It’s my 12th blogversary! It’s Dirty Dozen time! I mean, literally, here’s a video from D12.
That video starts with OG rapper Ice-T (the husband of my OG obsession, Coco). His lines include direct quotes from The Warriors, an OG movie.
That’s appropriate because I’m an OG blogger from the big burst of fashion blogs that popped up in 2006 and 2007. Some bloggers from that era went big-time and became a proper business, like Style Bubble. Other bloggers moved to Instagram, letting their blogs go dormant or even giving up their URLs entirely — I was clicking on the links in this August 2009 post to see who is still around.
I do miss the tight-knit circle we had, with everyone commenting on each others’ posts and curating a “blog roll” of links to blogger friends. That’s why it makes me happy that I have special connections to a few of my sister OGs. I’m not sure I knew before today that Michelle Haswell of Kingdom of Style shares my blogversary date. She got started a year before me, so she’s celebrating a whopping 13 years of blogging.
My special connection to Queen Michelle of KoS is that in 2011, she designed the logo that I still use.
People like to offer branding advice these days, whether or not one has asked for it. Changing the logo is always a big thing because … LOOK, WE HAVE CHANGED SOMETHING! WE ARE MODERN NOW! You can see in this Bloomberg article how a bunch of high-end fashion houses changed their heritage logos to something newer, yet more generic. I saw that story, looked at the examples, and thought “Fuck that. I’m keeping Michelle’s logo …”
Another OG blogger is Sheila of Ephemera, who is so gangsta that she still has a Blogspot URL. Damn, girl! Sheila’s been blogging since 2008, but it’s only in the past year that she and I got into the business of trading clothes.
This has led to an escalating mutual admiration society of blog posts and videos. We’re definitely getting into “thank you for the thank you note” territory, and you know what? I don’t care! Sheila, thank you for the blog and jewelry links you posted this month to thank me for the video above.
Despite the name, Judith Boyd’s OG Style Crone blog is a tiny bit younger than Kingdom of Style, Ephemera, and yours truly. Judith launched in 2010. This year, Judith became the face of my jewelry line’s Immortal Style campaign.
Finally, a shout-out to OG “Princess Poochie” (aka Tony) of Shoe Daydreams, who I’ve had the pleasure of meeting in real life. You can find her most easily on Instagram these days, but her blog remains online. As a bonus, her 12th blogversary is exactly two weeks before mine.
If you’re an OG blogger too and we’ve fallen out of touch, please say hi in the comments!
Ha! Yes, we are definitely in the “thank you for the thank you” zone – let’s resolve to quit that until we have something else to celebrate. Like, I’m planning on a visit to NYC in ’20. How about them apples? You must reserve an afternoon for me! Only at the most vague of plans at this stage – my bestie Elaine and I will probably make the trip next year (her from Ontario, me from the west coast). So there!
I should buy a damned URL one of these days, but eh, there’s a reason it’s called “ephemera”!
Rock on with your 12th anniversary! My 11th was in May – and I just passed 3,000 posts! Can you buh-leeve??
I like your OG URL!
And I INSIST we get together in NYC!
The early blogging days were fun. So many enthusiastic like-minded folks! And then we’d get to see each other at Fashion Week. 🙂
Work has given me less time to write as much as I like and the hubby doesn’t have mad photo skills but it was great to participate on everyone’s site and see their perspectives.
I remember being listed as a Top 10 (Top 5?) shoe blog. What a time! Now, for me it’s mostly IG. Maybe I need to do a blog clean-up!
This makes me miss Manolo the Shoeblogger so much!
I almost specifically called him out. He commented and encouraged me at first and it so thrilled me when it happened!
I miss the Manolo!
I miss the early days too! I started with a personal fashion blog in 2005 but now I only contribute to another one (Fountainof30.com). But I still work in digital media and I love following all my old school blogging peeps!
Ooh, 2005! You go WAY back!
Hey Wendy, quite a few OG bloggers inspired me to start my very own blog a little over one year ago! Sorry, I’m always late to the party, haha.
I love that there is a nice little online vintage/fashion community, although some have stopped blogging and moved over to instagram. X
Better late than never! And I’m bookmarking you 🙂
Happy 12th Anniversary Wendy! The early days of blogging were very special. I have so many memories of the excitement of finding new bloggers. It’s a different world now. I can’t imagine dropping my blog because of how it started and all the amazing people that I’ve met. To face your campaign was a high point! It would never have happened if wasn’t for the heady days of early blogging.
So never stop!!!
xoxo
Wow! Dang, memories
I found you through Kingdom of Style, who I still follow on instagram. And Manolo, that was so good.
Never would have thought I’d have nostalgia for blogs, but here we are!