Oxford Stories: UM Fashion Bloggers Receive National Attention

Social media has changed our way of finding information, shopping and communicating. It seems like every day, there is a new fashion blogger or style influencer on Instagram.

Studies have shown that Instagram, Pinterest and blogs influence consumers. According to Net Base, 62 percent of fashionistas and 64 percent of social shoppers consult message boards or blogs for inspiration.

From Instagram to Pinterest, bloggers are changing the fashion industry. In a technologically-advanced world, fashion is at our fingertips in a new way.

University of Mississippi fashion bloggers Ally Arrigo and Madisen Theobald, both with Instagram accounts and personal websites, are influencing fashion and shopping daily.

Ally Arrigo, 21, is from Newport Beach, California. She attended Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York this year. While sipping coffee, she looked effortlessly chic wearing new sunglasses she received as a gift in New York. Her fashion blog, CaliAlly.com, has received attention from brands and designers who attend Fashion Week.

Ally Arrigo in a coffee shop.

Most people who attend Fashion Week are designers, celebrities and other notable people in the fashion industry. Arrigo’s fashion blog received attention from companies that brought her to New York to meet other famous bloggers, vloggers, and Insta-famous people attending shows and PR luncheons throughout the weekend.

“I got invited to Fashion Week because of my fashion blog, Mirina Collections, which is a jewelry and sunglasses line,” Arrigo said. “(Companies) like my blog, and they send me stuff to write about and promote. . . This trip was all about networking for me.”

Arrigo shared pictures from her stay in New York and described the people she met.

“There were so many glam people and off-duty models everywhere,” she said. “You just couldn’t even keep up with the amount of high fashion and in-the-know people who were there.”

Madisen Theobald is another fashion blogger at the University of Mississippi. Originally from Bloomington, Illinois, Theobald came to UM with her own fashion blog and became the design editor at The Ole Miss annual. She also created her own design business. Her website is MadisenTheobald.com.

With more than 5,000 followers on her Instagram account, madisentheobald_com, Theobald has also been named a Teen Vogue It Girl. Her fashion blog includes style, graphic design and digital.

Theobald and Arrigo have perfected their presence on Instagram, and their personal website blogs influence other fashion bloggers.

Finding your position in the fashion industry, specifically in the digital world, is important to bloggers like Theobald and Arrigo who want to hold consumers’ attention with appealing visuals, direct links to items for purchase and mobility.

Madisen Theobald, Teen Vogue It Girl.

Social media allows consumers to follow, communicate, and be part of new trends and fashion news. Fashion blogs and message boards like Pinterest are part of marketing strategies.

AnneBanks Blackwell can be reached at abblackw@go.olemiss.edu.Read her work on Oxford Stories Longform.

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