IFB WEEKLY ROUNDUP

The Love Letter

Edited by Vahni of Grit & Glamour
It's been a cerebral and cathartic week in the fashion blogosphere—the wheels were turning in your stylish little heads about all manner of contemplations. Why do we hate ourselves? Why do we tell ourselves that we're not worthy? Why do we categorize and judge other bloggers by their style? Or their handbags? Several of you had a come-to-Jesus moment and realized that's just a whole lot of malarkey. And I'm so glad you did.
And you know what else bloggers realized? That blogging has enabled you to embrace you. The real you. With your flaws and imperfections, no matter your skin color, weight, or age. In her post, A Love Letter to Personal Bloggers, Anika eloquently captured what many of us feel when we begin to understand the deeper significance of blogging:

You inspire me. Your outfits, your book reviews, your thoughts, your replies to my comments. You make me feel good about me. When I visit your site you make me feel that I matter, that we are equal, never mind if I am a blogger or not. When I am reading your blog it does not matter how thin/fat/popular/lonely I am, when I am reading your blog I am hanging out with you, knowing that you are hanging out with me too.
...Darling personal bloggers, you are impacting our culture, our trends, our lives, me. Thank you for that.
And this is my love letter to all of you. It takes tenacity, guts, patience, creativity, and time to blog. Love you, be you. Care, share, go forth, and go blog!

Links à la Mode: June 9th

• Arash Mazinani: Super Brands: Why They've Got You Hooked
• Barbro Andersen: Blogging is sharing, and sharing is caring!
• Best of Bklyn: How I wore my mom's prom dress, 31 years later!
• Best of Palm Beach Consignment: Alexander McQueen: A Love Story
• Blah Blah Becky: Lipstick: A History
• Boheme Noir: 20 Alexander McQueen Runway Moments that blew my mind
• By Anika: A Love Letter to Personal Bloggers
• Consider Me Lovely: A journey from self-loathing to self-loving.
• Crashing Red: Why bloggers should not be categorized—or judged—because of their particular style.
• Dress With Courage: How do you define the difference between being inspired, or being a copycat?
• FIERCE: A Day at the Beach and a Lesson in Self Love
• Fierce Fab Fit: I'm a Grammar Snob: V1—Homophones
• Grit & Glamour: Video Review: Maybelline Color Sensational Clear Lipliner
• Haute Khuuture: How to display your jewelry for maximum use with minimal effort.
• Her Catwalk: 5 Ways to Get Rid of Unnecessary Spending
• Hippie Lace: A simple and easy DIY to add length—and spice—to cut off shorts
• Independent Fashion Bloggers: Bloggers are not your only readers
• Oranges and Apples: Why I Will Never be a Professional Blogger
• Style Confessions: Gel nail polish—what's the big deal?
• Style Nuggets: 5 Surprising Benefits of Blogging
• The Styling Dutchman: A self-conscious post about unflattering pictures and photoshopping: embrace the ugly!
• The Well Appointed Catwalk: The Un-It Bag

SPONSOR: Women's Tees at Shopbop: 291 Venice, Vince tops, Alexander Wang tees, So Low tops, Daftbird, Sauce tees, Ksubi, Three Dots, Marcus Lupfer, Rebecca Taylor, Blue Moon, Velvet tees.

I'm SO glad to be featured! This particular roundup is quite close to my heart since it contains some personal, intimate subjects that touch all of our lives. I definitely recommend reading Consider Me Lovely's post, Anika's letter and the one about bloggers not being your only readers. Blogging is such a privilege. I feel like I have a duty to share my worldviews and knowledge with other people since I'm university educated. What good is knowledge if you keep it to yourself and if you never put it to use? Just to be clear: I do not claim to be omniscient, I don't think I own the one true view on life. But I do feel like I would have greatly benefited from having a rolemodel or example when I was younger and more insecure. That's why I write about subjects that don't always have much to do with fashion or blogging. Fashion is a small part of bigger societal issues, and it's those issues that give us a bigger picture and a depper understanding of how we live our lives, and why we do so.

Forcing myself to put my ideas and thoughts out there also makes me rethink my own views. So thank you guys for reading, for giving me feedback, for sharing your knowledge with me and for sharing this experience with me!