Whatever you would like to think or say be it that I'm a tool who is being manipulated by Gucci or that I'm an over-excited fash victim, worshipping away at the altars of the fashion hierarchy is fine by me.  I'm not harping on and on about this Gucci NYC bash thing for superficial girly excitement.  It is a genuinely interesting new phenomenon, designer brands reaching out to bloggers, that myself and others are experiencing and many other fashion bloggers out there may also come to terms with in the future.  It is simply a case of bumbling along and saying 'Yes' to offers as and when I felt it was appropriate for myself and the blog and accepting that whilst free publicity may be being given to the brand, I have no agenda of selling in products nor am I here to dupe readers into buying into brands as I give them credit enough to think for themselves and take what they will from my posts about the experiences that I  have at these events. 

The full impact however of this Gucci NYC flagship store launch and the Help Malawi party didn't fully hit me until I saw the Gucci Loves NY site that was launched today and quite prominently there is a section dedicated to five of us fashion 'bloggers'.  Frankly, I'm a little surprised at parts of the fellow Gucci 'blogger' company which were selected as representatives from Japan, US, UK, France and Asia Pacific.  For a start, my pic next to Cory Kennedy's is quite honestly surreal beyond belief.  Even weirder that I don't consider her to be a fashion blogger but rather an internet celeb verging on celeb in her own right.  Fashion is Spinach is closest to my blogging heart and probably the only one that I can relate to as 'another fashion blog'.  La Coquette was one of the first few blogs that I got into and it's a pity she doesn't update too often but I gather she is a busy gal working in fashion.  Openers hails from Japan and seems more like a very pro e-zine than a blog.  Altogether, a rather curious mix of pros, amateurs and celeb (I'll leave you to assign those categories to the list...). 

People have been sending me emails asking how I get invited to such events and the truth is, I haven't a clue, judging by the choices seen here as predetermined by Gucci and the choices at the past Chanel event.  Is it traffic?  Aesthetic appeal?  Number of comments?  Media coverage?  I'm guessing it's a combination of those things yet there is no exact science which I can describe comprehensively.  This may seem like a post that would  better suit IFBU but for 2008, all that needs to be said is that it will be an interesting trend to track for the fashion blogging community as a whole.  Caution needs to be taken as to how far a blog aligns themselves with certain brands but from my perspective, it's about blogging firsthand content that is enrichened and for readers to be mildly entertained (hopefully!) so let's see what 2008 has to bring for all fashion bloggers and their interaction with brands.