Fashion PR is a curious thing. There are many fashion blogs out there, most from those who adore fashion, but a select few from those who are actually in fashion public relations. Many times Bloggers are tapped by public relations firms and are sent information regarding new products out on the market or about to hit the market. Occasionally this also means being sent a fashion product to review on our blogs. In a sense, this then puts the average fashion blogger into the realm of Fashion PR.
For my personal beauty and fashion blog I am often contacted by various PR firms regarding their client’s fashion brand or accessory. The following PR Firms that have reached out to me that represent fashion brands are:
Pierce Mattie Public Relations
The Winning Pitch
BelleRinger PR
Style House PR
Wilks PR
Rubenstein Communications
The Fashion PR blog that I read the most is PR Couture by Crosby Noricks. She manages her own PR and Creative Consulting Company, Clever Gretel in San Diego, CA, where she specializes in providing clients with expertise in media relations, creative promotions, branding, creative copy, event planning and design. Her interest in Fashion PR stems from undergraduate work in media studies, where she examined the relationship between feminism and fashion, as well as graduate work in mass communication and media studies. Her master’s thesis, “From Style to Strategy: An Exploratory Investigation of Public Relations Practice in the Fashion Industry” took her to Los Angeles and New York City to interview practitioners, and was the first academic study of its kind. Crosby was gracious enough to answer my questions regarding her reason for entering into the Fashion PR world:
Why did you start PR Couture?
My Master’s thesis in graduate school (I studied Communication) was a piece of original research that explored the Fashion PR profession. During the research phase I had a really hard time finding anything academic, or even anecdotal, about Fashion PR – online or otherwise. What little I did find was either from the UK or Australia, and didn’t feel particularly relevant to the profession or study of PR in the US. Then, when trying to recruit Fashion PR practitioners to participate in the interview portion of the study, I found the profession cold and unresponsive. As someone who was interested in the profession from an academic, but also personal and professional perspective, I was frustrated with the lack of interest from PR agencies and in house practitioners. Their unwillingness and lack of interest in participating in a constructive, clarifying dialogue about Fashion PR was disappointing. To be fair, the practitioners who did participate in my study were absolutely wonderful, and without them I would not have been able to complete my academic work. Later, after graduation, I was again frustrated that my academic interests didn’t fit in with the current trends of public relations research, nor were there clear places to share the results of my study and passion for the profession with the fashion industry. Eventually, I decided that it was up to me to create this space. After lying to rest grandiose notions of a complex online resource, I felt that blogging was a powerful yet manageable way to create a place online for the Fashion PR.
Where were you first bitten by the Fashion PR bug?
I always knew that I wanted to do something with fashion, I just wasn’t sure what. In high school I took classes in fashion illustration and design but always broke my charcoal and was a disaster at draping! I considered going to fashion college, but wasn’t ready to commit just yet – I had a lot of other academic interests that I wanted to pursue. My junior year, I spent a semester studying fashion marketing and merchandising at the London College of Fashion. I took a class in Fashion PR and loved it. It was a way to be creative with fashion without creating clothes. Fashion PR combines so many of the things I love – being creative, coming up with concepts, creative copy, writing, fashion, and networking.
What do you find interesting about Fashion PR?
Women have a very complex relationship to fashion and a very personal relationship to the particular clothes that they wear. Clothing communicates who a woman is, how she feels, what she wants you to know about her. In a similar way, the goal of public relations is to communicate and maintain positive relationships with their (often female) publics. Being a part of this exchange is fascinating because it touches on so many areas that are greater than just PR – psychology, sociology, fashion theory, economics, feminism, cultural studies...
What have you learned about the Fashion PR world from the time you began your blog until now?
What has been extremely gratifying is the willingness of Fashion Bloggers, practitioners, fashion editors, and pr agencies to support the goals of PR Couture through interviews, opinions and comments. I wish I had started this blog before I pursued my thesis, I think I would have had a much better response!
If you are a Fashion PR Blogger, let us know!