Tavi Gevinson of "The Style Rookie" (image courtesy of Creative Commons)

Ordinary people can become part of what used to be an almost exclusive arena through fashion blogging. 

It is through this creative outlet that several individuals catapulted from merely shooting photos in their bedrooms and typing on their laptops, to sitting front row at Chanel fashion shows and being featured in Vogue.

Although fashion blogging has the ability to expose someone to the fashion community, fashion blogging remains largely a personal outlet to express an individual’s style and thoughts about fashion, and not an automatic bridge to a fashion career.

Fashion blogs provide the fashion community with what they’ve never had: a platform for everyday fashion enthusiasts to express their style and show the world their perspective.

In a way, blogs have bridged the gap between fashion’s most elite and the day-to-day fashionista.

Bloggers Tavi Gevinson, Jane Aldridge, and Susanna Lau are some of the privileged few that have garnered the attention of fashion’s most influential designers and editors.

Unfortunately, these women do not make up the mass of fashion bloggers who are still typing away at their laptops, sharing their daily outfits with the virtual world.

http://www.thestylerookie.com/

At 11, most children were occupied with school projects or deciding where to hang out with friends next, but Tavi Gevinson was an exception. In 2007, she began her blog, “The Style Rookie.”

Since then, this 14-year-old has become the envy of nearly every burgeoning fashionista. Miss Gevinson has earned invites to fashion shows in Milan and New York, befriending Karl Lagerfeld and Anna Wintour along the way. She’s been the inspiration behind the Rodarte sisters’ Target line and has been featured in Vogue. 

This unusual spectacle also earned her a column writing for Harper’s Bazaar. And just when it seems Tavi has already conquered more in the fashion world than most people do in a lifetime, she continues to break barriers. 

Miss Gevinson is currently in the works to launch a fashion magazine with Sassy founder, Jane Pratt. 

Gevinson is talented, contributing a quirky eccentricity to fashion, and at the pace she’s going, will probably become the next Anna Wintour before going to her senior prom. 

http://stylebubble.typepad.com/

In 2006, Susanna Lau was only 25 years old when she began her fashion blog, “Style Bubble.” Since then, she’s become an unforgettable face in the fashion world.

Susie’s outlandish, but equally playful and sophisticated ensembles transformed her from being an ordinary face in the crowded London streets to a celebrity fashion icon. She has the talent to combine high-end clothing with less expensive pieces and easily whip together an unbelievably chic outfit.

It is no surprise then why “Style Bubble” is read by thousands of people every day who are fascinated with Susie’s incredible fashion intuition.

Susie’s blog has garnered the attention of fashion editors from Vogue and Nylon who have all sought her out to be featured in their magazines. 

Jane Aldridge of "Sea of Shoes" (image courtesy of seaofshoes.com)

http://www.seaofshoes.typepad.com/

Jane Aldridge is a high school senior who started her blog, “Sea of Shoes” when she was only 15. Ms. Aldridge has an impeccable taste for shoes and adorns a polished style light years ahead of her time. 

It is Jane’s innate, elegant sense of style that attracts fans across all ages and all backgrounds, many of whom are already well established in the fashion industry, to read her blog. 

Karl Lagerfeld is one designer who took notice of Ms. Aldridge and has invited her to his show in Paris. 

Jane has since been collaborating with the hip-mass clothing chain, Urban Outfitters, designing a shoe line. She is also collaborating with “indie-cool trench label” Gryphon for a collection. 

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Fashion blogging is no longer solely rendered to being a closed door hobby, but has become a possible route inside the exclusive industry.  Tavi, Susie, and Jane are all evidence of that.

However, fashion blogging began as a tool used by fashionistas to express their personal passion for fashion. The success of a few select bloggers doesn’t change that.

Here are the stories of a few less renown, but equally talented and fervent fashion bloggers. 

Noel Duan of "Miss Couturable" (image courtesy of bwog.com)

http://www.misscouturable.com/

Noel Duan, a sophomore at Columbia University began her blog “Miss Couturable” in 2007 when she was a junior in high school. In an interview with Ms. Duan, she states that she began her blog mainly to connect with other “fashion geeks” who she felt were lacking at her school.

She saw blogs as an outlet for her creative expression, but she was largely inspired by Casey Lewis’s former blog, TeenFashionista.com and Susanna Lau’s, the “Style Bubble.” Although Noel’s blog hasn’t captivated the attention of Anna Wintour or secured her a seat at a Versace show, she has been featured in Teen Vogue and been given “access to some fashion shows.” 

Noel has also started a fashion publication at Columbia called Hoot Mag, which has been featured on “several magazines' Web sites and blogs.”

Despite the success of a very small number of fashion bloggers, she isn’t holding out for a sudden burst to stardom, but still believes in “old-fashion interning, working hard in school, and networking.” 

Tess Goodwin of "Treehouse Trunkshow" (image courtesy of Treehouse Trunkshow)

http://www.treehousetrunkshow.blogspot.com

Fashion blogger Tess Goodwin is a sophomore at the University of Southern California and began her fashion blog, “ Treehouse Trunkshow,” in March 2010.

Goodwin started her blog because she “loved the idea of being able to record all of [her] outfits...an excuse to dress crazier and take more risks.” She was also heavily inspired by Jane Aldridge’s blog, “Sea of Shoes.”

Although “Treehouse Trunkshow” hasn’t garnered the specific attention of anyone within the fashion industry, having her blog hasn’t gone without benefits. Through her blog, she was allowed to be part of a fashion blogging network called Two Point OH LA.

It was through this network that Goodwin gained access to a preview party for Sue Wong’s designer collection. She’s also been able to make other contacts within the industry.

But Tess, like Miss Duan doesn’t see her blog simply as a gateway to the industry, but foremost “just one of the many facets that make [her] who [she] is....an uninhibited expression of [her] personal style and inspiration.” 

http://www.get-dressed.blogspot.com/

Katherine Lewin, a novice fashion blogger and student at USC only recently created her blog, “Get Dressed.” Lewin, like Goodwin and Duan started her blog mostly as “a personal hobby” and not to “attain any kind of recognition or fame in the fashion world.”

Lewin is a model for the typical fashion blogger, a person who genuinely loves fashion and simply wants to showcase “great clothing, style, art, culture, and that’s it.”

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But are blogs simply a fad, or have they truly created a new outlet for fashion expression? According to Lewin, fashion bloggers are becoming the “new style authorities” and act as the “voice of the people with aspects of fashion like street style.”

And as Goodwin says, “Unlike magazines, saving 100 blogs in your bookmark doesn’t take up any space in your room!” Nor will it empty your wallet. Blogs have created a new medium through which fashion can be catalogued and stored for reference, but without the price.

“People love seeing wearable, real style and you cannot nor will you ever be able to get that from celebrities or runway shows,” says Goodwin.

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