At the King West bistro Brassaii on March 16, a fashionable set held court at the chef’s table for the 15th Toronto Fashion Bloggers Brunch. It was the Sunday before L’Oreal Fashion Week, and the 13 people gathered together included representatives from various style sectors usually covering the shows: writers, illustrators, photographers and PR coordinators (yes, business cards were exchanged). Before everyone finished their eggs and asiago crumpets, a Fashion Design Council of Canada (FDCC) representative appeared to assure all present how important and appreciated they are by the Council.

The FDCC cameo confirms the fact that local fashion bloggers are gaining recognition alongside members of the mainstream fashion press. Local fashion freaks no longer just consult print magazines for their style fix, but now have a long blog roll, with topics ranging from makeup and shopping to an up-to-date overview of the local design scene.

The brunch is the brainchild of Final Fashion blogger Danielle Meder (www.finalfashion.ca), an illustrator who was missing the regular brunches she had with other Ryerson fashion students. Since late 2006, the brunch has bounced from Future Bakery & Café to the Drake Hotel to Brassaii, with guest appearances by faithful readers, publicists, fashion journalists.

“If it wasn’t for the brunch, I wouldn’t have met any of these awesome girls,” says Meder. “They became friends and made going to Fashion Week a million times more fun.”

Over the course of the brunch, the group discuss some of the issues they face. Fashion Verbatim’s Adrian Corsin (www.fashionverbatim.net) is looking to join the commercial side of fashion and admits that the increasingly monetized nature of blogging (read: advertising) has changed things. “If I want to work with that brand,” he says, “I want to reflect them in a positive way.” Meanwhile, Canadian Beauty’s Henna Singh (www.canadianbeauty.com) says that receiving samples from Estée Lauder and Clinique has only improved her coverage.

I Want I Got shopping blogger Anita Clarke (www.iwantigot.geekgirl.com) brings up the issue of cached pages, and Torontoist fashion editor Sarah Nicole Prickett believes that blogs are viable media outlets, though she sometimes regrets the immediacy of the medium. “Sometimes I go back and I read back my first blog and I cringe,” she says, “but that’s what I wrote. You can’t go back and delete.”

There’s also a general distaste for marketers that approach the blogs with zero awareness of their nature. Sonja Andic — former managing editor of Toronto Street Fashion (www.torontostreetfashion.com), now working in PR — says that many brands are just recognizing the value of bloggers’ status as “early adopters that are one step ahead of the mainstream.” She feels that her social media expertise allows her to help promote local talent even further.

Bloggers’ motivations also differ. For some, it’s a hobby while for others it’s a way to work towards breaking into print media. For the latter, it’s still a struggle to be taken seriously and get their work recognized. Despite the FDCC proclamation at the brunch, local bloggers still face difficulty in getting media passes to Fashion Week. Meder posts an entry the next day wondering how she could get a press pass for New York’s Fashion Week, but was “demoted” to an industry pass “with less access.”

“My initial reaction was disappointment, and I felt for a second a wave of what must have been jilted entitlement. Then it occurred to me that perhaps I have not really earned a pass yet,” she writes.

Yet as brands and publications scramble to gain a foothold in understanding social media, it might be the bloggers — with their expertise, ground-level perspective and natural networking — who have the last laugh. 

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