Why Pictures?

For a long time, I’ve felt very averse to using many pictures on this blog. Yes, I felt this way despite the fact that this is a fashion and design blog.

Since most of my previous success has come from the world of academics, I was probably just frustrated that people seemed to be running popular blogs without any thought, without any analysis. How could blogs posting 50 pictures of design shows with a comment like “omg I die for this” be outperforming me?

Yes, there are websites like that; and I don’t find them very interesting or useful. However, many people do; providing pictures from runway shows is a service for people who may not find them otherwise.

However, pictures can have a much stronger impact than that. The “personal style” blog is a huge, possibly oversaturated marked full of people who build follows by posting pictures of themselves on a regular basis. This can not happen with just text (though I’m tempted to start a mock blog which simply posts outfits in text form, with no links).

Pictures (of real people doing real things) are (surprise) real. They invite connection, they invite comment, they invite conversation. They establish a persona, an identity, a personal brand. Pictures show emotion; they can show you having fun, being excited and passionate about what you do. (All of these things sound like blogging/PR/social media advice I’ve heard before.)

I probably maintained my aversion to pictures out of a combination of fear and a false sense of superiority (Ooh, I’m going to write long-winded philosophical fashion analysis. No pictures! Anyone who needs pictures to enjoy this essay is a loser!)

That’s silly. I like to have fun. I actually really love to take pictures (apparently I didn’t like to post them though). Thus; no more. I’m no longer anti-picture. Rock on.

-Barry

(Hmm… maybe it actually was because someone told me I looked like I’m balding once. Who knows.)