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I hesitated many times before writing this article but in the end, I decided to share my point of view, and tell you something about how things work in Italy.
Today I want to tell you about the Italian biggest phenomenon of fashion blogging, Chiara Ferragni. The first time I visited her blog I was really positively impressed about her beauty and her outfits. I thought that if she was pretty and talented about fashion she deserved all that notoriety.
Then after a couple of weeks ,following her blog, reading her posts I began to think that maybe she was not so talented as I thought. I started thinking that she was more like a Barbie wearing expensive clothes but with not talent at all about fashion.
The main thing than really puzzled me, is the fact that she uses to cover her own body with lots of expensive brands without any kind of originality. Posts are written awfully and everybody that reads them can clearly understand that she hasn’t any knowledge in fashion. The only thing she cares about, is to show off expensive clothes she daily buys for her nonsense articles.
Chiara is the umpteenth example that to get a job in Italy, the only important thing is the way you look outside!
Longer than usual? Until the knees? Which perfectly go with the other items?
It sounds like a 10 years girl article!
Then when I heard that somebody started to call her a fashion expert I got really angry. Yes, I am not envious but I am angry. It is just unacceptable that only because she is tall, blonde and wealthy she automatically becomes a fashion expert.
What about all the people who actually are studying fashion and they know all about it? What about people who work in fashion since years that have plenty of talent to show? What about all the people who actually are not graduate in fashion but are extremely talented, and they are doing everything to show the world that they deserve some attention?
The truth is that Chiara Ferragni is famous only because she is a pretty girl. Most people (especially Italian ones) care only about appearance. They don’t really care about talent, personality and creativity. In Italy, if you are not beautiful you won’t go anywhere. Even Chiara’s footwear collection is boring. If you have a look to her shoes you will see they are copies of the most famous shoe brands. You can find her shoes at luisaviaroma.com
Anyway, I have to recognise that she is talented in bringing traffic to her blog. I am sure somebody helped her about indexation and SEO, she couldn’t do all by herself.
Bring lot of traffic to your blog is the easyest way to make good money! Thank to the huge amount of traffic she is always invited to the most important fashion shows as Burberry, ecc.
Honestly, I was really surprised to discover that Burberry invites her just because she wore one of the brand leather jacket in a couple of posts.
Burberry Jacket
Many small brands decide to collaborate with Chiara just because they want to be more popular ,and sell more. This is the demonstration than even fashion brands don’t care about Chiara’s competence about fashion. The only thing they care about, is make lot of money using her body.
Important: Comments are disabled for this post. I don’t wanna waste more time talking about the person mentioned in the article. Life goes on, and I have many things to do in my life. Private messages won’t be answered, please don’t waste your time writing me about this topic. Do you wanna know who I am, and why I wrote this post? Read here.
First of all, the passage from The Blonde Salad blog that you pasted here reads very well in Italian. The reason people relate to her posts is exactly because she speaks in a casual and unpretentious tone. The fact that she describes the show in such basic language makes it easy for the public ( the majority are not fashion experts ) to understand and identify with. The way she puts clothes together is extremely stylish, and I do not see why she should be criticised for being beautiful on top of her talent. Brands choose to work with her because she provides them with exposure and she demonstrates how to work these brands into your everyday wardrobe. She is a fantastic blogger and deserves every bit of success and admiration that comes her way.
Hi Richie/Angie! It’s not fair to write positive comments pretending to be someone else to defend Chiara. She is none of the things you wrote/said, she is not a fantastic blogger and she doesn’t deserve the success she had! She is only the easiest way for the brands to make more money, but I think that most of them aren’t satisfied with the collaborations: try to ask to Silvian Heach, Hogan, Pennyblack and so on.
If Chiara Ferragni hadn’t a rich father, she probably would have been one of Berlusconi’s girls. She is beautiful and lucky, but clearly unqualified, trivial and stupid (do you really think that she is that famous because she is talented?? or just because she put on internet her naked pictures??). Brands contact her just to gain more popularity between youngers and adolescents. Because people who have real problems, and real life issues, don’t give a shit about her and her expensive clothes. Face the truth, in 2 years at the longest, none will recall who chiara ferragni is. Except you, Richie, because you have to share you life with this goose.
She should go back to her first passion when she used to post naked pics of herself on internet.
<> What do you know about Italy?! This comment is very non-committal.
I am Italian, I am a fashion designer and…I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOUR POST !
Hi Everybody,
I’m Italian too.
You can like or not like a person, in this case Chiara, but I personally don’t agree with few things you have wrote.
1. I don’t think money and good taste go hand in hand. I mean the fact that you come from a “good” family doesn’t mean you automatically have a good taste for fashion.
So is not a matter of buying (or receiving as a gift) expensive clothes and accessories or cheapest clothes like Zara/ H&m etc. The matter is to put them together to make the combination “FASHION and GOOD LOOKING”.
This is something that you have or you don’t have. Money can buy “material things” only.
So in this case I think Chiara has a good taste for fashion.
2. People like Chiara who are very young and why not also wealthy (I assume I don’t know) have the choice to stay on their convenience without doing nothing because they do not need to do something for living. Chiara has chosen ( as a joke at the beginning, if understand well from her blog) to begin a fashion blog because “fashion” was something she likes.
And now she is more famous and she has many followers and probably also more money.
So if I have to choose from One person who is young but is doing nothing in his/her life because she/he is reach and from Another person (in this case Chiara) that work her @$$ to become more famous and why not more reach doing what she likes…I choose the second person!
3. It’s a little bit sad reading in 2012 WOMEN that criticize another Woman for the fact that she is blond and pretty.
I agree that pictures come out batter if you are a good looking person but this is not a fault. And again and also in this case: you are or you are not.
4. Of curse famous brands give her cloths/handbags/accessories and offer her to go to the fashion events because of her fame! This happened all the time, Brands don’t care about anyone, Chiara , me , you, they simply care about how to sell more.
5. For people replaying about “how the things go in Italy” that are not Italian, please do not talk about other Countries.
To Everybody, please do not judge a person by their “social status” / appearance /gender or origin.
Thanks a lot and Have a good Life!
Wow, what amazes me is how you’re able to write so long and have so many grammatical errors that I barely understand your passage. But I get the idea, you’re one of the young people who still cares about your idol and defends her, and in this case, you’re defending Chiara. I’m not here to side with anyone, not with the poster nor with you Michela, but everyone here need to realize that there are certain advantages that come with money and looks. Amd fortunately for her, she has both.
One thing to comment for you Michela, she DOES NOT have a good taste, trust me. Throw me anything by Burberry and Emilio Pucci and I can pull off something just like what she wears, but unfortunately for me, I’m not blonde and I’m not rich as hell, so that’s a problem for me, right?
I completly agree with everything that is written in this article, and I stand by my opinion because I’ve been following her blog for some time. I still don’t understand why she is so famous and why she recives amazing oportunities to travel and colaborate with diferent brands (I discovered this article by searching ‘who is chiara ferragni’) … the only reason why I follow her blog is because of the photos of amazing places and experiences she publishes but I could not care less about what she wears simply because, it’s not innovative or even interesting, it’s not ‘fashion’… I think that other bloggers deserve the sucess she enjoys, take for example Andy Torres from stylescrapbook or kristina bazan from kayture…
I really don’t have any pressing issues with this article, the girl dresses nice. And it would be hard to write correctly in English, if your not a native speaker? I mean to each his own. Not everyone thinks that wearing long skirts and sneakers, with knee high socks or doc Maartens and thrift store grandma sweaters are cute. And I’m mad. How are you going to criticize her writing, when your English is just as bad though? I laughed at that. Inacceptible is not a word my friend. And another thing, even if her writing is not up to par with the rocket science and logical equations that do equal fashion, (lol) I’ll give you that, if youre mad that she’s rich and pretty, then you are envious. Write the article and say something about her writing only, not about her looks or wealth. Because now I already know you’re not wealthy or pretty.
First: I often apologize for my English, as I foreign people I write in English just to keep it good as possible. I have never pretended to be a professor of foreign languages as other people do. Second: your statements are quite boring, not so different as many others I heard in the past. In the article I wrote:
I meant she doesn’t know a word of fashion lexical. As a fashion Icon you have to speak in a proper way. I don’t care to be wealthy an pretty if I have no brain as she demonstrated many times. I prefer to be a normal person and make fashion as I already do every day.
I wanna remember you one important thing, If she can wear all those beautiful clothes, is because behind them there are people like me that make them become reality and this, is much better that to be only pretty and wealthy. The idea to swap my fashion knowledge with her beauty simply horrifies ma and at the same time,it makes me laugh.
Third: She is a public person, she is a big girl and she will survive to my criticisms as me to yours impulsive statements.
I really like her just for having a style that’s not ridiculous, like you could actually see a woman wear what she wears in real life, not on the catwalks where ridiculous=you’re a genius.
Anyways I definitely got some jealousy vibes from this article, but well…i’m jealous of her too haha.
In all honesty, I love her blog. You picked one of the most “common” of her outfit combinations to display here. She does, in fact, do a great job of mixing and matching outfits, textures, etc. She might not be a “fashion expert,” but she is definitely fashionable.
You know why I like her? Even with tons of cash, she still has a trillion pictures with Forever XXI and Zara clothes. She takes pictures of herself looking silly and goofy, she takes pictures of herself when her hair is messy, she makes cute videos and answers very lovingly to all her followers. Yes, she has tons of cash and spends lots of money on bags and what’s not, but since she became a fashion blogger – a successful one – her success depends largely on what clothes she wears. If she has the money to buy top-notch, why should she not buy top notch? Just to please other people?
I don’t have the money to buy what she buys, but I have been inspired countless times by her outfits and found similar articles of clothing in my own wardrobe. She is classy and stylish at the same time!
I appreciate your post on her because I also get a bit furious with people in my own country (I’m foreign, as well) who get a lot of exposure because they can go and shop an entire pre-made outfit from Chanel. But Chiara really isn’t like that, and she has a sincerely refreshing taste in fashion. The whole exaggerate spectrum put on by some bloggers is a lot more offense in my view than her classy style.
And clearly, I’m not Richie/Angie, so please, to the other people who comment, don’t assume that positive comments don’t come from the 90K+ people who adore her.
Yes I feel somewhat the same way. (Not with that much a burning passion anyway…) I am an avid runway fashion follower and I go through all the show photos every season and I also casually take campus fashion photos in my school. I think that her blog attracts mostly average gals who want to be fashionable, since her style is quite…average, if you compare her with many other fashion bloggers who have more distinct tastes. (My favorites include Leandra of The Man Repeller and Sabrina of afterDRK.) I don’t care how rich these fashion bloggers are. Simply because I believe that bloggers do have to be at least kind of rich to start with, and these people are quite useful in helping me to find inspirations to put on outfits everyday. And a blogger with average taste but with the most money certainly has an edge over the rest “average” bloggers. I do not find her blog particularly exciting as I check everyday all the blogs that I follow. So I skip hers sometimes.
This article does generalize Italy unfairly. In the midst of the fashion industry, talent and good work is just as appreciated in Milan as in Paris.
Chiara is a barbie. She is blonde, commercial and wears expensive “pretty” clothing. That’s why teenage girls all over the world, who read Glamour and Seventeen, love her. That doesn’t mean that we in the industry think she’s qualified. She doesn’t have style as the people at Vogue see it (1% of the girls) but as the middle-class normal people see it (40 % of the girls). That is success. Just as H&M is more successful than COS.
To Nadya, I think it is not nice to write about errors like you have done regarding my opinion to the post. I’m Italian and I’m using a foreign language to write, so sorry if there are errors but I’m happy that you have understand my point. Actually…I don’t think you get my point but that’s fine my fault to much grammar errors!!Maybe you can write to me in Italian I’m sure you will write perfectly in my mother language.
this post is a “wow”! I am have clicked to the blondsalad when I started my own blog a year ago, and was fascinated then. now that I realised that obviously the girl- Chiara- made zero money herself to buy the clothes she wears and puts on all the time ..I cant follow the glog anymore. i come from a fashion background, I own my own production/event and modeling agency for 8 years…but excuse me, she has noooo idea about fashion! no taste at all and gets most of the things for free ( what she doesnt buy from her parents pocket). and I have a question, why does she make the same face all the time? I represent models who do world campaigns, she is trying poor girl so much to look like a model! it is ridiculous. honestly. thanks God someone else sees this, not just me
Talking about calling the kettle black, have you even proof read the text? It’s full of silly mistakes. Since it’s not your first language as you claim, how can you judge Chiara’s text?
Putting grammar issues on the side, did you personally look into her financials to claim what she buys with whose money? Furthermore, why does that even matter?
Most importantly, many of you are missing a point here. To me fashion has always been about fun and Chiara’s blog is exactly that. If you don’t enjoy it, don’t read it! Clearly you are not the target audience and there is nothing wrong with that.
Your post is full of spite and envy, which is unbecoming and probably partly the reason your blog is not so Hot right now.
Once again, I didn’t say anything about Chiara’s English grammar…Why don’t you all read the post for what exactly is? She claims to be a fashion expert so I wonder myself why she writes clothing/fashion shows descriptions so approximately. I don’t understand why you are judging me just because I told my opinion about a girl who lives in Italy like me. I have stopped reading her blog since ages, if you haven’t check the date this post is quite old. You came here, you wrote this boring comment and then you went away. You didn’t even bother yourself to check what job I do in my life (I work in the luxury fashion industry since years) or why I decided to write this post…Anyway I wrote good thing about other fashion blogger, here and here.
So why don’t you relax and accept other people statements. I didn’t kill anyone…it is just an opinion, as many others on the net.