New Horizons: Exhibit B

WHO: Tommy Ton, 25-year old blogger extraordinaire

WHAT: His internationally known fashion blog, http://jakandjil.com/blog;

WHERE: Oakville, Ontario to the world over...

WHY: Sitting with laptop in hand just inches away from Anna Wintour at the biggest fashion shows. Tommy has earned his seat with by capturing rare fashion moments and details, between the scenes.

New Horizons: Exhibit A

WHO : Tavi Gevinson AKA Style Rookie

“the personality of a 28 year old, style of a 65 year old and the body of an 8 year old”

WHAT : thenewgirlintown.blogspot.com. created in May 2008 at the tender age of twelve years

old.

WHERE: her girly, typical-12-year-old bedroom in the suburbs of Chicago

WHY : The self proclaimed ‘tiny 13 year old dork that sits inside all day wearing awkward jackets

and pretty hats,’ has created a blog that’s drawn enormous amounts of fashion media

attention. The Blog STYLE ROOKIE has a professional layout featuring in depth fashion

coverage, coupled with engaging and frank writing. Tavi's quirky personality and stellar

reporting skills have earned her a front row seat at the fashion shows, as well as garnering

the tiny style maven worldwide fame.

THE DICTATORS; Exhibit B

WHO: Karl Lagerfeld aka Kaiser Karl, Unkle K

WHERE: Everywhere. This man does not appear to sleep. (he is also ageless)

WHY: We`ll let the man tell you himself

"Fashion designers are dictators of taste."

"I am basically the most superficial person in the world."

“I am made of total egoism.”


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DY1Bv7fZko&feature=related

THE DICTATORS; Exhibit A

WHO: Anna Wintour

WHAT: American Vogue Editrix-in-Charge

WHERE: The Front Row at every fashion show she
deems important.

WHY: Because she said so. Don`t believe it?
Watch this clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52jAGB22CCc

A Cultural Obsession

There are a few individuals (cough Anna Wintour, Tim Gunn, Rachel Zoe, cough) who have positioned themselves at the apex of the fashion hierarchy. These dictators of fashion see themselves as true arbiters of taste and style, justifying their fashion choices as intuitive, while attempting to maintain their formerly unassailable, guru-like status in the fashion arena. However, people are speaking up agaist this self appointed fashion royalty- and using new technologies to do it. There appears to be a revolution brewing against the dictatorship. The revolution can be heard in the pandemonium of opinion in the fashion blogosphere. The revolution can be seen in the bright light of a camera flash on the red carpet, and the resulting photos which are instantly uploaded for mass internet distribution, and commented upon.

The fashion blogger and society’s obsession with celebrity are central to popularizing style, and its dissemination into popular culture. In turn, some Dictators of Fashion are losing their omnipotent voices in the discourse of modern fashion critique. Thus begins the democratization of style and influence, and the potential fall of the Dictators.

Everyone’s a critic. Or so they say...here’s your chance to step into the shoes of a fashion dictator AND be the blogger behind the keyboard espousing your own fashion rules.