Sartorial Seoul

Scott Schuman from The Sartorialist (the original street photographer/ blogger extraordinaire) has recently been in Seoul, South Korea shooting some trendy locals.

I like to think that he was inspired to visit after reading my rambling posts about maybe going out there.

People don't know much about South Korea that isn't gleaned from sensationalised Western news stories about the 'war' with the North.  It's actually an incredibly advanced country which is doing better than Britain economically (although who isn't?) and is very up-and-coming in terms of fashion and street style.  I'll be proving this to you in blog form when I finally go there to live (please please please).

 (FYI, The Sartorialist also regularly documents his obsession with hipsters on bikes - a guilty pleasure I share with him as a fashion fanatic and vintage bike lover.)

(Images: The Sartorialist).

Designer Bloggers

Arguably Sweden’s most famous blogger, Elin Kling made sartorial headlines last week due to her design collaboration with huge high-street players H&M.  The first collection of this kind on such a high-profile scale, it consists of eleven bohemian-inspired pieces, nine of which are items of clothing, and two of which are accessories.  

The lack of items and simplicity of design makes it a capsule collection, mimicking the pared-down fashion that is synonymous with Stockholm street style.

In a press release from H&M, Kling supports this idea, stating; 

“The collection is minimalistic and raw, but with bohemian elements, something that reflects my personal style well.”

The collection will appear only in Sweden, leaving the international consumer to wonder if H&M is planning to pair up with bloggers in other countries, or if any other brands will jump on the collaboration bandwagon.

I asked one of Britain’s most illustrious fashion bloggers, Disneyrollergirl, for her insight on this.  She surmises:

"For a brand as big as H&M to take on a blogger as guest designer is huge news because up until now, its collaborations have been with established international designers. It's not the first time a brand has worked with a blogger as a guest designer but because of the size of the H&M brand, this is significant and I imagine many more will jump on the bandwagon. Well-read bloggers do have celebrity-like followings so it makes sense that brands will want to utilise this - they get the blogger's creative input, a slice of their audience and all the media coverage that comes with the story."

I’m inclined to agree with Disneyrollergirl, and it makes business sense to the blogger as well as the big brand.  Of course, we've seen how bloggers have come to be recognised as a respected source of fashion knowledge with regards to writing and commentating on the fashion industry, but this design collaboration is a bit of a twist.


As a blogger and an avid blog reader, I'm eager to see how the partnership between the established fashion industry and the debatably independent online contributors develops further.

Now what’s Swedish for vive la revolution?

(Image courtesy of  Uniartfashion)