Fashion District: DC FashBlog UPDATE

May 30, 2008 by Morgan  Send to a Friend

When last we spoke of such things (almost a year ago, can you believe it?), there were about seven fashion blogs all totally devoted to style in this city. Since then some have only gotten better (Listopad), a few are hanging in there with intermittent bursts of posts (Project Beltway, Do You), and others have just stopped updating completely (88 DC, Outrageously Chic). Lucky for us, a fresh bunch have appeared on the radar (well, my radar, at least) since our last little Fashion District meeting - and here’s a SMATTERING:

Fashion Is Spinach has been online since early 2006, but has only been DC-based for the last six months or so. The site is, among other things, a visual delight; amidst all the non-DC-specific fashion, inspiration, and lifestyle posts are, well, even more fashion, inspiration, and lifestyle posts that happen to pertain to the city proper. If you dig the easy writing style there’s more to be had - author Betsy Lowther is also a regular contributor to the Washingtonian Shop Around Blog.

Posts at the three-month-old The President Wears Prada at times lean toward the personal (there’s a LOT Style Bubble-like outfit documentation), but the inclusion of local boutique, restaurant, event and show reviews make it more than mere vanity project. Toss in the (possible) beginnings of a street style section and a particularly awesome post likening a demolished K Street office building to denim from the Maison Martin Margiela Spring runway show and it’s well on its way to becoming a daily must-read.

The DC Goodwill Fashionista was just baaaarely in effect at the time of the last blog wrap-up, and since then has (quite impressively) managed to keep up with a three-times-a-week posting schedule. Always clever and with a strong voice, the DCGF delves into topics from Marc Jacobs ads to weekly “Blog the Blogger” interviews with fashion bloggers from DC and beyond. Always up for discussion are the happenings at (and extra-amazing finds from) area Goodwill thrift stores - the gorgeous Spring lookbook she and local stylist tu-anh put together is reason enough to check it out.

Righteous (Re)Style is less than a year old but started strong and with clear direction: the pursuit of (life)style AND sustainability in the District. Vintage shopping events, the virtues of biking-as-transportation, Miss Pixie’s, and Target are all topics of conversation, and what little that isn’t DC-oriented is still valuable stuff - did you know that there are organic florists? Or where to start in your search for a conflict-free diamond? I did NOT. Thank you, Righteous (Re)Style.

While this is certainly more of a case of “make new friends, but keep the old” than one of tossing out your old links for the Bright and Shiny and New, it is interesting to see where the newer blogs will take things and how the more established ones will stay relevant. As someone responsible for writing weekly(ish) about style and how it relates to DC (and also as someone who recently changed the focus of their own fashion blog), I’ve definitely gone through periods of intense debate - does a DC style scene exist at all; is it worth sharing; is it relevant outside the city? At a certain point, I got sick of hearing even myself harp on about how there IS style here, and I basically decided to never say it again (I mean, except for just now. But that’s really [err, probably] the last time.). The best of the newer blogs (and the older blogs that will endure) are the ones that have moved past the instinct to prove-prove-prove and can simply convey fashion, style, and lifestyle - all of which just happen to exist HERE, of all places - with conviction.

How have your thoughts on DC style evolved over the last year or even two? Any blogs or sites that I missed worth having a look at?

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