Anna Wintour

The Stylish City has briefly gone back in time — before insta-post sites like Tumblr or Instagram — to highlight some of NYC’s most Influential fashion bloggers. This “Influential NYC Blogger of the Day” mini series features writers who were ahead, perhaps even pioneers, of the fashion blogging boom. Some of the bloggers mentioned have reached levels of fame of which they seem worthy. Others we can’t help but ask, “Why are these bloggers so successful?” Either way, they all have something in common: they’ve influenced the fashion world.

For today’s installation, we’re featuring Bryanboy. Check out our feature on The Sartorialist and stay tuned for features on Manolo’s Shoe Blog, Man Repeller and Advanced Style.

Bboy777 aka Bryanboy

You may be quite familiar with fashion blogger Bryanboy due to his seemingly omnipresent self on TV, at style events and on the Internet. What you may not know, however, is that Bryanboy isn’t new to the fashion blogging world by a long shot. In fact, he’s been around since 2003, which is longer than the Sartorialist and longer than The Manolo, who’s credited with launching the world’s “first fashion blog.”

Bryan Grey Yambao — who originally went by the alias Bboy777 — first began posting about his weight, style finds and distaste for faux designer products. It wasn’t until 2004 when he switched up his moniker and began going by the name he’s famous for today: Bryanboy. While Bryanboy hails from the Philippines, he’s been in NYC for most of his fashion blogging years.

In 2010, Vogue named him one of nine bloggers “making a global industry sit up and take notice,” and you’ll often find him sitting in highly contested front row seats of fashion shows across the globe.

Where is Bryanboy today?:

Bryanboy is still blogging away, but that’s not all he does. He regularly rubs noses with fashion’s most elite, including Grace Coddington, Anna Wintour and Gisele Bundchen. Marc Jacobs has even named a bag after Bryanboy: The BB.

In addition to blogging, attending fashion shows and hitting all of NYC’s hottest events, BB also serves on the judging panel for America’s Next Top Model, where he looks over the contestants’ social media presence and relays their “scores” based on fan voting.

Why is this Bryanboy so successful?

Anyone who knows anything about BB is aware of the gossip surrounding him. Accusations of wild spending, the mystery of his sudden chumminess with fashion’s elite and his prevalence online, on TV and across social media are worthy of deeper inspection for some.

Perhaps it’s the mystery of his famedom that keeps people on their toes waiting for another blog update or BB sighting. Despite any side-eyeing that may occur, though, Bryanboy clearly knows how to market himself and his popularity has been earned thusly.

What’s your opinion on BB? Love him or leave him? Love to hate him or hate to love him? Share your comments in the section below

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By Wendy Rose Gould

As Fashion’s Night Out (FNO) is finally being put to rest, I’ve taken the time to reflect on Anna Wintour’s power. Specifically, whether or not she’s “too big to fail” and if she’s smart enough to navigate any disaster that may come her way.

It’s no secret to those who know me that I have a love/hate relationship with the snappish lady who put fashion to bed with politics. I don’t recall when I first became aware of her power, but it’s been an enlightening experience to see her move mountains and (probably) buy herself an ambassadorship position in the process. While I am still working on figuring out her superpowers, I am sharing with you the lessons I’ve learned from her FNO fiasco.

Let’s start from the beginning.

Remember 2009? Between the economy crumbling and Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, the most affluent felt less than optimistic about their futures and, consequently, stopped spending. The fashion industry was caught with their pants down and excess inventory, which lead to panic and erratically slashed prices. Anna Wintour knew how to capitalize on the nervous frenzy.

What you should take from this experience: TIMES OF CRISIS ARE THE BEST TIMES TO CONSOLIDATE POWER. Don’t be afraid of a crisis.  Regardless of the later outcome, you will get people to pay attention to you in that moment.

I don’t want to imply that from the very beginning FNO was just a plot to further Anna Wintour’s career. However, let’s not forget that after coming up with the FNO initiative and being perceived as saving the fashion world from crumbling, Condé Nast gave Anna Wintour another five year contract.

Lesson to be learned: MOST PEOPLE GET PERSONAL GAINS WHILE THEY LOOK LIKE THEY ARE SAVING THE WORLD.

Now, to me the FNO plan looked doomed from the beginning. I am going to quote Gawker here because I couldn’t say it better:

“The plan seems to spend a lot of money getting people in the stores to spend a lot of money. The one thing we haven’t heard anything about is discounts. Just because Catherine Malandrino is converting her Meatpacking showplace into a French cafe for the evening doesn’t mean that suddenly more people will be able to afford one of her cocktail dresses.”

The lesson: WHEN PEOPLE THINK YOU ARE AN EXPERT, THERE IS NO LIMIT TO WHAT YOU CAN SELL, REGARDLESS OF HOW CRAZY IT IS.

After four years — which seemed to drain rather than fill the fashion industry’s coffins — FNO has finally been put to rest. Anna has not personally spoken on th topic yet, and I doubt she will.

When Steven Kolb, chief executive officer of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), was asked about the money brought in by FNO, this is what he had to say:

“I don’t think the success of it was measured only by numbers or money, but was really about engagement. Everyone feels we had a great four years.”

What is the lesson to be learned here? REGARDLESS OF HOW BAD A SITUATION IS, IT IS RARELY A 100% FAILURE.  FOCUS ON THE POSITIVE AND MAKE THE WHOLE THING LOOK LIKE A SUCCESS.

By Mirela Gluck