Polished opinions of fashion
“I think people throw around the words ‘icon’ and ‘iconic’ far too much these days,” says fashion blogger Susie Bubble from her London home. Despite being labeled as “one of the most influential voices in fashion” by The Evening Standard, the 25-year-old, whose real name is Susanna Lau, is quick to dismiss her influence on the world’s wardrobe. “I’m not a fashion icon at all! It’s a pretty ridiculous notion.”
Yet try as she might to fight it, Lau is fast gaining a reputation for her unique style and visual diary of eclectic and forward fashion. Her name is bandied about in the pages of high-end style Bibles, and has become a regular feature on the VIP guest lists at fashion weeks with the likes of Chanel, Gucci and Lanvin, ensuring her a well-positioned seat at their most recent shows. Not bad for someone who created a blog purely as an outlet for her obsession with fashion.
“I started in 2006,” says Lau, “I was feeling the boredom of a job as an account manager in digital advertising—something I fell into post-uni in a haze of total lack of direction. I felt compelled to start my own as a sidekick hobby.” Three years on and her blog, Style Bubble, attracts more than 10,000 readers a day, eager to find out what she’s wearing, what she’s yearning for and whose style she admires. So dedicated and loyal are Lau’s readers that she often gets calls from labels she has mentioned on her site to say they have sold out of a par-ticular item or style. Yet, when questioned on how she feels about the overwhelming reaction to her blog, Lau is modest in her response, “I don’t really have any time to sit and think about it all… I just go with it. In any case, I don’t feel like it’s been necessarily overwhelming. Some things are a little weird though. The New York Times recently reported I was designing a collection for Urban Outfitters—which was a heinous lie of course!”
Despite the hype, Lau remains grounded, working on her blog with the little spare time she has off from her role as Commissioning Editor for Dazed & Confused’s dazeddigital.com. Refusing to monetize her “sidekick hobby” Lau is quick to downplay the role her site plays in the world of fashion. “I’m not exactly sure that a blogger being seated front row is changing the industry necessarily. Sure, there’s a sensation and a buzz going ‘round, but once that dies down, at the end of the day, blogs are just another strand of fashion media.”
Yet unlike other fashion media that suggests what should be worn, Lau allows her readers to try their own style, ad-mitting she hates giving style advice. “I guess if I had to give advice, the first thing I would say is that if you’re not sure of something then there’s no point in wearing it. To me, style is defined by knowing what you like and going with that with your full conviction.”
– Fiona Killackey
