The Emma Edition: The Outfit Post: An Analysis

This is me, doing an outfit post.

Dear readers,

You might have noticed that I haven’t posted an outfit post in a while. I’m acutely aware of this. When I look back through old blog posts on The Emma Edition, I don’t feel that I’ve completely captured my style. No one has seen my lava lamp-patterned shirt, or pajama nightgowns I wear as jumpers, my fuzzy Muppet sweater (actually, that's what I am wearing in the photo above), or gold-plated “Vibes” necklace that are tenets of my wardrobe, except for the people I hang out with IRL. Even when I do feature my outfits here, they aren’t truly outfit posts by bloggers’ standards—typically, I am already wearing the outfit and am usually outside doing an activity that the post is centered on, or, if I am just at home posing for the photo, I include a story along with it. To me, every outfit is not just an item of clothing; it has a story to tell. Still, how could my blog truly ever show every side of myself or style?

I recently wrote a piece on The Huffington Post called “If You Didn’t ‘Like’ On Facebook, Did You Ever Like It At All?” which I think applies here, too. If I didn’t ever post about wearing a certain outfit, it’s assumed that it’s not part of my style. This is a quote from the article:

“It's more about the fact that since I've joined the Internet, I feel really protective over which tastes I share -- which is sad, because really, the Internet is supposed to be a place of democracy. And sure, it may sound shallow, but I am always secretly afraid that if I don't write online that I like a certain start-up company, or television show, or person, before anyone else, then I never really did.”

Something as silly as changing my hairstyle, isn’t as swiftly cataloged on a blog as it happens in real life. Do you know what my hair looks like at the moment? No, because I haven’t announced it anywhere online. For all you know, I could be bald, with 30 piercings (for the record: I am not, I just changed my hair to a middle part, which right now feels exciting enough).

I think that’s something to keep in mind when you read something online. Especially a blog, which is supposed to be the natural, democratized version of a magazine. Although both of those things are in general true, it’s important to still separate an image projected online versus in person. I mean every word I say on this blog, and I really do wear everything I put up images of. Blogs are like memoirs in a way—we have the right to tell our stories, but leave out pieces in order to tell what we believe is the most important truth. However, sometimes people forget that my blog only makes up a fraction of my entire being.

Although I am always conscious of all this, from now on I am going to start posting more of my outfits. This blog is called The Emma Edition, for a reason. I started it for myself, to catalog my tastes and interests, and to be able to look back at them over the years in admiration and embarrassment. And although I am extremely appreciative of each of you who read this, if no one every did I would still keep it up. I want to start doing more cataloging for myself, and that starts with, for me, one of the most powerful mediums and storytellers—clothing.