PFW: Tales of a highly marketed fantasy.

I am just back from Paris: exhausted, sick and quite overwhelmed by all the things I got to discover during Fashion Week.

Fashion Week is kinda this fantasy every fashion lover dreams about: We tend to imagine a ” Devil wears prada” scene with all the fashion shows, events and beautiful people spread all over the place. Paris gets to experience the world’s most fashionable people dressing up for the occasion and gets to shine more than ever. That is my vision of Fashion Week, at least that was my vision of Fashion Week.

So you imagine that when Audrey asked me to go to Paris with her, I didn’t hesitate for a second. I am so grateful to her and for her: This is something I say constantly but ever since she started being part of my life, I seem to find out more of myself and of what I want, working with Audrey is terribly eyeopening.

First thing I realized when arriving to Paris was: Why is there so much hype around Fashion Week? Let’s be honest, fashion shows have always existed, they are nothing new so why does it seem that they are THE place to be nowadays? I believe it has started to be so important since the emergence of blogging and social media. The fashion world is growing, these new channels allow people like me or my neighbor (Yes that platinum blonde sixty year old) to start being a influent player in this industry which is something that was clearly impossible decades ago.

If Blogging has started the movement, Instagram is apparently changing the game once again: Followers, likes, engagement rate are the elements that determine if you are influent enough to be present at these events. Someone that has only 5000 followers can have 20K in a very short period of time if they play the game right.  I always talk about the perks of being a publisher on Instagram, about how empowered I have started feeling through my everyday interactions with wonderful people. Fashion has been my passion for as long as I can remember and writing publicly has come up as a needed to have a voice. But as I have previously mentioned in one of my posts, not everyone starts blogging or Instagraming for the same reasons and with the same purposes, and that’s perfectly fine.

However, it is not always fair.

I feel like talent is not even considered anymore. I started following blogs because normal girls were featuring clothes that I would have the ability to buy. They styled their outfits personally, wrote their daily stories with a very unique writing style, there was something unmistakable about them, something that a fashion magazine couldn’t provide anymore. During this week, i have met people that have been blogging for years and that work hard to provide the best content possible and stories were in the air about how competitive this was starting to be: Younger girls are starting to own the game through Instagram, with more followers, more likes and more calculated moves as well. It is perfectly admirable to be ambitious, to be able to make this a living of your life because as I always say, you should always try to live from your passion. But nowadays, passion is not what drives people and because it is a market that is rising: being personal might not be the most profitable option anymore.

And that is what bothers me. Fashion Weeks are mainstream, everyone has live access to it, everyone wants their part of the cake and everyone wants to pull off the game: Showing off at a show where they are not invited pretending that they have a Tulle Green Tutu in their closet that they wear to do grocery shopping. That means that through an Instagram picture, we are losing what initially was the best part of fashion blogging: Personality. I am aware that fashion has always been about pretending and even though the industry’s leaders claim that fashion should be your way to express yourself: If you are part of this world, there is very little place to opinion and difference. But blogging was initially about that, breaking up with the established standards, being real, building a community of people that can relate to you on many levels others than just fashion.

I think I am kind of Boycotting myself, writing harshly about the most glamorously marketed industry in the world and the industry that casually happens to be the one I want to work in: but then again, If I didn’t speak my mind, It just wouldn’t be me. At the end of the day, my purpose is to add value to all the outfits I post on Instagram, share my stories and a bit more of myself with you everyday. Until now, I have experienced the most human side of this journey and I would have never imagined that it would make me happier than its commercial side. In an ideal world, these two would be paired together allowing us to use fashion as an empowerment instead of a threat.

When it comes to me. Well. I am still searching for the right place to grow and as my fashion week might seem full of negative vibes and broken dreams, it is nothing but a great kick to reality. Sometimes you just got to realize you don’t make the cut, that even though you are being surrounded by everything you thought would make you happy, some pieces of the puzzle are still missing. And you know that because you don’t feel entirely filled, you still think about the “what ifs” and you go to bed more exhausted than satisfied. Hope you are not too depressed by now: if you are forget about everything I just told you and focus on beautiful paris with its croissants, and macarons, and tons and tons of glitter.

Lots of Love always,

Neguine