Fashion blogs on the brain

I don’t remember much before the Internet. I vaguely recall this block of dried pulp with text all over it — a “book” I think it was called. All I know is that as soon as my dad hooked us up to the World Wide Web (when it wasn’t so wide at the time) during my first year of high school in the early-to-mid ‘90s (yeah, I’m old) I was lost to the Internets.

At the time I’d been warned by my dad not to give out any personal information online lest we be hacked, discovered and murdered in our sleep. And this was before that god-awful film with Sandra Bullock (The Net, according to IMDB), before she discovered highlights and a personal stylist. In the film, some dude hijacked her identity and did some stuff involving some not-so-exciting chase scenes. Yeah, we get it, dude. If you spend most of your life on the computer with all your details and shizz out for everyone to see, someone might, you know, steal it and charge all sorts of despicable things to your credit card, like DVDs of Dawson’s Creek or something.

But perhaps the greatest danger known to net-a-holics (a word I coined just this moment) is the web’s ability to pull you into a vacuum of style blogs, vacuous celeb-obsessed sites and ridiculous humor web mags. It’s the ultimate time-suck. I log on each night to check out my favorite blogs and the next thing I know the sun is out, the birds are chirping and our helper is demanding to know what I’m having for breakfast.

If you’re a regular reader of the likes of Chuvaness.com (the popular blog by STAR columnist Cecile Van Straten) and Bryanboy.com (which has been namechecked by everyone from Elle mag to Turkish newspapers), you know what I’m talking about.

If you’re new to this whole fashion blog thing, welcome to the world of insomniacs and impulse shoppers. I’ve made a list of a few of under-the-radar sites I make a point to visit regularly.

Super Fantastic Picture Time

Where: www.superfantasticpicturetime.com

What: Peter Miszuk, the photographer responsible for Elle magazine’s website street style photos, has a blog devoted to all things fashion, music and pop culture. In between snippets of off-the-cuff interviews with music folk and short briefs on of-the-moment artists, Miszuk manages to photograph various street-savvy kids from the Bronx and LA in between snapping pics of big-name celebs like Rihanna.

WhoWhatWear Daily

Where: http:// whowhatwear.com

What: If celeb spotting is your sport of choice than this site is the Olympic medalist of celeb style tracking. Want to know where Katie Cruise nabbed those ‘90s-era semi-baggy cuffed jeans she’s been sporting of late? (They’re her hubby’s according to Internet buzz.) Whowhatwear’s industrious staff spends hours tracking the biggest celebs and the labels they wear. Culling trends made famous by starlets and their equally famous friends, the site also makes for a great shopping tool: they post product stories on affordable versions of the items worn by the same celebs (who probably got their swag for free anyway).

Elyse Sewell

Where: http://elysesewell.livejournal.com/

What: You may remember her from one of the earlier cycles of Tyra Bank’s zany yet inexplicably brilliant America’s Next Top Model. Elyse Sewell, who failed to bag the prize despite her model cred, went on to model post-show in locales as far-flung as Korea and Hong Kong. Now China-based, she blogs about the strange shoots, strange customs and even stranger food she encounters on jobs across the continent. A quick scan of the blogger’s inherently funny prose and you’ll quickly be aware that there’s more to this model than her looks.

“My forecast for next week is crabby with an 85 percent chance of torrential menstruation,” Elyse writes in one entry. No doubt fans — and there are plenty — don’t care what mood the model is in as long as she manages to check in with her readers regularly.

Daily Nagali

Where: http://dailynagali.blogspot.com

What: “Just another urban slave worker living one day after another” is how Daily Nagali blogger Rey Ilagan describes himself. Um, not quite. He’s not exactly below the radar, if you know what I mean. A stylist (he’s responsible for the fashion-forward images displayed on Celine billboards and CMG stores along with numerous other campaigns) and editor-in-chief of a soon-to-be-launched men’s fashion magazine, dubbed Garage, Rey knows a thing or two about men’s fashion and he’s not afraid to blog about it. If Zac Efron, Gucci’s S/S ’08 men’s accessories and, um, Zac Efron, is to your taste than this blog is for you.

Miss Dior Couture

Where: http://missdiorcouture.souliss.com/

What: There’s not much text on this blog, but once you’ve seen the images, you’ll realize you won’t need any. Beautifully rendered inspiration boards of the blogger’s favorite trends, styles, moods — anything and everything really — make up this gorgeous site. The posts are few and far between, but trust me: they’re worth waiting for.

Fashion Toast

Where: http://www.fashiontoast.com/

What: I discovered this blog through T Styles magazine, the one with a brooding Rachel McAdams on the cover (perhaps she is still not yet over her breakup with Ryan Gosling?). Rumi, clearly not afraid of the camera, enjoys posting her outfits of the day. Not exactly earth-shattering stuff but it’s cute nonetheless. And, as my outspoken friend Karla who’s known for wearing shorts so brief they look like granny panties told me, “I think I like her cause she wears short shorts. Very pokpok. But I’d wear her outfits!” And there you have it.