Dumbing Down Tumblr

Style b­logging is a beautiful if somewhat chaotic medley of fashion, design, and the every-day-girl. As with a lot social media tools like Facebook and Twitter, anything and everything goes. It’s a candid mish-mash of individual perspectives, formed to create a sort of digital look book of all things stylish. Like moths fluttering towards bright lights bulbs, so too are the fashion-savvy towards the blogosphere. Blogs show case the lives and loves of normal girls, and if the success of tabloids and reality TV is anything to go by, we can’t get enough of the everyday Jane.

But therein lies the rub. What happens when the everyday girl is just as beautiful, just as thin, just as well dressed as the fashion models we see in magazines? Has the every-day become the glossy world of picture perfectionism? We crave diversity, but are we really rising to the challenge with the tools that let us do so?

Source: Tumblr

Let me illustrate. There is a girl I follow on Tumblr with thousands of fans. At just a mere 17-years of age, she has reached what is known as internet fame. Everyday she uploads or reblogs a beautiful mixture of images she finds from all corners of the web, creating a fashion-lover’s archive of inspiration for the self-confessed clothes horse. She is adored not just for her treasure trove of pictures, but also for own personal style. Self-portraits of thin, tanned legs reclining in a computer chair, a messy head of long blonde hair and a perfect pout receive hundreds of notes, likes a reblogs. She’s internet famous, and all she has to do is click her mouse.

“How did u get soooo skinny?!” One follower asks.

“can we plz get a rundown of what you eat each day?” Asks another.

The reaction to these images, whether they’re of the bloggers themselves or of catwalk models they admire, is uncannily similar to the way we react to the headlines that blazen the covers of magazines. We want to know what the other person does to look and feel good. What’s their secret? How can I be like them? How do I compare?

The girls of Tumblr are undoubtedly gorgeous, a community of style bloggers, amateur fashion designers and enthusiasts, writers and makeup artists alike. They love what they do, and best of all, they’re just like us. However, just like the perfectly choreographed images they post, web cam shots become DIY fashion shoots with real designer labels and some serious effort involved.

Fashion and beauty have always been about creating magical worlds, with control over these fantasies commanded from the top down. The Internet has given fashion and beauty lovers a place to openly share and create their own worlds, and take a little bit more control over what the media hands to us. The thing is, sometimes the pages of Tumblr aren’t that far away from the sartorial jungles of high-fashion magazines. The everyday fashion blogger and her Tumblr posts start to look more and more like the unattainable world we see inside the glossy covers of our favorite reads. Sometimes, it’s a little hard not to compare ourselves, especially when the girls responsible might even be people we know.

Social media tools like Tumblr are great for getting the creative juices flowing yes, but if something you’re viewing at is making you constantly look at yourself and how you compare, where’s the fun in that? And that’s what blogging should be all about – fun! Creativity! Expressing yourself and sharing your passion. Tumblr is just another form of media, and just as with magazines, television, movies and other images you see, it’s important to think about how blog content is created. Is it opening up your world to a variety of looks, styles and tastes? Or is it just reflecting the same old, same old?