Blogging at Bryant Park

Fashion bloggers get invited to Fashion Week in New York.

Once snubbed by the insular fashion world for their sometimes snarky reviews and tiny audiences, fashion bloggers are now attracting the attention of the fashion establishment. As blogs claim bigger followings, and advertisers shift more spending to them, designers see these independent Web publishers as a new marketing opportunity.

Many small designers, in particular, now realize they can get valuable exposure on blogs that they might not get in mainstream media. This year, with 191 shows in New York, up 25% from five years ago, there aren't enough old-media critics to cover them all.

"I would say we've become more selective," says Ed Nardoza, editor-in-chief of Women's Wear Daily, the industry trade newspaper.

But determining who's who in the blogosphere is complicated. Technorati, the most commonly used blog-tracking site, relies on bloggers themselves to categorize -- or tag -- their blogs. The company says that method is more democratic than having a third-party decide how to classify them. But because fashion is so widely discussed, a search for fashion blogs will turn up many sites that have little to do with the subject, including the personal diaries of teenagers.