thing I really know about, and it’s the only thing I’m completely and utterly obsessed with. If I was passionate about another subject football I’d probably write about that, but fashion is all I really know. Plus there is always something happening in fashion, so you’re rarely short of inspiration.

Are you a member of any bloggers groups?
No. Not because I don’t want to be I’m just rather unaware of blogging groups online.

Do you attend any blogger meet ups?
I’ve met up with a lot of bloggers I regularly comment and read etc, and I’ve been friends with Stevie from Discotheque Confusion for years as we both set up our blogs around the same time. But I haven’t met any bloggers though excusive ‘blogger meet up’ sessions.

How do you find the fashion blogging community? 

Everyone I’ve met from the blogging community has been lovely and always really friendly and supportive. Because blogging is pretty much something you learn about as you go other bloggers are great for sharing tips with. Funnily enough, myself and all the other bloggers I know are pretty clueless when it comes to computers and technical stuff, so it’s great to be able to swap advice.

Are there any community blogging activities that you are involved in?

Not really. Again it’s something I probably should be involved in, but never seem to find the time too. 

You can read Ella's blog here.

You can follow her on Twitter.  

Tomorrow find out what it is like to be a beauty blogger.  

The One and Only Coco

Now we all know that there are a whole heap of fashion blogs out there which cover anything from fashion shows to the latest trends and what celebrities are wearing. However not all of them possess the passion and knowledge that you will find in Coco's Tea Party. Set up 2006, the blog looks at the parallels between fashion and celebrities and the popular hit and miss feature scrutinises the wardrobes of the rich and famous. I caught up with Coco to find out the real deal about Coco's Tea Party.

What made you start blogging?

I don't really remember why I started and to be honest I never planned to. I was just bored one day, and I get through magazines so quickly I thought it would be something constructive to do while waiting for the new issues to come out. But over time I really got into it and now it is much more than just filling time.

Describe the concept behind Coco's Tea Party.

Well my ideas change all the time. When I first started Coco's Tea Party was probably 80% celebrity fashion and it's probably more 50/50 between celebrity and designer now.

You always have an interesting image on the header, how do you go about choosing it?

Well since I came up with the 'We'd rather go naked' quote I always choose images of naked celebrities. It is slightly odd when googling to look for a new one. The first naked star I had was Chloe Sevigny and I loved that header. I changed it to Lindsay Lohan once and there was outrage, so that one only last about 24 hours - it will never be her again. At the moment it is Madonna and I don't think I'll change it for a while.

How do you think bloggers have made an impact on the media?

I think the speed you can get a story out and the fact it is free to read has probably impacted it the most. I often see stories in weekly magazines (which I won't name) where they claim to have just discovered something and it has normally been on some one's blog weeks before. I think it's nice to have the option to read both blogs and magazines - I wouldn't pick one over the other, they each have their strong points.

What do you do when you are not working on your blog?

If I'm not working on my blog I am probably doing work for my degree in Fashion Journalism. I don't think a day goes by where I don't write about fashion at some point. But outside of writing at the moment I am seriously obsessed with watching Brothers & Sisters, I could do that all day.

Describe a typical day.

The first thing I do when I wake up is go online. I don't think I have a 'typical' day as such but there will normally be blogging involved. Haha.

Name your top fashion icons.

This is hard; I love Diane Kruger, Nicole Richie, Mary-Kate Olsen, Carine Roitfeld and Chloe Sevigny. There are so many women. I love Rachel Zoe's look too, the 1970s is one of my favourite decades for fashion so I love how she references it so strongly in her style. I always go back to Ashley Olsen and Sarah Jessica Parker when I need inspiration though.

Name five blogs that you read religiously.

Fashionista, Fashionologie, Just Jared, Lainey Gossip and Discotheque Confusion as me and Stevie started blogging around the same time and I always love to see what she's doing.

How do you see Coco's Tea Party evolving over the next two years?

I don't really have a plan with Coco's Tea Party, and I never had which odd for me as I'm so OCD. It's the only thing that I've ever just let float along. I would like some magazines to give the blog a mention, which I know isn't really that important but it would be quite flattering, especially as I've been writing for almost three years now.