The fashion blogger long ago transcended mere outfit documentarian. Done right, fashion blogs can evolve into full-fledged businesses, with brands clamoring to be featured by the style aficionados.
For some of the biggest influencers in fashion, blogs have served as catalysts to large scale sponsorships, advertising campaigns, design collaborations and book deals. These style enthusiasts have evolved into mainstays and purveyors of style, turning passion projects into brand opportunities.
On WordPress alone, 409 million people read more than 21.5 billion blog pages a month. These aren’t twee daily #ootd posts, either. Here are some of the fashion bloggers that brands can’t get enough of.
Chiara Ferragni, The Blonde Salad: 665,000 monthly page views, per Compete
Since 29-year-old Chiara Ferragni started The Blonde Salad in 2009, she has appeared on the cover of numerous global fashion magazines, wrote a book, dabbled in partnerships with Burberry and Dior, launched a popular shoe line (with styles that retail for upwards of $200) and is in talks for a collaboration with Ladurée.
The Milan-born Ferragni details her take on style trends and shares her forays into cultural events like Coachella. She has a vast following, including 6 million Instagram followers and 276,000 Twitter followers, as well as a staff of 20 that help her curate and finesse her posts.
She also modeled for the 2013 Guess holiday campaign and was the focus of a Harvard University study on fashion bloggers, conducted in 2015. The study was part of a luxury marketing MBA course through Harvard Business School that examined brands high end brands, Refinery 29 reported.
“Some loved me, some hated me — but they all followed me,” she told Vanity Fair earlier this year.
Bryan Grey-Yambao, BryanBoy: 4 million monthly page views, per Women’s Wear Daily
Bryan Grey-Yambao, best known as BryanBoy, first began blogging from his parent’s house in the Philippines back in 2004 when he was 24 and working as a web developer.
Grey-Yambao was one of the first major fashion bloggers and set the precedent for coverage protocol. He established parameters around the practice of accepting gifts and accommodations from brands he wrote about, ensuring full disclosure on his site, The Observer noted.
His unabashed style of sharing personal life events, including most recently his very public experience with cosmetic surgery (he Snapchatted his face lift) and grievances with Moschino for rescinding an invite to their fashion show, have set him apart in the fashion landscape.
Before long his personal blog led him to the front row of Marc Jacobs fashion shows, and established him as an esteemed member of the fashion elite. He has embarked on a number of brand partnerships, including a 2013 collection with designer Adrienne Landau, and Rebecca Minkoff even named a bag after his grandmother, Elle. Not to mention Grey-Yambao has been known to charge upwards of $50,000 for an event appearance.
Scott Schuman, The Sartorialist: 712,000 monthly page views, per Compete
Fashion photographer Scott Schuman developed The Sartorialist to create “a two-way dialogue about the world of fashion and its relationship to daily life,” according to the biography page on his website. His posts feature the street style of men and women in scenic locales around the world.
The photographs on his site have since propelled him to collaborations and even opportunities to model in campaigns with a slew of big name brands like The Gap, Verizon, Nespresso, DKNY Jeans and Crate & Barrel, among others. Schuman has published three anthologies of his work, including most recently The Satorialist X, a glimpse at style around the world.
“I really travelled the world to explore what style and beauty means to a host of different cultures,” Schuman told Vogue UK in 2015.
Emily Schuman, Cupcakes and Cashmere: 695,000 monthly page views, per Compete
Emily Schuman started in media working at Condé Nast publications Domino and Teen Vogue before taking her fashion prowess to her blog Cupcakes and Cashmere, which documents her style, culinary and decor tastes in Los Angeles.
“More than a blog, Cupcakes and Cashmere is a mantra and aesthetic that celebrates the little pleasures in life,” the Cupcakes and Cashmere blog states. The site regularly features recipes for her favorite foods and photographs of her latest fashion finds.
Schuman, who has 358,000 Instagram followers, previously worked with Estée Lauder as a social media and digital guest editor in 2012, providing guest posts for the website and features on the beauty brand’s social media accounts.
Leandra Medine, Man Repeller: 591,000 monthly page views, per Compete
In a culture where women’s fashion publications often promote sexualized outfits meant to “please your man” Medine took a bold statement when she launched Man Repeller, a blog focused on garments that “women love and men hate.” In addition to bold fashion features, the site also shares informative health and beauty news.
Medine’s blog has 1.4 million Instagram followers and 360,000 on Twitter, and she has risen to a fashion star of her own accord, with a recent partnership with H&M, former projects with Michael Kors, window styling ventures for Stuart Weitzman and a number of public appearances.
“I had an opinion, which I believed was being severely underserved in fashion (trends women love, men hate) and a way of delivering it (honestly, with a sense of humor and simultaneous respect) that I hoped would resonate,” Medine wrote on Man Repeller.
Aimee Song, Song of Style: 78,000 monthly page views, per Compete
Aimee Song started Song of Style in college out of frustration that she didn’t see anyone who looked like her in fashion magazines. The LA-based blogger of Asian descent is now a brand ambassador for beauty brand Laura Mercier in one of the largest beauty-blogger partnerships, valued at $500,000, Women’s Wear Daily reported. She also has her own line of apparel called Two Songs, which is featured on the site amid her carefully crafted style posts.
“I felt like I couldn’t relate to anybody. This led to a lot of trial and error,” Song said in a video on her site. “On [the blog] I was just being myself, just doing my own thing. I really started to understand who I was and that gave me a lot of confidence, and I feel like people started noticing.”
Song has adopted a truly omnichannel approach to engaging with her readers, with a heavy presence on social media channels, and a robust video page that garners upwards of 30,000 views for behind the scenes looks at global fashion week events.
