The 21st Century has seen many changes, all advanced in comparison to the last one. One of those advanced changes is the use of blogs. Within the past decade, the “blogosphere” has quickly taken over the world. Due to the rapid rise of technology, it has allowed many Internet websites, especially blogs, to become today’s most “reliable” type of source, pushing aside print like newspapers and magazines. In my opinion, I believe that the style of approach to writing is what has caused blogs to become so popular.
With blogs your personal voice matters. We want to hear the opinions of the blogger because with traditional news its not part of the journalistic approach they practice. As stated in The Elements of Journalism, “when traditional news decide to not publish something, blogs do it instead” (18).
I took in account an online article and blog post about Fashion Week.. One of my favorite designers, Alexander Wang, was one of many designers’ collections that fashionistas anticipated for. After his show on Saturday, blog reviews poured in online within hours (online news articles followed suit the next day).
The LA Times’ Booth Moore began the review with a general statement: “A new generation of designers has turned the page in New York, and Alexander Wang is the leader of the pack.” Many have agreed with this statement for the past few years, no longer being an opinion. If you were to Google Wang, you would most likely find every article or blog posted stating the same thing. Moore continues by doing what a review should do: fill us in on everything that we weren’t able to see if you didn’t take part in the show. Moore gives us detailed descriptions like “white-on-white multi-textural layering” and informing us of a few pieces that were included in the show like “a sheer scribble print organza button-down shirt under a carpenter vest with a silver foil strip.” As a fashion reviewer, these types of descriptions are nothing new. One may think its Moore’s opinion of what the pieces looked like or resembled, but it isn’t.
Fashionista.com’s blog review was different in writing style, mainly focusing on the blogger, Lauren Sherman’s personal opinion, which gives it a bit of quirkiness (something the blog is well-known and appreciated for). Starting off with the title, “Alexander Wang’s Return to Normalcy?” is not what you would see in traditional news (Moore’s article was titled “New York Fashion Week: Alexander Wang’s Dreamy White-Out”). A huge difference between Moore’s and Sherman’s approach in writing is that in Moore’s review you won’t find any “I’s.” Sherman’s opening sentence introduces the first “I’s”: “Last season, I didn’t love Alexander Wang, but I did love the concepts.” It gives the readers an idea to what Sherman will be focusing on. A rather small blog post, it lasts five paragraphs, each with three to four sentences long. Moore’s on the other hand beat Sherman’s by a few more paragraphs. The review didn’t start until mid-way through taking note on the all-white pieces, the sea foam green, dusty terra cotta, and buttercup yellow hues. And the review ends with a personal note by adding, “there were plenty of things I would wear, and plenty of things I might buy.”
Although I do appreciate people’s personal take and opinions, I found the blog post rather lacking. It did not give me any real sense of what the show was like—maybe that is why personal photographs of the runway were included. With the LA Times review, one runway photograph was included, but because of the detailing, I got an idea of what Wang created. I do appreciate how quickly blogs report news, but traditional news still shine when it comes to reporting.
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