Hello everyone! I've mentioned before not being very good at this blogging thing but I want to give it another shot. For the past two months, I've been working on ways to improve Plus Size Prep. I've gotten lots of interest in this blog but I haven't been able to keep up with it mostly because I didn't know enough about what I was doing. I really wanted to build this blog but I needed to put some major time, energy, and thought into what I wanted to accomplish. I know it doesn't show, but come back around New Year's for a quick drink and see what I have to offer.
One of the things that really lit a fire under my tail was the fact that a lot of the preppy style/lifestyle blogs seem to have gone downhill. One of the things I've been doing behind the scenes here at PSP is reading a lot of the preppy blogs and noting different things about them. The graphics or photography might be great on one site, the writing might be better on another. I've been lurking in the dark over at GOMI, a forum devoted to blogs & bloggers to see what they say, what they recommend. A lot of bloggers hate GOMI with a burning passion but I see it as one of the best places for constructive criticism on the internet and I love being able to see what material truly connects with readers.
There's been a lot I've taken note of, and here's some of the major points that I think have really hurt the preppy blogs:
1. The lack of original content. I am aware that the preppy stylesphere is very small considered to other style genres but there's just too much sameness. I'd go to five different blogs on any given morning and would find a post about the same Kate Spade bag, the same Tory Burch booties, and the same J.Crew sweater.
2. Every post is a shopping list. The post will read something along the lines of, "Oh it was so cold over the weekend and I saw Christmas trees for sale and it makes me think of green things!!! Here's a list of 15 green sweaters." Once a week this post is okay, but everyday is a little much. #2 ties in a lot to #3...
3. These blogs really didn't have that authentic preppy feel. One of the tenants of prepdom is thrift. You borrow your mother's Lilly shifts and your husband still wears the sweaters he stole from his father's closet in high school. Again, yes, these blogs and mine are fashion blogs but you can write a great fashion & style blog without having to resort to constant shopping lists. You write a post about how stressed you are due to your new job, oh, and here are 20 computer cases to help cheer your bad day up? Please stop. This goes back to #1, lack of original content and thought.
4. 80% of everything I see on a preppy blog is J.Crew. Jenna Lyons = not preppy. At all. I actually want to shop less at J.Crew because I'm sick of seeing it everywhere.
Will this blog be perfect? Of course not. There are many people who are happy with being provided a shopping list for that weekend. What bothers me is that these people say they have a preppy blog but are only looking at prepdom from such an extremely narrow view. There's more to being preppy than wearing a cable knit sweater. The true & authentic preps are outside gardening or out on the water on the weekends, not in a f*cking J.Crew store.
One of the things that really lit a fire under my tail was the fact that a lot of the preppy style/lifestyle blogs seem to have gone downhill. One of the things I've been doing behind the scenes here at PSP is reading a lot of the preppy blogs and noting different things about them. The graphics or photography might be great on one site, the writing might be better on another. I've been lurking in the dark over at GOMI, a forum devoted to blogs & bloggers to see what they say, what they recommend. A lot of bloggers hate GOMI with a burning passion but I see it as one of the best places for constructive criticism on the internet and I love being able to see what material truly connects with readers.
There's been a lot I've taken note of, and here's some of the major points that I think have really hurt the preppy blogs:
1. The lack of original content. I am aware that the preppy stylesphere is very small considered to other style genres but there's just too much sameness. I'd go to five different blogs on any given morning and would find a post about the same Kate Spade bag, the same Tory Burch booties, and the same J.Crew sweater.
2. Every post is a shopping list. The post will read something along the lines of, "Oh it was so cold over the weekend and I saw Christmas trees for sale and it makes me think of green things!!! Here's a list of 15 green sweaters." Once a week this post is okay, but everyday is a little much. #2 ties in a lot to #3...
3. These blogs really didn't have that authentic preppy feel. One of the tenants of prepdom is thrift. You borrow your mother's Lilly shifts and your husband still wears the sweaters he stole from his father's closet in high school. Again, yes, these blogs and mine are fashion blogs but you can write a great fashion & style blog without having to resort to constant shopping lists. You write a post about how stressed you are due to your new job, oh, and here are 20 computer cases to help cheer your bad day up? Please stop. This goes back to #1, lack of original content and thought.
4. 80% of everything I see on a preppy blog is J.Crew. Jenna Lyons = not preppy. At all. I actually want to shop less at J.Crew because I'm sick of seeing it everywhere.
Will this blog be perfect? Of course not. There are many people who are happy with being provided a shopping list for that weekend. What bothers me is that these people say they have a preppy blog but are only looking at prepdom from such an extremely narrow view. There's more to being preppy than wearing a cable knit sweater. The true & authentic preps are outside gardening or out on the water on the weekends, not in a f*cking J.Crew store.
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