If you follow my blog, you’ll know just how obsessed I am with all forms of fashion, ranging from vintage and steampunk to modern chic and sporty. Whilst I love traditional outfits as much as anyone else, more importantly, I love people who push the envelope and try out new ideas to inspire the rest of us. It’s these people who push forward a certain unmissable sense of unique style that really gets me interested in the modern world of experimental fashion.
Sure, there’s plenty of fashion content in mainstream magazines and on the television, but it’s online that you’ll find the best content in my opinion. It’s where people can truly be themselves without following fads or style sensations, leaving behind a constant stream of fame-hungry celebrity collaborations in favour of a personable show of style. If I am going to see celebrities, I want to see those that are fully committed to using their skills as opposed to their namesakes. If I’m going to see brands, I want to see those that produce excellent fashion and accessories, whether that’s luxury brands such as WOLF and Kurt Geiger, or more mass-consumer brands such as H&M and Paige.
In celebration of these wonderful people who inspire me on a daily basis, I’ve put together a compilation of my personal favourite fashion blogs, as well as my reasons for why you should be hanging onto their every word as if they were preaching fashion gospel.
What I adore about Sandra Haglestam’s ‘5 Inch and Up’ blog is how effortlessly she can portray a wide range of styles whilst maintaining a singular design aesthetic so well across her site. All of her photos portray a modern and unique sense of style with an air of sophistication which I am very envious of. This a woman who knows herself very well and helps inspire others, such as myself, to take pride in what they wear.
On top of this, what Sandra writes is very down-to-earth and appealing, explaining her style choices very well and giving plenty of details, peppering her words with personal insights and thoughtful fun questions for getting her readership involved. I’d recommend ‘5 Inch and Up’ for anyone who flutters between modern fashionable, smart and casual attire, who takes advantage of booming trends without caving to unnecessary fads.
I adore this blog and blogger Natalie (who goes by Pearl) for being so down to earth in her approach to hefty fashion subjects. As a lecturer and columnist for STYLEetc magazine, Pearl is no stranger to confronting the many common issues that women interested in fashion will face, writing in a style which conveys her journey very poetically and factually at the same time. You can expect some insightful posts on shopping addiction, weight loss and gain, and the taboo of tattoos, all written from personal experience in a refreshingly real way.
Speaking of tattoos, Pearl also blogs for popular body art outlet Things & Ink Magazine, and herself has a collection of beautiful tattoos which have even made me consider getting inked up! Pearl’s unique approach to fashion blogging is made more substantial by her impressive academic credentials, using this knowledge to expend her explorations of style trends and modern fashion.
Vintage clothing is a hard one to get right, and I feel that the word vintage is all too often broadly applied to styles which, although very lovely, don’t really fall within the category of something past-inspired. But someone who absolutely does get it spot-on it is Fleur De Guerre, the beautiful freelance blogger and member of fashion collective The Vintage Mafia.
The blog itself has been going consistently for over 7 years now; that’s a whole heap of content for newcomers seeking vintage fashion inspiration, and has even helped inspire some important style decisions on vintage style dresses for myself in the past. Fleur has a very friendly and upbeat writing style, properly conveying the sense of fun that should come with showing off beautiful vintage inspired clothing, which puts the tone of the blog right on-point. Whilst vintage blogs are very popular, ‘Diary of a Vintage Girl’ is one of a kind and I couldn’t recommend it highly enough for vintage obsessives.
There’s a couple of things I especially love about fashion blogger Charlotte Lewis. Firstly, it’s how personable she is when writing and communicating with her audiences, giving us a true insight into her style evolution and how she came to make these choices. It’s these bits of inspiration I feel are sorely lacking from many fashion blogs, yet Charlotte makes it seem effortless by giving us an insightful reasoning behind her unmissable sense of style and beauty.
Secondly, it’s the great advice she gives. It can be very hard to find good fashion advice for affordable clothing online, and most blogs focus on presentation as opposed to giving us an insight into the styling process. But Charlotte uses the blog to put forward information which appeals to many women like myself, far beyond style elitism for a refreshing and approachable range of articles that are perfect for providing usable inspiration for great every-day clothing. These are just a few reasons why I love ‘Lurch Hound Loves’.
Another absolutely amazing vintage clothing blog from fashionista Jessica Cangiano. Alongside pictures of her absolutely fabulous attire, you’ll find a variety of past-timey inspired posts and musings, all tailored with a specific love and fascination with vintage styles that makes her passion very apparent. Jessica’s background in photography is also quite clear the more you read the blog, as you’ll stumble across a selection of beautifully composed and edited photos highlighting her collection of simply gorgeous vintage outfits in stunning locales.
What I also love about Chronically Vintage is how engaged it is with the rest of the vintage clothing community. Not only will Jessica provide some great insights into other resources and blogs for vintage attire lovers, but also she conducts fascinating interviews with other fashion bloggers to get the low-down on a broader range of styles. To make things even better, Jessica’s husband Antonio also takes many of the photos you see on the site, and to me there’s almost nothing better than a husband and wife team. Go Jessica!
Thanks For Reading
That’s my list for now, although I’m sure it will grow as time goes on so you may see it updated very soon! In the meantime, if you have any awesome fashion blogs you’d like to share with me, get in touch or contact me on Twitter @martinnathalie9
