Guest post: The evolving definition of a “fashion blogger”

Beth Goodrham is an inspiring personal stylist who blogs at StyleGuile, which was recently shortlisted in the Marie Claire Blog and Twitter Awards. Fashion bloggers may not be what you always expect. Here Beth describes her blogging journey and how she realised she was a fashion blogger after all…

If I may, I would like to ask you a question: What image springs to mind when you think of a fashion blogger? Unsurprisingly, there are many stereotypical views held about fashion bloggers which include:

• they are teenagers or people in their twenties;
• they are skinny, tall and picture perfect;
• they are ego driven and attention seeking;
• they love any promotional events, especially those with free cocktails and gift bags.

Until today, had you asked me the same question, I too would probably have agreed with many of those views. I have always taken the view that stereotypes, as grossly generalised as they may be, exist for a reason!

Oddly enough, although I have been running my fashion blog, StyleGuile, for 18 months now, it was only today, for the first time, that I actually allowed myself to add “fashion blogger” to the mental list of criteria which describes who I am. So now I consider myself as not only a wife/mother/stylist and lawyer but also a “fashion blogger” – and actually I quite like it.

So why is this? Why is it only now that I have come to the conclusion that I may include myself in that band of merry men, or more probably, women?

The answer to goes back to the fact that I too had an idea in my mind of what being a fashion blogger entailed and as far as I was concerned, I didn’t fulfill any of those criteria!

Beth in spotty trousers, in a typical blog picture

For a start, I am definitely not in my teens, or my twenties – or even my thirties for that matter but rather in my forties – and creeping slowly ever further into them! I am not particularly tall, and although I am slim it is more of a “scrawny because I never get time to sit down” kind of slim, rather than a long lithe and youthful slim! I am definitely not picture perfect but won’t go into details about that in case you are eating, as I risk putting you off your food.

Nor would I consider myself ego driven or attention seeking – having three children means that there isn’t any time for such self indulgent traits and as for promotional events – on occasion whilst they may be lovely, if I have any spare time to socialise, it is likely to be spent with my husband or friends.

So, why the change? What has happened which has allowed me to now think of myself as a “Fashion Blogger”?

At the beginning of January, StyleGuile was short-listed for the Marie Claire Fashion Blogger of the year award. Whilst that has helped with my shift in thinking, I still felt a bit of an imposter at the awards ceremony, even though the people at Marie Claire had bestowed that honour on me. After all StyleGuile wasn’t featuring amazing shots of the latest designer collections, or catwalk fashion, or incredible street style – which is what my perception of a “proper” fashion blogger is, or was, all about.

But then I came to realise it was OK to take a broader view of what a “fashion blogger” is and that there is room in people’s lives for my personal style blog and what I offer on it – practical, every day, accessible, affordable, fashion with style and a dollop of humour.

My blog is designed to show busy women how to style themselves on a daily basis without spending lots of money or lots of time in doing so. Each day I post a picture of what I am wearing and let people know from where they can buy the clothes.

From time to time I run features on StyleGuile, covering the topic of, for example, work wear, how to pack for a weekend away, showing shoes, which are both, practical but stylish and my current “Sunday Best” feature shows what I would wear if I had a chance to dress up more often!

From what I am told, my readers like the fact that the fashion is accessible – it is not all about high heels and silk (although there is of course room in our Wardrobes for those pieces on occasion) but rather it is about showing women how to look stylish when going about their daily business of doing the school run, dashing to their off-spring’s ballet/swimming/tennis lessons, going to the supermarket, going to work and socialising with friends. It’s about saying to women “OK, just because you have reached a certain age, just because you are busy and just because you don’t have a huge budget, it doesn’t mean that you can’t look stylish.” To me, fashion and style shouldn’t just be for the elite and the wealthy – because let’s face it few of us fall into either, let alone both, categories. But here’s the thing, we do need to get dressed each day and we do deserve to feel good about ourselves.

It has taken me a long time to reach the conclusion that I too am a fashion blogger – just of a different genre. Many years ago street art wasn’t described as “Art” at all – rather graffiti but it has now become accepted for what it is – art but just in a different form. And that is the amazing thing about blogging – it is new, evolving, exciting, challenging and open to different interpretations. Heck, if the esteemed people at Marie Claire are happy to recognise StyleGuile as a “fashion blog” then may be it is about time that I did too!

–Beth Goodrham, StyleGuile

Beth is a married mum of three children whose ages range from 13 to 4.  In 2009, after having spent 15 years practicing the law, Beth re-trained as a Personal Stylist and now runs a successful Styling business.  She also runs her daily blog StyleGuile, whose mission is simply to inspire mums and busy women to dress stylishly on a daily basis, given that they probably don’t have lots of time or an unlimited budget.

Beth’s blog was recently short listed for the Marie Claire Magazine fashion blog of the year award – something which came as a bolt out of the blue but about which she was delighted!

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