Fashion and Blogging: SoFA's Capsule Series on Online Journalism

When In Manila , one will notice that more and more Filipinos are getting adept in Fashion. Aside from the fact that more designers are bred every year, it cannot be denied that fashion blogs have also been prolific in today’s generation. Fashion has been around for many decades and School of Fashion and the Arts or SoFA is one of it’s pioneers in providing quality Fashion education here in Manila.

The organizers of SoFA Design Institute x Fully Booked Fashion and Interior Design Capsule Series

SoFA has teamed up with Fully Booked to launch their capsule series in Fashion and Interior design. These capsule series tackle basic knowledge one must posses in the subjects of Interior Styling and Online Journalism–the latest additions to SoFA’s programs.

Fully Booked in The Fort Bonifacio Global City

I was lucky enough to be able to join SoFA’s workshop on Online Journalism under the expertise of Carla Perlas-Casanova, past editor of Mega magazine and current editor-in-chief of Celebrity Living magazine. She is also the lecturer of SoFA’s course in Fashion Journalism. Being an esteemed personality in print media she does not deny her fascination towards Fashion blogs. Thus, her talk focused on the what bloggers are, what blogging is, best and worst blogging practices and how to be a better blogger.

Carla Perlas-Casanova

In a nutshell, these are the things I learned:

Bloggers are the new breed of rockstars– Like a rockstar, a blogger presents on stage what he/she is passionate about. In this case the blogger’s stage is the internet and his/her passion are ideas connected to topics ranging from fashion to literature to the latest gadget in the market. One’s niche matters alot in this kind of medium because readers who are of the same niche will be the audience of your blog. Rockstars are rockstars because they’re not afraid to express who they are. Be true to yourself and to your readers. If you fail to do this, then your blog will be just like everyone else’s.

Bloggers must make the most out of their blog– Since blogging is a service and is intended to be read, make sure that you give them quality content. Research, proper grammar,daily updates, good quality photos and unique personal insights will make your blog worthy to be read. Though, there are limits. Making most our of your blog doesn’t mean you blog about EVERYTHING. Take Fashion as an example. If your blog is about fashion, what specifically about it? Will it be about different Filipino designers? Will it be about your personal style? In Filipino terms “Hindi Kalat“. Focus on a specific topic and that’s what your blog will be known for.

Take initiative – Blogging and Fashion are competitive fields. If you aspire to be one, make sure you look for stories. Don’t wait for them to come to you. Opportunities will arise if you’re brave enough to make the first move. Expand your network, get to know more people in the field and learn from the experts.

The participants listening to the talk

It was definitely a great experience learning about Fashion and blogging from this workshop. It’s also inspiring to see many participants in the field of blogging. With this, we see the power of the internet and the freedom we get from it. Since we can express anything, might as well let this expression be well thought of and noteworthy to be read.