Last night I read an article on IFB that really struck a cord with me. The article was entitled What
'Noones Talking About on Social Media' and it got me thinking about the blogs I read, and also my own blog.
I think we're all guilty of portraying this 'perfect blogging life', wardrobes fulls of new
fabulous clothing, or great ideas to re-vamp an old piece and calling it
vintage and
DIY. Not only this we idealise these pictures of other people. I know myself I've looked at other peoples blog (and do so on a daily basis) "
I wish I was as stylish and edgy as that", or "
I wish I had that much success so young". But the truth is that we all create a specific vision of ourselves on social media, even if we don't mean to, and i'm guilty of this myself. We all pose for the camera and display nice pictures of ourselves, showing positive aspects of our lives, even if we've actually had a really shit day.
I don't know about anyone else but I kind of use my blog as an escape; this is the person I want and hope to be, without all of the hardwork and effort, also the down sides that go along with our lives.
Now, it took me a while to pluck up the courage to right this post. Let's face it none of us want to come across negative or moany. But I would never want to come across as a 'Sunshine suzie' either (as one fo the other bloggers commented under the article).
So this is where I'm going with this post; I share images of the photoshoots I go on, the internships I've had, and all of the fashion work I do, because when I started looking for work fresh out of uni I wish I had a blog with this kind of information on, so I could see what it was like, and to spur me on.
I've also had loads of people asking me through my blog and other social media how I got these internships. HARD WORK. Simple good old fashioned hard work.
My final year of university I slaved away at my magazine. Whilst my friends were out on well deserved nights off I made myself stay in to do more work. Stressed myself out. Believe me I cried more over the best thing I've ever done - My magazine, than anything else. The one thing that's brought me my success I literally hated the whole time I was creating it!
Then I lost my grandma just after I finished university. She was the one person I knew would be so proud of me, and I never got to show her my work. I never got to call her when I got the job with Selfridges, ASOS and Krush.com, and I never got to say goodbye to her. Then I found out that I have to take tablets daily, maybe for a long time because of a chemical imbalance I have. It took me ages to get used to the tablets, and even now I miss out on work opportunites because of hospital/doctors appointments.
Then when I eventually got myself sorted, I got up everyday and applied for millions of jobs. I got quite down about it, thinking there wasn't any point - it's so competitive out there, the employer gets SO MANY applications, theres not much point applying if you're going to be the 200th CV. But you still apply anyway. I eventually got internships. I had a couple of internships which were awful. I was literally a slave. But you carry on.
Thing is we ALL go through badtimes. We ALL struggle. We ALL look at each others lives and think '
why can't that be me'. We all have our own issues that we don't share on our blogs. And honestly I dont know why? Surely, the people that follow us on our blogs actually CARE about whats going on and how we've got to where we are, how we're getting on both good and bad, or they wouldn't follow, comment and share your blog right?
I'm going to admit now that my blog probably looks a tad idealistic. Who's doesnt? I love my life at the moment, I'm so grateful for where I am today but not everyday is perfect, and I have a LONG way to go. I definitely have my own struggles day to day that I still wouldn't share on my blog. And I honestly worked so hard to get to where I am now.
I just wanted to be honest with everyone - the last thing I would ever want is for my blog to come across as 'look at me, my life is a perfect little fashion world'. Ever. Apologies also because this was a tad out of the blue, but theres nothing wrong with some cringe sharing sometimes!
2013 is time for some honesty, (im not talking how long you spend on the toilet, I mean how tough the industry really is!) and also supporting each other - Let it be a good year for all us fashion bloggers!
Holly x
