Caroline Blomst, Stockholm Street Style - Interview
Caroline Blomst and her photographer partner Daniel Troyse are members of a privileged class of ‘rock star’ bloggers, who follow fashion weeks like touring circuits, and navigate the globe, tracking down the chicest examples of personal style for Stockholm Street Style. Caroline has been guest editing TheVine’s fashion section all week, giving us a taste of her slightly reserved, but endlessly ‘it girl’ taste.
While they may be shooting all over the world now, there’s still an element of ‘Stockholm’ to every character they snap.
We sat down with Caroline and Daniel to get their perspective on the shows, style, and the business of blogging.
Can you tell me a bit about what inspired you to start blogging in the first place?
I really enjoy staring into space watching people, getting inspired by people whose style I like, so I thought I’d start a blog about the community of Stockholm Street Style for everyone else to see. The internet is worldwide, everyone can see it. And I think Stockholm is very fashionable, so it’s nice just to share this with everyone else. Daniel really loves taking photos, and I really love watching people so it was like a good combination with the blog, it was a great medium for us to get through.
What is it about Stockholm style that you think is so appealing and so intriguing to people?
First of all, I think the grass is always greener on the other side, so that’s maybe one of the reasons. They say we’re very minimalistic, and very simple in the way we dress. I guess that’s quite separate from the stuff from the rest of Europe, and yeah, it’s interesting.
Now that you’re travelling around the world taking photos, do you look for certain continuity in style?
I don’t really look for a certain style; I just look for something I find eye-catching. It could be anything. And if it’s eye-catching, it’s good enough for the blog. It’s not that I look for Gucci, or I look for fur coats, or anything like that. It’s more what the day offers.
You shoot a lot of model street style. Is there something particular about that that appeals?
For me, it’s the main source of inspiration. I always look at what the models are wearing, basically I think their style is very relaxed. They can get in and out of clothing very quickly. Also, they just wear a lot of great designer clothing. I think they tend to mix the finer pieces in a very good way. And of course, the clothes always look good on a model!
Where do you see the distinction between blogging about other people’s style and your own style?
I separate the two parts of the site, so they don’t clash with each other. I really enjoy listing forward, interesting style so for me it’s not a big deal showing mine.
What is it that really excites you about that personal aspect of style and getting dressed?
I think when you actually see real clothes on a real person rather than someone on the runway, it can be inspirational, and you can actually see how you can wear it nicer. That’s why I’m really personal with my approach.
Now you’ve done a few collaborations. I saw you made a shoe for Spring Summer. Can you tell me about that expansion of your personal brand?
I do it because, first of all, it’s very important to me. It’s a good opportunity to be able to do something that you normally couldn’t do. I also do a lot of freelance styling with brands, because I really, really enjoy it. It’s very nice to see your approach on a billboard. That’s why I loved doing Rekorderlig so much, because it’s me up on that billboard, everywhere, which is a little crazy. But I actually only drink cider anyway, so it’s fine (laughs), and it gives a really great chance to see the world.
Did you have contact with the fashion industry before you started your blog?
Actually, I’d been working as a model since I was 14, so I’ve always been in the industry, but then I studied many years also, so I’d been out. I’d always had an interest in clothes and fashion.
What do you think of the increased legitimacy that’s started to surround blogging and the hype that bloggers are now attracting?
I think that media wants [blogging] to be [powerful], they put bloggers on the cover, but still, they don’t have that much power.
What is it that’s attracting the press to this story?
Traffic numbers are attracting them. If you can get exposure on a blog with a lot of traffic that can bring something, but still, the fashion bloggers are very personal, compared to magazines.
And when you say you don’t think bloggers have that much power yet, do you think that’s something that might change?
I don’t know. It’s hard to say, but I think if it has a personal approach, I don’t think you can have as much power as a magazine.
So do you think that kind of subjectivity strips away the influence to a certain extent?
Some of the personal bloggers, I don’t think they can be as credible. That could change, but the blogging community... Not everyone reads blogs. Even if the front page says so, they don’t.
Do you think it’s reached a critical mass point where it’s not really going to get any bigger than where it is?
No definitely not. I think everybody’s starting a blog. You can see it when you travel to fashion week. There’s only bloggers outside the shows now days. We haven’t reached the high yet. Sometime it will boil over, and something will happen.
What do you think, in a market that’s getting to that’s getting to that saturated point, makes some blogs stand out more than others?
I think if you have credibility, and if you’re not taking the ‘this is what i had for supper’ approach, that will make you stand out, and also, I mean for us, we work with more of a magazine kind of way, and even if I have my personal approach, because if it’s a blog, it should have some sort of personal approach. I think that’s what makes it... content, good quality pictures that makes the blog stand out.
What other ways can you garner credibility?
A lot of people get sponsored here and there. Magazines don’t though, and that’s the personal approach kind of problem. You get a t-shirt from a brand, you wear it, and if you wear it, you’re going to get some other t-shirt from the same brand. But in magazines, you can’t do that. I think that’s a problem for personal bloggers. It doesn’t [seem] very credible when you’re getting your outfit taken, and you’re wearing this from this ‘www.com’, and this from this place you received, and you have a link there, and link here. If you follow a blog, for example, in the beginning before they receive gifts, you can see they weren’t thinking, their outfits seem very true, and within a year they are developing and getting traffic, they get softer, seek free clothes. That’s the main problem in the area.
What’s your thought on the coterie of fashion industry insiders who become street style stars like Giovanni and Taylor?
We’re really happy about it. I think there’s always someone new every season, they come and go.
Do you think people have started to dress up more now that there are people such as yourself taking photos of them?
No, it’s already peaked, and it’s changed back to how it was. In Europe, the fashion blogging scene is so big outside the shows that people are actually trying to avoid us, trying to avoid the good photographers. So our work is harder, in the last two seasons, its changed.
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