It's the 21st century, the era where technology and fashion collide.

Being a religious follower of fashion blogs and The New York Times, I recently read a story, "Bloggers Crash Fashion's Front Row" (Eric Wilson) which caused me to take a step back from fashion to look at it with a new perspective. 

Technology has been on the rise. Careers that encompass technology have experienced more demand and those that pursue those careers have good prospects. Technology, to me, is a train that is going full-steam ahead. It won't stop, and what's more is that it is fast and is continually in motion. Fashion is quite similar to technology in that sense--changes, implementations, and innovations are elements of its character, I believe. (Of course, there are fundamentals that remain constant, but change is also an undeniable feature of both technology and fashion).

For as long as I can remember (since 6th grade specifically), I have wanted to pursue a career in media and journalism. At first, 6th grade, I was chosen to be a reporter for the daily T.V. news in my elementary school. It  gave way to my ideals now: my dreams have progressed from being a broadcast reporter/news anchor to a style journalist/photographer. Ever since I wanted to be a journalist, I had always envisioned that I'd be one for the physical newspaper--the print edition. I was absolutely charmed and taken with writing for print and expecting that folks would have a newspaper in one hand and coffee in the other every morning, the image that was typical of many [American] homes perhaps a decade or two ago.

However, although people may still read newspapers ritually, "Bloggers Crash Fashion's Front Row" gave me a good knock in the head. It had never occurred to me a year ago (okay, well, maybe, but definitely not two years ago) that I might consider or have to write for the online edition of a publication instead of the print. But what could I have known two years ago? I'm 15 (add a 0.5 to that), and this is the first year I've had experience in a formal publication of sorts--my school newspaper, The Purple Tide.

Ah, right, I'm rambling. The point is--technology is obviously making an impact on fashion. Social media networks and blogging are rather un-traditional and young aspects compared to the magazines and newspapers. Nevertheless, society is gravitating towards these fresh sources which have the ability of supplying information much more quickly than traditional methods of print. In addition, perhaps more of us have the "blog mentality", not a "magazine mentality." I myself follow blogs and online sources much more than I subscribe to magazines and the newspaper because blogs are more accessible and there is instant gratification. Coming from a no-nonsense Asian family, it's quite difficult to get my hands on newspapers or magazines without acquiring stares of disbelief--they don't understand why I'd want to spend money on something that takes up space that I "probably won't read twice" where I could probably find something of similar nature online one way or another. Some people don't see how I could be so passionate about fashion, which they view as trivial and superficial. I'd love to write my thoughts on that, but that will come at a later time...

Ultimately, there are many things for me to consider--for everyone who is or aspires to be in the fashion/journalism industry. What sort of journalist and photographer do I want to be? Primarily for print, or primarily for the web? Or would it not matter since it seems that publications are putting the same stories online as they are in the print? Would I even get a choice if there was one? Which do I prefer?


Putting that aside...

Fashion and technology are staples of society. Technology has become integrated with fashion--the link between the two has become irrevocable, as both will progress together. If I may say so, it's like an inevitable marriage. How those in the fashion/journalism industry cope with this is something that I'll be on the watch for, and perhaps something I myself will experience.

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Wow. This was quite a long and confusing post. Perhaps it's more like a bunch of my musings and ramblings squished together in one body of text. This was written from my perspective--an outsider's point of view. (As a side note, it's rather depressing to be fifteen and living in suburbia, 211 miles away from the heart of fashion and journalism.) I haven't put my foot in the door of fashion yet, and I'm just barely getting started in journalism. I realize that I probably sound like an amateur, so I'm open to your opinions and criticism. I'd love to know what you all think about technology's influence on the fashion/journalism industry.