Blog Your Way to Haut Couture

Bloggers are becoming celebrities and getting invited to New York's fashion events. The WSJ says PR agencies are now targeting specific blogs for coverage of runway events.

Public relations firm LaForce + Stevens, which organized shows for clients like Nanette Lepore and Baby Phat, drew up ad hoc guidelines for this week's invitees. Rule No. 1: Bloggers who post photos of themselves don't make the cut. "Self-promotion is a bad sign," says principal James LaForce.

Fashion companies really care about the opinions of bloggers.

Some fashion companies are concerned about what bloggers are likely to say about their shows. One blogger who has gained entrée into the tents this year is Mario Lavandeira, founder of the gleefully catty celebrity-watching site PerezHilton.com. Mr. Lavandeira's blog recently posted a photo of Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld in an all-white ensemble, with the caption "Unkle Karl and the case of the Male menopause." A spokeswoman for Chanel had no comment.

It's for good reason. Some blogs are attracting audiences that are comparable to offline rags. Example:

According to BlogAds, an agency which sells ads on PerezHilton.com, the site is viewed, on average, 40 million times per month -- a figure that's hard to ignore. By comparison, an established site such as Style.com (owned by CondéNet, a joint venture of Condé Nast and Fairchild Publications), gets viewed 87 million times per month.

Tags: Blogger, Haut Coutre, Perez Hilton

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