Into The Void Of Social

In between the three apps that you are using with your anxious, indesisive thumb, Instagram plays the role of a Dementor dressed as a magic unicorn. It lovingly sucks the living shit out of you, and when you think you had just enough, you do the ‘unwind’ bedtime scroll. 

Your healthy relationship continues into perpetual Instagram story ‘add’ dependency; three to four profiles you despise behind the closed doors but still ok with looking at frequently; perhaps a profile of a famous cat, whom surprisingly has the most ‘authentic’ following. 

@coldheroin

The Mona Lisas

The mysterious bitches with a distinctive Lana Del Rey vibe. To your major disappointment, these rare birds can be seen posting a beautiful, naturally snapped shot at odd times, surpassing the 18.30 Thursday rule. They also fuck around with the established cycles of the commoners: inflatable flamingos for Christmas and office flat lays in August. Is it a lip pout or is she smiling? Go figure. 

@_s____o

The Sellers

Anyone with a small, merch venture falls under this category: artists trying to make a living off postcards while art galleries are politely rejecting their erotic doodles of genitals; musicians desperately scattering a dollar or two for their patreon page; bloggers urging you to ‘read’ their latest post; global jet setters, in between their privileged, yet sincere jet lag complaints; a spiritual guidance teacher whose yogi mats are laid with crystals, feathered crowns and affirmation decks (in collaboration with the artist of course, see above). A dewy cocktail of self-published books, pins with oaths to feminism and great photography skills. You know who you are. 

@maybeyesmaybenomag

The Blessed 

The enviable legacy of rockstars, 90s super models, artists, actors and other (insert rich) bohemia’s offspring who has worked really hard to be where they are today, withstanding judgment and hypocrisy, simply leading a torturous life of first class travel, red carpet appearances and round-the-clock arrangements for product placement. The signature move: zoom in on the eye with a ‘I am so tired of this bs’ connotation. 

@bittylovers

The Micro Influencer

Few passive/aggressive replies to e-mails, an over priced tag for an Instagram post, attitude showers and rare appearances at low budget events. These specimen will either sign a contract with a communication agency and suddenly become a repost image for every Tumblr blog you follow, or will find their calling in creative fields of DJ-ing, bikini-modeling or fashion styling, overweighing their competition with the increased number of f̶o̶l̶l̶o̶w̶e̶r̶s̶ bots. 

Which one are you ? 

what a waste

What a waste of talent, scattered all over Instagram captions and cheap blogs with pixelated imagery. I am of course referring to writers.

On my latest mission impossible, that is to find a writing gig(s) that would emotionally (and financially) sustain me while I am painting my way through the self-hate and doubts, I have encountered plenty of opportunities. Not to say that I could tackle many. All the writing ‘listings’ somehow made me wonder whether the recruiting people are looking for employees on the wrong planet or they are lucidly fucked in the head.

Starting off with a genuine request of a “1st class degree equivalent from a leading university” to “basic CAD skills”, “in house CMS” and to top it off with, most are ticked with “voluntary submission”. As far as I am concerned the latest can only be applied to a sexual intercourse. Not to mention the blunt statements of main responsibilities which most of the time include management of the social media channels, brainstorming and keeping in touch with bloggers and influencers, product description, and only then you may spend  “10% of the time writing engaging content”. 

What really fired me off, is the notion that a writer no longer needs to be devoted to writing per se, but photoshop, image creation/research, HTML coding, graphic design, SEO, experience with wordpress and the list goes on (all of the above are not necessary skills to possess but simply a fat competitive plus). Top it off with many citing “English as a mother tongue” (notice that countries like UK and USA do not place such atrocities on the front page of a job announcement). 

I am afraid the bridge between outstanding reporting and witless blogging no longer exists. So here is to an expressionless face with a dog filter and an insightful caption recycled from a Pinterest board. I might pick up just that if it pays. 

Farfetch

The Uniform Pages

Business of Fashion

Motion Global

Prestige Artists

Beorgeous

The Fashion Enterprise

ITheStylist

On Diversity

Diversity is becoming as much of a buzz word as that of GRLPWR or another feminist rant; hopefully neither are going to dissolve like a last years trend of the fishnet tight, vulgarly peeking out of teenage-ripped jeans (Worn it, regret it.). 

Think British Vogue's September cover celebrating models from past, present and future, unfortunately, with an all white cast; casually ticking the exotic box with Nora Attal. Fast forward to Edward Enninful's appointment, featuring Adwoa Aboah on his first cover (one could say a safe choice since she is a prominent in the fashion industry and a very much celebrated activist). May issue, on the other hand, has made quiet a stir: nine models photographed for the cover, among which Halima Aden, Somalia American model whom famously has kept her hijab since the beginning of her modelling career (starting off with Miss Minnesota USA pageant); curvy figured Paloma Elsesser, modern beauty Selena Forrest and many other girls representing a handful of racial diversity and skin colour. Whether a trending trick, or a social shift, which is with luck here to stay - the rest of the magazines favouring the Kaias, the Gigis and the Bellas, will surely take a while to follow.

Not to mention an incident, which has appeared not so long ago but everyone seemed very easily to forget about and move on - that is the N word surfacing a Russian kitchen. Haute couture Russian designer Ulyana Sergeenko writing the obscenity on her invitation, and infamous street style star and respected young business entrepreneur Miroslava Duma showing it off to the world via a snap in her Instagram story. As the claimed inside joke from Sergeenko to Duma has made its round, the online publications put a semi-effort into covering the story. Tiptoeing around the subject, stating the facts and leaving the screenshots for the public to engage in, the comments blazing with the raging fury. Of course throwing a tome of To Kill A Mockingbird at the Russian ladies will sadly be of no help. Yet, none of the publications took their chances to address the racial issue with a proper discussion.  

Thankfully diversity was put forward when the trend-setting mouthy Goddess, Rihanna, launched 40 (!) foundation shades with her sought-after line Fenty Beauty. Estee Lauder and Color Pop jumped the opportunity with campaigns varying in skin colour. 

The inclusion seems to be the safest swing in the playground of content marketing. Chromat and Gypsy Sport are yet to be topped up by others (hint: you are too late and you cannot). Sending someone like Ericka Hart down the runway is always a win. The question is: are brands, magazines and make up moguls are being genuine ? Remember when Rihanna was the first black woman as the face of Dior for a split second?

Is fashion celebrating authenticity (exuse moi for the wildly overused word) or throwing its claws into another marketing stint? You tell me.