January and February are all about award show-mania.

Events, red carpets, flashing lights. Oscars, Golden Globes, SAG! It’s practically a marathon! While I find most award shows to be slightly boring (3 hours? are you serious?!), I can’t help but obsess over the red carpet. It might sound cheesy but the red carpet is like a fashion girl’s dream. Doesn’t it sound fun to get glammed up with a team of professionals, wear a stylin’ gown (custom-made, of course) and walk through a sea of photographers all screaming your name?

Since the chances of me actually being on a red carpet are slim to nil, I will instead dream up my red carpet look on the blogosphere and am challenging you to do the same!

IFB Project #32: Create Your Red Carpet Look

For this project, I want to see your dream red carpet look. I know every gal dreams about what she would wear if she ever walked the red carpet and now is the time to show off your glamorous inspirations. Hair, jewels, makeup, dress. You name it, I want to see it. You can either create a photo collage like I did above or gather various pictures of your dream red carpet outfit and post on your blog.

Submit your links below and share them on twitter using the #IFBproject hashtag. I can’t wait to see what your dream red carpet outfit is. Who knows, maybe you will see your favorite star walking down that famed carpet wearing something you have dreamed about!

image from Alessandro Viero / GoRunway.com and JustJared.com

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There’s a reason I don’t live in Washington D.C. I am not a political person. I recycle, I vote for the presidency, and I file my taxes with little to no grumbling. I may be a bit green when it comes to how our country’s politics work, but the politics of fashion blogging are something that really gets my blood running. With the IFB Conference so close at hand, I thought it was a perfect time to discuss (in a cheeky way) some of the old, new, tried and true strategies and issues we as bloggers are facing in 2012.

5 Bills To Consider In The New Politics Of Blogging

Commenting

The Bill: We should encourage bloggers to post comments on as many other blogs as possible to build traffic.

The Vote: Failed to pass. We’re not sold on this method any longer. In the early days bloggers would comment and leave their URL on as many blogs as possible, in hopes for click-throughs, traffic boosts and new followers. While this can still work in some cases, we’re for a new age of commenting with care. Meaningless, disingenuous comments breed a mentality of greed and self-motivation. We believe one should reserve comments for feelings of real appreciation, or to ask a question of the blogger. Commenting should be about building a relationship and starting a conversation within the community. Consider the kinds of comments that make you smile, that you respond to and that make it obvious that the person who left it is genuinely interested. Emulate that attitude in your efforts.

Gifting & Giveaway Policy

The Bill: Bloggers should have an established gifting and giveaway policies regarding their acceptance of products from brands and retailers.

The Vote: Pass. We believe that if you want your blog to maintain credibility with followers, advertisers, sponsors and brands, you should have a hard-and-fast policy when it comes to gifting and giveaways. These policies should be posted on your blog, freely available to all who visit your site. Decide for yourself if and how you will disclose that a product has been gifted. Consider making brands aware that if you receive a product but do not like it, you reserve the right not to post it on your blog. Establishing guidelines will help you create better and more professional relationships.

Follow Friday

The Bill: Send out “Follow Friday” tweets to put your handle in front of the eyes of bloggers and brands you would like to follow you, to gain more followers.

The Vote: Failed to pass. We the people are so over this. It’s a nice gesture, and nothing more. Follow Friday tweets do not have any traction in gaining a blogger more followers.  Especially for more visible Twitter personalities, an #FF in their “@s” will probably earn you at the most a “Thank You!” tweet in return – not a follow back. We think Follow Friday is at most a way to say hello, I love you, or thank you – and not a social media success strategy.

Blogging Posse

The Bill: Forming a ‘blogging posse’ of sorts is an alienating practice that negates the sense of community within fashion blogging.

The Vote: Failed to pass. This was a tough vote. As with any community, fashion blogging can feel a bit like high school. There are queen bees, mean girls, teams, clubs and gangs of girls that all hang out together. Some are inclusive, some are exclusive. Some of the groups that have formed within the fashion blogging community are very visible, some are more discreet. Overall, we feel like forming a group of bloggers is more helpful than harmful. Even if you aren’t physically close to many bloggers, you can form mini-community online! Reach out to bloggers you like (who are also perhaps just getting started, have similar traffic or comment rates, etc). You can add each other to blogrolls, link out to their posts, and write guest posts for each other. We have all felt left out or excluded in our lives; from not being invited to an event or being on the outside of a joke. We empower you to leave jealousy to the weak, and gather good people around you and build each other up.

Social Media Sharing

The Bill: Worthwhile sharing across social media channels should either educate or entertain your followers.

The Vote: Pass. This is how we the people view the new politics of self-promotion. When you’re posting on your Twitter account or your Facebook fan page, think before you send. What would you like to read? What do you click on? Becoming a trusted and popular voice on social media channels is about enriching the conversation as much as it is about sharing your personality and promoting your blog. Educate your followers by sharing something they can use; whether it’s a hot online sale you just found, an interesting article about SEO on ProBlogger or an inspiring DIY project from your friend’s blog. Entertain your followers by linking out to a funny video from YouTube, sharing a funny moment or great outfit from your day with a tweet or  Instagram photo.

Fashion blogging is a democracy – so share your thoughts in the comments! We’re here to listen, to discuss and to keep the conversation and debate going. What do you think of these “bills?”

 [Images via Shut up, I love that shirt on you; IFB; and Flickr Creative Commons]

image from CEBImagery

New Apps! New Campaigns! New Upgrades!

There was a lot of activity on the web-o-sphere and we’ve rounded the best buzzworthy articles from this week for your reading pleasure. Enjoy!

10 New Facebook Apps to Get You Started with Timeline

Mobile Commerce Expects to Reach $10 Billion

Google Plans to Start Tracking Its Users

Heels Wreak Havoc on You Body. No, Seriously.

How Three Fashion Brands Are Relying on Instagram to Cause Buzz

 Refinery29′s Best New Fashion Startups

The third annual Altitude Design Summit took over Salt Lake City, Utah over the week of January 18th. The summit brings together bloggers and industry mavens interested in lifestyle, food, interior design, fashion and beyond for a 3-day event centered around learning, networking, and sharing ideas.

This year’s summit featured a panel specially geared towards fashion bloggers, “Runway + Street Style: Fashion Blogging 101,” and it’s panelists included some of IFB’s favorites like Gala Darling, Jessie Artigue of Style & Pepper, and Jessica Quirk of What I Wore.

To get the inside scoop on the highlights of this year’s summit, IFB caught up with first-time attendee and panelist Jessie as well as first-time attendee Kris Schoels from the darling blog, Young, Married, Chic.

From Jessie…

Victoria from SFgirlbybay said at the very first panel, “We as human beings are hard-wired to share things with one another, and how our many different social media channels allow us to do so with people who get us.” I think this is especially true fro style bloggers and creative entrepreneurs, and it makes me realize how important our community is here at IFB.

My favorite and most encouraging moment from the conference was when panelist Liz Stanley of Say Yes to Hoboken said, “Figure out what you love, and do what you can to jump in with both feet, but figure out where you want to land first.”

At the branding round table we learned that we should figure out WHO we are writing to (yes, identify and actual person or just make one up) and WHAT our blog is trying to communicate, and then ONLY post things that apply to both in order to keep/create a recognizable brand and corresponding content.

From Kris…

I think the overall topic that was most helpful to me was really just listening to other, very established, bloggers speak. It’s nice to know that everyone starts off in the same way- blogging in pajamas and hoping that someone besides your mom is reading your site. The biggest thing that I took away from Alt is that you have to really go for it and not be scared to put yourself out there. The best thing, for me, about Alt was meeting some insanely talented women. It’s crazy, the power of the blogging world! I would suggest that anyone looking to learn from some highly creative people should come to Alt,  and I mean all bloggers – big or small!

Don’t forget! IFB’s own (very exciting) conference is coming up in less than two weeks – so scoop up a ticket right now!

[images via the Alt Summit Flick stream and Style & Pepper.]

Making a Connection

Edited by: Fajr Muhammad of Stylish Thought

SPONSOR:

Shoes at Shopbop: Frye Shoes, Yosi Samra Flats, See by Chloe Shoes, Tapeet, Ash Sneakers, Sam Edelman Sandals, Steven, Wang Shoes, Pelle Moda, Vanessa Mooney, Loeffler Randall, Dolce Vita Shoes & Hunter Boots

PLEASE READ IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PARTICIPATE

If you would like to submit your link for next week’s Links à la Mode, please register first, then post your links HERE. The HTML code for this week will be found in the Links a la Mode group will be published later today. ~Jennine