Fashion is fast, we all know that. Brands live streaming their Fashion Week shows and letting you buy the showcased pieces there and then, the upgrade from thought-out posts on personal style blogs to the 24/7 nature of Instagram to the even-more-24/7 nature of Instagram stories, click and collet, next day delivery, even same day delivery, try-before-you-buy online shopping services.
You can buy something on your phone whilst in a shop faster than you can actually buy something in said shop (yes, ok, the delivery takes longer). Surely I’m not the only one who sees an item they like in store but realises they don’t have my size in, so then and there with the item still in my hand, I whip out my phone with the other, find it online in my size, whack a student discount code in and order it minutes after picking up the wrong size in the first place. Surely I’m not?
Of course this isn’t limited to fashion bloggers and others in the fashion industry, everyone and anyone can see and buy anything they want in a matter of seconds – anytime, anywhere. If you see a picture on Instagram and like the jumper the person is wearing in it, and they’ve been a babe and tagged the brand in the pic, you can be on the brand’s website searching for the item and typing your card number, expiry date and CVC before the ad break on TV (which was the reason you were scrolling Insta in the first place) is over. Or worse still, you just place your thumb on the home button and you’ve already paid and ordered. Back when I had a job I know I was guilty of doing this one too many times.
jumper – new look // skirt – topshop // boots – old topshop [similar]
But, narrowing it down to fashion bloggers here, is there a pressure to always be buying new clothes? Perhaps even more so if you benefit from affiliate links? PS not at all a bash to them, I’d use them if I could qualify lol, I think they’re wonderful and a nice lil way of showing your appreciation to whoever made you discover that pretty skirt without having to spend any extra money or do anything you wouldn’t have. But you know what I mean, you don’t want to be showcasing an outfit on your blog or the ‘gram that consists of the trusty coat you’ve had since secondary school, a top you got in the Zara January sales of 2016 and American Apparel disco pants when the company has gotten rid of all of its stores (anyone else miss those? I need to find mine…) when you know your followers won’t be able to actually buy any of it, just the similar bits you find in desperate attempt to be as helpful as possible. You want to keep up with what the shops have in store at the moment so that people can go buy the actual item, maybe through your affiliate link, or even because of the slight chance that the brand will repost your outfit pic to their followers to get it to sell while it’s still actually in stock.
Nobody is more guilty of the using-years-old-clothes-in-outfit-posts sin more than ya girl. I started this blog aged sixteen in the summer between Secondary and A Levels before I even had a job and even when I had some dolla to splash I didn’t really go out of my way to pick new and in store pieces to wear during outfit pic shoots. Most of the time I’d just go out with pals and we’d end up in a cool street taking some pics for Insta, with me actually using them for my blog account and not my personal one. It’s not a bad thing, but there just seems to be more in it for you by doing the opposite.
You want to keep up, stay relevant. If everyone and their mum has a pic (or twenty) on Instagram of them wearing a baker boy hat then you’re kinda going to want to buy one so that your pictures in a trapper hat from four Winters ago don’t get lost in the sea of ~trendy~ baker boy hat pics. Especially with that damn algorithm. You sort of want to keep on trend, not in a follow-the-crowd way but because, at least in my personal opinion and experience, something being ~on trend~ almost makes you like it not because it’s on trend but because, now that it’s been exposed to you and you’ve seen it in action, you realise you love it and it’s so you.
With the rise of social media influencers alongside traditional fashion bloggers, there are more and more people entering this industry every day and, in turn, more and more people following and liking and helping to grow your audience than ever before. The increase of creatives and people making something from a hobby or passion is a great thing, but it ups the pressure. As a fashion blogger, you are there to bring your audience your take on current trends, showcase your personal style, suggest and recommend pieces to buy. There’s just something about being able to link your entire outfit, or all of it bar one older item, to websites and stores that are still selling each item right now rather than linking some as-close-as-possible versions for five items that aren’t made anymore. I can’t even put my finger on what it is or articulate what it is, there’s just something, ya know? In an ideal world you’d rather be showcasing a new outfit or new item of clothing every single blog post. You don’t want to ~repeat outfits~ like London Tipton of the Suite Life drilled into my eleven-year-old head. At least not on social media – not when they’re shot on two different days.
With that something about posting photos of yourself in old clothes not feeling right, there comes a pressure to constantly buy new clothes so you can produce more new content. And it’s not just bloggers and Instagrammers, it’s YouTube too. A haul can’t really consist of the one pair of jeans you bought over the weekend, hauls are named hauls for a reason. And you often see haul videos prefixed with the ‘I bought all this over a month not all in one go’ line when someone feels guilty for showing you that they’ve bought so much, worried they’ll look like they’re throwing their money away on clothes when a percentage of their demographic can barely afford to buy themselves a coffee during their lunch break after forking out for rent, bills, a food shop. It seems like a lose-lose battle. You need to keep buying to keep up but you don’t want to be condemned for buying so much. Because for some reason people on the internet have nothing better to do than whine that a twenty-something year old woman has bought ten things from ASOS because she’s worked her arse off to be able to have that sort of disposable income to do so.
Photos of you, a person, always tend to do better than flatlays, photos of a product etc. If you have a post that doesn’t need to be showcasing a product then your best bet is to attach some outfit photos. Want to talk about your recent discovery of the importance of self love? Whack some pics of you in a new outfit in there to break up the paragraphs. As these photos do better on Instagram and make a blog post look more appealing and like they’re coming from a real person, buying more new clothes almost seems essential for survival in this industry. If your goal is growth how can you grow when your content is stuck in your 2014 wardrobe? If you know that photos of you do better than a flatlay, you don’t want to be wearing the same thing for five posts in a row in said photos of you.
For those who blog full-time and are able to earn an income from their blog, it’s a given they will re-invest into their blog by buying new clothes to showcase. It’s kinda the point. Nobody will stop doing it, and despite this pressure I still don’t think they should, but if nobody is going to stop showcasing new clothes then falling behind from that just feels a bit shitty and doesn’t help you contend with other fashion bloggers and keep your audience engaged.
My personal take – yes there’s a pressure always be buying new clothes as a fashion blogger because the amount of content you can create deriving around said new clothes is big, but then once you’ve created it you kinda can’t again, you need to move onto the next outfit or the next colour of beret to place on your head in that mirror selfie. Should there be this pressure? No. Wear whatever the hell you want, shoot the same outfit three weeks in a row, save your dolla. But there inevitably is this pressure. You want to keep people interested, engaged, coming back for more. If a big chunk of the blogosphere is showing you a different brand-new-in-stock New Look jumper every week then that’s what you’re going to engage with more as a reader, and in order to keep up and compete in this industry you’ve just gotta go along with it. You don’t want to exhaust the same shirt to death by wearing it 500 different ways in 1000 different blog posts.
It’s hard. I don’t know how to spin this in a way that’s like ‘yes everyone let’s keep wearing clothes we bought in year 10 !!! x’ because unless every single blogger does it, which they won’t, you’re almost going to be at a competitive disadvantage. Even if you write your blog and create content out of passion with no business or growth intentions (ya girl over here after finally realising my priorities) you still want to be able to show that you can keep up.
For me, I don’t set out to buy new stuff just to showcase it on my blog but when I do happen to buy something new that I know is ~trendy~ and in store now I definitely see it as an added bonus, almost like it makes the item of clothing more worth the money because not only am I getting a new jumper that I like out of it, I’m getting the chance to create content around it. That’s kinda what happened with this New Look jumper, and I bloody love it.
Thing is, you’ve seen my posts of old clothes – three out of five pieces in this post were old, the roll necks in both this post and this post were old, the two only visible pieces of clothing in this post were old. Most of my early outfit posts didn’t even have links because I knew I’d had the stuff for years – exhibits A and B. You know I’ve done it a million times before and will do it a million times again.
I can’t lie, I frickin love when I have something new and still available to buy that I can share, if I can put myself in a position where that’s what I’m showing you on my blog and Instagram then I damn well will. But, alas, I have no job so purchases are few and far between for me right now – so yes, you’re going to end up seeing some outfit pics I shot in Summer wearing items I’d bought the previous Summer and no, I don’t care. But it’s just nice to be able to do the opposite and showcase something new – and maybe that’s where that pressure comes from for me.
Do you feel like you need to buy new clothes in order to keep up? Or do you just wear all your old stuff as a big fuck you to the fast-paced fashion industry?
♡
Yasmin
i love this! Your outfit is so cute! I've always wanted to try fashion blogging but I always figured it wasnt a great idea because I have no one to take my photos not to mention im broke and couldn't afford to go out and buy new clothes whenever I wanted to post. This makes me feel a lot better..I kinda want to go into fashion blogging now
thankyou! haha I get my mum to take my photos which is harder now I'm in uni but I just sorta stockpile them to last me. definitely don't be deterred from it just because you can't afford new clothes for every post, whenever you happen to get something new show it but keep posting even when it's your older stuff! X
Before I started my fashion blog, this was what would hold me back — would I spend copious amounts of money on clothes just to showcase them on my blog/IG? I'm like you; I keep an eye on what is trendy/in keeping with my blog theme.Great post! xxMichelledressingwithstyle-s.com
I didn't even realise when I started my blog there'd be this sort of pressure to need new clothes but now I've definitely found the right balance! and thankyou X
I often wondered about this. Do fashion bloggers buy clothes all the time? Great post.www.onyixtus.com
yeah I've been wondering lately haha! thankyou(:
Love your outfit! And this is such an insightful post. I do get the pressure of having to buy new clothes for the blog, but there's a point where I can't really afford it so I kind of have to recycle. But I guess that's how brand collaborations come into place 🙂 xamerzwithlove.com
thankyou! yeah it's nice to do when you can do it but definitely not worth spending money you don't rly have when you can just refresh and recycle older looks! X
I was literally thinking about this a few days ago, as I've just started doing some fashion post on my blog! Love this post (and that jumper) x Chloéhttp://www.chloejessicalondon.co.uk/
thankyou! X
Absolutely loved this post xxwww.isabellazogheib.com
thankyou! X
I think there has been more of this in the past, but I know as a consumer im looking for people sharing their ways of restyling! Youve sold me the item, so now I want to see it restyled! Ive seen a few online people reusing things and posting about it, so im hoping everyone has seen that people are calling out to see things again. If you love something, then why arent you using it? Isnt that the point…lolHayley xxwww.5ftlife.co.uk
yes definitely, it looks a little bit like 'do you rly love that if you wear it once and never again'. I know in real life when I get a jumper I will wear it to death for weeks in a million different ways so it's definitely worth remembering to share all those restyled ways because it's what you do everyday anyway! X
I mean like you said, obviously full time fashion bloggers and buying things all the time because I barely see them wearing the same thing twice which is annoying. I'm not specifically a fashion blogger so I don't feel a great deal of pressure to 'keep up' with trends etc. Sometimes I'm the opposite though, I just want to spend all my money on a new wardrobe, purely because I get so tired of seeing the same pieces of clothes on my blog over and over again! I think it's all a bit of a juggling game. Julia // The Sunday Mode
yeah definitely, it's one of those things you can change your mind on five times in the space of an hour! and I know what you mean about not seeing the same thing twice – it'd be nice to see the same thing styled at least a couple different ways before moving onto the next one, even just on insta!
I agree with everything you've said.Sometimes it's hard to keep up to date with everything new, but you kill it everytime you post a photo.I agree with most of what people have said, if you love an item, hell wear it over and over again!!http://www.lukeheywoodstyle.co.uk
awwwhh thankyou. yes definitely, there are a million different ways to style the same pieces so why not!
This is a fab piece lovely! I love your outfit pics and even if they are old pieces, you can pretty much dupe them elsewhere because fashion loops around every couple of years anyways 🙂 Keep doing you – p.s. Have you tried ShopStyle Collective for Clickable Links? I joined with very little following. – Tweet me how you get on with it x Charlee || Rose above the Thorns
thankyou! yes it's so easy to find dupes, I know it's not as nice a feeling as linking the exact same item but it's definitely easy to fine a dupe for old stuff anyway so always still worth a share. and I've not but I'll look into it X
This is such a good read! As a fashion blogger myself (and a college student), it can be hard to keep up with the pressures of buying brand new outfits for content. x
thankyou! I know exactly what you mean, being a student makes it feel even harder because the blog can't be your priority and you most likely don't have the money to spend on clothes every week, and even if you do it needs to go on other things X
This is such an interesting post. I don’t personally feel any kind of pressure to buy new clothes but I do know people that have felt that way.http://ohduckydarling.com
glad you enjoyed! X
This is a great post! I am not a fashion blogger but I struggle with a similar thing. Thanks for the great read!
thanks so much! X
This post is so relevant right now! I woke up this morning finding myself putting various items into my baskets on online shops, to just take them out because I can’t afford them. Then I thought to myself why am I doing this? I don’t really NEED new clothes. In the back of my mind I’m always thinking about when I can do a photo shoot for social media and my blog again, as you say photos of you do well. You always talk about some really interesting topics and I love your blog! Much love Holly http://heyitsok.co.uk
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thanks so so much gal!! yep I’m the same, I browse thinking yeah I need this for blog pics, but in reality I really don’t X
I personally never have the peer pressure on buying new clothes or whats on the trend same goes for makeup but whenever I need clothes for example I ask my self some few question like how many time I’m going to wear it? is the fabric good? worth the price? good for the xyz season? etc…I’m not to keen with these fast fashion since it’s hurting the environment, humans right and their creativity is just “eh I’ve seen it 10000 times”.
http://www.brokebutflawless.com
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definitely the right way to approach buying things! X
As a makeup and skin care blogger, I do feel a kind of pressure to buy new stuff so I can write reviews. My makeup collection is pretty huge and I don’t have affiliate links, but I know that people are much more interested in reading about a new palette that came out than an old one I have in my stash.
I’m trying to fight the urge to buy too much, though.
First world problems lol
Love xx
Author
I know exactly what you mean, I only really recently started using afflinks but even before that it’s just a matter of knowing that you want to show your audience stuff they’re interested in hearing about now and can actually still buy! X
Omg so glad I read this! I definitely think this is an issue that all fashion bloggers have been thinking about lately! You’ve hit the nail on the head with all those points everyone wants to stay relevant and also get reposted by brands so they can sell their products etc! Maybe it will balance it out soon? I’ve noticed there are a few fashion influencers lately who will buy just one item but style it lots of different ways so that is quite good to stay relevant but not spending loads of money on new stuff? Great post and love the jumper!
http://www.jessdownard.com
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thankyou so much! yeah I think it’s starting to calm down a bit because we can see the difference between people genuinely loving an outfit and wearing it all the time, and people submitting to fast fashion to keep up with the industry. I always love the styling one key thing different ways posts and videos X
I totally understand where you are coming from, it is so hard to find that balance between buying new stuff to keep on trend and constant pressure to buy. But i honestly think you look gorgeous and your style is amazing, I love seeing people in outfits THEY love that give my inspiration- whether they are old or new pieces. Your blog is lovely and Im so glad I discovered it xx
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thankyou so so much my live, this has made my day! completely agree, I looovveeee seeing people showcasing outfits you can tell they genuinely love and wear all the time X
I can totally understand. I do feel pressured sometimes, especially because people always want to see new things but also because brand will noticed you if you wear their latest pieces. What I do no now, however, is change the color of a piece in photoshop to pretend it is a complete new piece ahah
Author
hahaha no way that’s such a clever idea! X
I hate that there is this kind of pressure in the industry. What I hate even more is that it is something I’m totally guilty of, and I’m currently trying to change. I get tons of inspo from my favorite bloggers and instagram accounts, and it is nice to see what’s new and out there though, Like you said, for some people showing new items is how they end up making money.
Ashlee | https://www.maybeafterbrunch.com
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yes it’s such a double edged sword! spending money on new clothes in this industry can end up making you more than what you spent, hard to find the balance and be ethical and everything at once