Show’s Over for Veteran Fashion Elite as Style Insurgents Seize Front Row

This was meant to be Vogue’s year. The British version of the magazine turned 100, resulting in, among other celebratory goings-on, an exhibition at London’s National Portrait Gallery, Vogue 100: A Century of Style, telling the story of one of the world’s most influential magazines. But a turn of events, and the social media reaction, threw a stiletto at the brand’s well-manicured public appearance and demonstrated very publicly an insurgency that is under way next to the catwalk.

During a round-table discussion about Milan fashion week, editors on Vogue’s American edition gave their views on style bloggers, and it was damning. Questioning the street-style business model of wearing paid-for brand placements, they used descriptors like “desperate” and said it “herald(ed) the death of style”. In response, style blogger Susie Bubble tweeted: “The fashion establishment don’t want their circles enlarged and for the ivory tower to remain just that. Towering and impenetrable.”

The incident highlighted how the ground beneath the establishment’s feet has shifted this season. See-now-buy-now and genderless catwalks have reflected economic and social shifts towards a younger mindset, while Bubble’s point about enlarging circles could equally read as a comment on what’s been happening on the front row (the “Frow”) in this summer’s global fashion shows.

Check out the rest of the piece here and see who made the Frow.

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