Stumbling blogs of Kenyan fashion

Blogging is only graffiti with punctuation if the posts lack substance, which in most instances usually is the case. And nothing is as distressingly middle-of-the-road as a style blog with no direction.

After all, pretty much everybody and their mom has one nowadays, what with the ease of setting a Blogspot or Wordpress account.

Fashion blogging is perhaps even more challenging, because these blogs have to feature more than just a collection of your vanilla outfits or banal looks at a second-rate event.

People actually visit these sites for solutions. A colleague was almost pulling his hair recently after scouring through copious sites in a hunt for specific information on men’s wear on Kenyan blogs.

Surprisingly, the last place you should consider for tips on men’s fashion in Kenya is a style blog.

Though Annabel Onyango’s dressupnation may not be highly ranked locally as a fashion blog, at least you can bump into enlightening posts like that on Sheria Ngowi, the Tanzanian bespoke suit maker who has been shaking things up in the industry.

Ngozi has been attracting all the right attention from quarters like Swahili and Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Africa and even earning more than just a mention in the Italian franchise of GQ.

The posts on dressupnation are succinct, comprehensive and well-written.

But then again, I would not expect anything less from an award-winning stylist with a master’s degree in English.

It seems that men’s fashion in blogs by Kenyans is just implied, almost as an afterthought in winding narratives of self-aggrandisement that amounts to nothing more than blowing of smoke.

Yet, a visit to events like the Nairobi Fashion Market, whose recent eighth edition was sponsored by The Nairobian, is an eye-opening entrance into a showcase of creative ingenuity.

Surely, the likes of Fundi Frank, who was described by BBC as “Kenya’s foremost designer and a one-man brand” or Kibera-bred Dola Creations cannot be considered minnows in the industry and not warrant even a mention in local blogs. But there is probably a reason for this.

Leading fashion blogs in the country belong to women, stylish women at that, whose posts are largely a diary of their sartorial journeys.

These are hobbyists who are driven by a passion for style and a love for fashion.

And they are beginning to amass quite a following.

The top fashion bloggers in Kenya, based on the frequency of posts, following on social media and comments on posts are probably Sharon Mundia of thisisess, Lucia Musau of The Kenyan Fashionado, Silvia Njoki of Style by Silvia and Nancie Mwai of The Fashion Notebook.

These are sassy lasses with huge social media footprints.

Nancie, for instance, has over 76,000 Facebook fans and more than 7,000 Twitter followers.

Her posts get the highest number of Facebook likes and shares (naturally); while Sharon has more than 17,000 Facebook fans and slightly over 6,000 Twitter followers.

The figures for Lucia and Silvia are 25,000 and 3,600; and 3,700 and 3,500 respectively.

FASHION SHOWS

This in itself makes these bloggers social and industry influencers, an attribute that has been recognised in the West where fashion bloggers are now getting endorsement deals, sit at the front row of fashion shows that unveil new collections.

They star in reality shows and TV productions and have freebies thrown at them by designers and advertisers seeking to reach and influence their audience.

Established bloggers in the West can now easily make up to $1million. Blogs like Man Repeller have become authorities with a stranglehold on the industry.

But making money through blogging, besides the clutter of banner ads, requires that the blogs be run as businesses, complete with a team of content generators, editors and marketers, rather than as one-man (or woman) shows with inconsistent mushy posts.

This is why Ghafla is probably the only blog in Kenya that puts money in the pocket of its founder.

It is also how Huffington Post evolved into a major publishing enterprise in 2012 and got sold for the pretty sum of $300 million.

PERFORM FOR THE DEAD

Blogging is a game of numbers and that is how Kenyan fashion bloggers can attract that elusive penny, otherwise they might as well write a song and perform for the dead!

Leandra Medine has since grown the traffic through Man Repeller to over 2.6 million unique monthly page views; while Imran Amed, the founder and editor of The Business of Fashion, turned his musings into an international powerhouse that employs 15 people and commands 1.6 million followers across the globe.

This fashion industry’s leading writer, thinker and commentator is the inspiration that the likes of Carol Odero, the former DRUM editor, needs to gainfully engage the estimated 5 million viewers who watch Fashion Watch and follow her writings.

Fashion bloggers should realise that it is their audience and influence, not self-importance or celebrity status that can be leveraged to realise real power and wealth.

It is just like politics, where power is not necessarily derived from the seal of office and extravagant trappings, but rather from military might and influence over followers.

Such command will ultimately shift the balance of wealth and direction of cash flow.