Joe Schildhorn/Billy Farrell Agency/Venturelli/WireImage for Fendi/Michael Kovac/WireImageWelcome to the new world order of style influence.
This is a world in which bloggers take their places next to traditional editors as the ultimate arbiters of style—not to mention in fashion weeks' front rows.
Among those making the biggest impact right now in the fashion and style spheres are Cupcakes and Cashmere's Emily Schuman, Fashiontoast's Rumi Neely, The Man Repeller's Leandra Medine and Bryanboy of the eponymous blog.
Not convinced? Just look at their wide-reaching style influence.
Social-Media Savvy:
Neely, for instance, is well known for her gorgeous photography, and has about 334,000 devoted followers on Instagram. For reference, Lucky magazine's new commendably social media-savvy editor-in-chief, Eva Chen, has 74,000 and change—Chen, Bryanboy and Neely are style pals in real-life, too, often posting smiley snaps of each other on their feeds. Bryanboy has a half million Twitter followers, and Medine, better known as The Man Repeller, has close to 400,000 on Instagram.
Big-Name Collaborations:
Off line and on the shelves, these folks are also putting their stamps on real-world apparel in a major way. Medine has tons of designer collaborations under her belt, including a recent partnership with shoe brand Superga (we spoke with her about it just this month). Other partnerships include those with Rachel Roy, PJK and Kimberly Taylor. She's also got a new book out, the memoir Man Repeller: Seeking Love, Finding Overalls, which bowed with a shmancy party at Barneys New York. The girl's just a few years out of college.
TV Talent:
The influential bloggers are also getting tons of major media exposure, with Schuman giving must-have seasonal style advice on the Today show this summer—a huge TV opportunity that would have been reserved for traditional magazine editors in the past.
And Bryanboy—with his energetic, take-no-prisoners persona—even graced the judging panel on America's Next Top Model. Not too shabby for a guy who started his media empire with a blog he created out of his parents Philippines home.
For their dominant influence through their blogs and in the traditional media, for their huge social followings, and for their collaborations in the real world, these bloggers have all earned the crown of 2013 stylemakers.