Spinning a web of virtual vanity

The Hindustan Times, 3rd July, 2008
Spinning a web for virtual vanity Jhoomur Bose

Fashionistas take to the web, sharing tips on everything that's haute (or not!), and reveal how the hottest fashion fads can help transform your life for the better

Do the dolled-up-in-Dolce & Gabbana darlings we see pouting for pictures on Page 3 and celebrity columns have a better life? Yes according to Dame Vivienne Westwood who famously said, "You have a better life if you wear fashionable clothes." Yes too, if you follow the umpteen blogs on clothes, shoes and face-gunk on the Internet that insist a 'concealer' is a must-carry item if marooned on a deserted island. For the uninitiated, Dame Westwood is the British designer who brought the punk style into mainstream fashion and made it acceptable to wear handcuffs for your child's graduation.

From wondering if curl-enhancing mascara really adds any depth to your eyes on the Beauty Beat, trashing Halle Berry's latest red carpet appearance on the Killer Heel and wondering why women who run beauty salons are (usually) 'non-beautiful', the variety on beauty and fashion blogs matches the number of tubes and bottles on store shelves.

If Sex and the City added Manolo Blahnik to our lexicon, Fashion Tribes (FT) tells you there's more to Japanese exports than Shiseido. There's Junko Shimada too. With polls on dressing-dilemmas – are floral frocks fashion dos or faux pas? – and pointing to bargains, FT gives a more buyer-friendly version of what's haute. While the blog needs to work on the pictures they use – bigger, more variety please – its weekly Web Snob section with links to sales, bargains, blogs and dressmakers is super cool.

While most fashion addict blogs speak of chic designer labels, Erin at A Dress A Day goes back to classic styles, takes designs from old magazines and makes dresses on demand. If Harrods Girl on I Am Fashion gives you a lowdown on what's the latest design off the ramps, Mai on Fashioni.st takes a lens-eye view at street fashion, stops people and clicks what they are wearing, why and where they bought it from.

From dressmakers to models, everyone has a blog. Miggy on Miggy's Model Life talks about her shenanigans as a model and part time casting agent. With some sneak previews of magazine covers and inside juice on photo shoots, Miggy makes for interesting reading. Of course you will need patience for the constant saccharine as Miggy uses "fabulous", "very sweet" and "talented" for every other designer, photographer and model she meets.

For these bloggers, fashion is holy and even the Pope isn't spared. Manolo's Shoe Blog does a what-lies-beneath and declares the Pope does not wear Prada. If only we had such extensive information on the cotton saris Sonia Gandhi and Sheila Dikshit wear.

From the blog cabin appears every Thursday in The Hindustan Times, India
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