A fashion blog can cover many topics, such as specific items of clothing and accessories, beauty tips, trends in various apparel markets (haute couture, prêt-à-porter, etc.
It relies heavily on media and advertising to communicate the producer's preferences and goals, and to influence public perception through various types of promotion.
Fashion can be influenced by social change and countertrends outside the producer, retailer, or advertiser's control.
The blogosphere will likely have a considerable long-term influence on the industry, as the number of fashion-based blogs continues to grow with increasing numbers of consumers able to create and modify the media that they consume, and traditional producers and advertisers adapting their practices to avoid dilution of their influence.
Imran Amed stated that there will always be designers and editors who will never fully wrap their heads around the huge impact fashion blogging and social media has on the industry, but on the other side of the spectrum, there are numerous designers, editors, branders, and writers that do understand and are "coming on board".
Through the study, it was found that bloggers are more comfortable reporting in real-time and incorporating social tools in their opinions of runway trends and designers.
)[12]This figure is likely inflated by many personal blogs that mention fashion, as opposed to those using the criteria above.
In September 2005, La Ferla stated that "as little as a year ago, the number of [fashion bloggers] could be counted in the dozens.
[14] In March 2019, UK-based communications technology company Vuelio released a blogging industry report white paper containing longitudinal survey data (collected annually 2016-2018) and subsequent analysis.
The top five blog categories were identified as: Fashion & Beauty, Lifestyle, Parenting, Food & Drink and Travel.
A key finding was a marked decrease in Fashion & Beauty category blogs over this three-year period.
[15] “[Fashion & Beauty] has seen the biggest drop in number of blogs from 2016, and as this category is most likely to attract between 1,000 – 10,000 unique visitors per month (medium size), it suggests that the market for this topic is in decline.”[15]Fashion blogs may be written by insiders, outsiders, or aspiring insiders.
In 2009, CNN wrote about a blogger, Rumi Neely of Fashion Toast, who went from a small website to the runway for a popular label.
[21] By 2008, Tina Craig and Kelly Cook of Bag Snob.com were seated second row at shows like Diane von Furstenberg and Oscar de la Renta.
These publications include The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Fast Company and The Sydney Morning Herald.
Other commercially successful independent fashion blogs include Budget Fashionista, which reportedly brings in $600,000 a year in revenue[24] and The Bag Snob, which "generates a six-figure income, mainly from advertising".
[25] Personal style blogger Aimee Song from SongofStyle.com has told WWD that she gets paid anywhere from a couple thousand to $50,000 for hosting an event or Instagramming a brand.