Am I unsuccessful because I am not self-branding? This is a question that has been bouncing around in my mind the past couple of weeks and something that I wanted to prose on a little more in depth here. I know that Elegant Idiosyncrasy is not the typical fashion blog and that is because I talk about lots of things other than just what I'm wearing. I post pictures of things other than just myself because I think that it is important to understand how the process of different things get translated into my personal style and photography. My outfit is the result of these experiences and to me it seems unfair to not talk about them. As a result of being a bit unconventional I don't get the highest page views and don't get invited to all of the fashion week go-to events and don't even get mentioned in the top 50 Miami fashion blogs and sometimes, just sometimes it can get frustrating.
I often have long chats with my dad when these things get to me where I wallow in self pity wondering whats wrong with me but then he quickly snap's me out of it and back into my confident self righteous self and I remember exactly why I'm not getting the sort of recognition that all of these other blogs are. I am not an easy person to brand. I am very complex, slightly all over the place and a little lost but with a strong sense of self and very unwilling to compromise that. I am not just a fashion blog but also an art blog, a theorist blog at times, a street style blog and a photography blog. I don't think that commercial brands like H&M or Forever 21 could put me in their campaign and expect to sell very much because I'm not that marketable. My blog, like myself doesn't showcase the latest items on the market because that's just not what I do.
That's not to say that I'm hating on people who do do that, more power to you if you have mutually beneficial relationships with brands that give you those sorts of opportunities. My point in all of this wallow based ranting is that I am coming to realize as it gets closer and closer to graduation that I have failed at self branding. Elegant Idiosyncrasy is a blog about me but at the same time it has not been successful at branding me. In our generation we're practically geared to learn how to self-brand and I'm not sure how I would market myself if put on the spot to. I have one foot in the fashion world and the other foot in the art world. To me I see them as the same thing and that is what I try to embrace here but to the rest of the world, or at least to some of the world it's not seen that way.
I'm not sure I'm the type of person with the type of blog that should to be sponsored in a Gap campaign but I'm not saying I don't want to be, just maybe that's not for me. Maybe I'm not the type of person that is meant to be a Susie Bubble or Bryan Boy or Man Repeller. Maybe I'm just meant to be the creative fashion artist who sometimes is the model, sometimes is the photographer, sometimes is the creative director and hopefully most of the time is all three. Maybe I'm meant to remain ambiguous and that is my self branding - the lack of it.
I'm not really sure why I'm writing all of this and then publishing it for all of you to read other than I like this space to be a reflection of who I am and what I'm going through and this is exactly who I am and have been going through for quite some time now. I hope that this can be solace for any of you bloggers or fashion artists or journalists or what ever/who ever you are out there who feel the same way. You are not alone and I certainly hope I'm not. I don't think we are unsuccessful because we are not self-branding, we are just different and different is always a welcome thing, right?
