Suzanne Carillo

Which company is the most exposed online in Fashion Blogging?

My educated guess would be JCrew.

Zara isn't too far behind, but I definitely think JCrew is the leader.

I had no idea who JCrew was before I started blogging. Part of that may be due to the fact that they only came to Canada about 18 months ago, but I associate my idea of JCrew directly with the fashion bloggers that wear it.

They all have the same look. Spawned from the same upwardly mobile horse riding jet-set family.

That look isn't my look. At all. Through constant internet exposure via fashion bloggers JCrew has gotten under my skin enough to make me go and check them out whenever I'm near a store. Why? This isn't my style at all.

I'm not a JCrew hater per se. Some of their pieces can be quite nice. But that bubble necklace?

Please…let's all agree that moment has passed…about 2 years ago.

I have one skirt by JCrew that I bought in their store and I found a leather jacket at TJ Maxx that I also purchased.

This is the jacket.

This is the skirt.

Both I bought on sale.

Marketing via Fashion Bloggers is very successful for the brands promoting their products.

I hate that it worked on me.

I don't want the "cool girls" telling me what to wear.

You might say, "well stop looking at the blogs Suzanne! " Duh!!!

I have stopped following 2 of those blogs. I found them so pristine and unreal that they were boring.

{Yawn}…another super stylized magazine-ready photo-perfect shot of an impossibly thin perfectly beautiful woman?

I don't relate.

In fact I try to limit the number of "high end" promo heavy blogs I visit.

When they all start to look the same what is the point?

I might as well pick up a copy of Vogue or Elle.

The originality of the "street blogger style" is missing. Styled right out of the shots. Along with any personality or quirks.

There is another bloggy gal that I like who also wears lots of JCrew, but I don't care. Instead I'm there because I find her interesting, funny, likable and honest. I'm more likely to remember the last story she wrote about her family than her outfit. Her humanity hasn't been erased out of the posts. That is the 10% that isn't marketing.

I wish more blogs were about the connections and not the consumption.

To be perfectly honest when I see "sponsored post" 99% of the time I don't read the blog.

Don't even get me started on those rafflecopter contests. The amount of hoops they want you to jump through makes it feel like they are asking for your first born.

Originality, personality, creativity, friendship, motivation and inspiration are the reasons why I read or visit blogs.

Why do you read blogs?

Does the pervasiveness of online marketing bother you?