From magazine editors asking all the important questions to online archives giving fashion history lessons in 280 characters or less
The love-hate relationship with Twitter aside, time has proven that it’s the one social media platform I can’t quit. The bad habit of doom-scrolling also aside, Twitter is where I have everything I feel I need at a glance: existential thoughts broadcasted by mutuals (#relatablecontent), my own nonsensical musings similarly going into the void, topnotch memes as a coping mechanism, and most importantly, the news in real-time.
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Working in fashion, I found in recent years that the bird app comes in extra handy, too. Not just for cutting fashion commentary (a known fact: on Twitter, everyone’s a critic), but for necessary discourse about the industry.
Stumbling across some accounts, I’ve seen the vastness of what different creatives with different styles have to offer. It’s instant exposure to fashion inspiration, editorial work that tells an interesting story, legends to know and new blood to watch out for. Twitter acts as a gateway to the many movements, subcultures and subgroups within fashion itself that I never existed.
I also think that as the world continues to change, there has got to be more than looking to glossy magazines that report on the “X dress you need now because Y celebrity was seen wearing it yesterday.” And for me, that “more” exists in choice fashion accounts that cut through the noise and get down––in 280 characters or less––opinions that are unfiltered, honest and biting when need be. Here, a rundown of just four of them.
The Fashion Law
The intersection between fashion, media, film and television and the economy is regularly discussed. But what about fashion and the law? This is a gap filled by Julie Zerbo’s The Fashion Law, which started as a hobby while she was at law school and has today become go-to reference material for journalists and brands.
When The Fashion Law tweets, it’s a guarantee I always pick up something new. And it’s definitely worth the follow should you be curious to know how the law affects the players in the fashion industry (from ethics in advertising, the slippery slope of influencer marketing to paparazzi suing the celebrities they photograph). But, more importantly, this account looks into how fashion and the law affect us, the regular consumers. And the more we know, really, the better.
Copyrights, trademarks, and patents are not the same thing. Here are the difference(s). https://t.co/ub9YBLg7BI pic.twitter.com/Ccwzftr5qI
— The Fashion Law (@TheFashionLaw) July 8, 2019
Shelby Ivey Christie
While I did mention that everyone on Twitter’s a critic, there will always merit to turning to seasoned professionals whose two cents actually carry weight. Shelby Ivey Christie is one of them. 29 years young and trailblazing, she is taking her knowledge as a fashion and costume historian and using Twitter to deliver fun, bite-sized history lessons.
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She’s on a mission, too. In an interview with Dazed, she talked about her passion: addressing the erasure of black contributions to fashion and art. She said: “As a historian, I know how important documentation is—proof, receipts, are always the grounding point. If the receipts of black fashion and black art aren’t being documented and shared then what will happen 20 years from now? The proof will not exist.”
The Menlo Park police uniform study found that after a year of its officers wearing blazers not only did they see a 30% drop in assaults on officers
They saw a 50 PERCENT DECREASE IN ASSAULTS ON CIVILIANS BY OFFICERS — Humanizing their attire had THAT much impact on policing! pic.twitter.com/pjwFVWR7jR
— Shelby Ivey Christie (@bronze_bombSHEL) June 2, 2020
IMONATION
Imonation is a mainstay in the world of high-fashion Twitter (known as HF Twitter in the Twitterverse) and it has amassed a following for doing what it does well and consistently: cover breaking news, updates, events, drops and releases for, and in the words of this anonymous blogger, “people who don’t want to read Vogue anymore, who have had enough with reading about the same models that the tabloids worship.”
Imonation is fashion with teeth––and its Twitter page is a space where no-holds-barred discussions are welcome.
Beyoncé’s #BlackIsKing is a fashion masterpiece. – I
Look 1) Custom Mugler SS20
Look 2) Custom Burberry by Riccardo Tisci
Look 3) Molly Goddard FW19
Look 4) Mary Katrantzou FW19 pic.twitter.com/UUhFm8dYSF
— IMONATION (@THEIMONATION) July 31, 2020
Pierre Alexandre M’Pelé
More commonly known as PAM BOY, Pierre Alexandre M’Pelé is a French fashion critic whose bylines can be found in i-D, WWD and LOVE Magazine among other titles. I wound up following him after seeing the refreshing turn the latter brand had taken for its LOVE Diaries, March to July 2020 issues.
In fashion, there’s no shortage of brands or personalities talking about shifting perspectives and making bolder, braver moves. But there’s a clincher: “I think the current structures, the large groups and certain types of management and communication are outdated,” M’Pelé told FashionUnited UK. “Fashion is not completely in tune with the new generations.”
PAM BOY, for his part, would rather jump straight into the work (now as LOVE’s senior editor for print and digital) to quite literally be the change he wants to see in the industry.
STOP EVERYTHING YOU ARE DOING BECAUSE HERE ARE THE FOUR COVERS OF @THELOVEMAGAZINE’S UPCOMING ISSUE.
A BEACON OF HOPE SERVED IN TWO VOLUMES. pic.twitter.com/LDw9AV7IDg
— @PAM_BOY (@pam_boy) July 23, 2020
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Now, I’ve done my fair share of fine-tuning my following list. But these fashion accounts for sure are staying put. If you’re following someone interesting that you think Wonder should check out, we’d love to know! Tell us your faves below.
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Art Alexandra Lara
