Pierce Mattie Public Relations New York

**Update 8/1** Fashion Designer Mary Elizabeth Primavera of Genevieve Primavera has extended an invitation to Jennine to attend her fashion show at SF Fashion Week. You can read more details here: The Coveted

San Francisco Fashion Week, scheduled to begin August 22, is stirring up a little bit of controversy this week on the blogosphere as PR director, Dana Berry, is standing by her decision to refuse press passes to any bloggers, That means that not even Arianna Huffington can sit in the press area…that is…if she wanted to.

Jennine, author of popular fashion blog, The Coveted, wrote a post about her personal dismissal when applying for a pass and received this comment from Berry herself:

“We have an extremely limited number of industry passes to this event, and unfortunately we have to limit what we can give out and must reserve them for accredited members of the journalism community, buyers and stylists.”

According to Berry, bloggers are not real journalists, which in a sense means they are not real members of the media, which in another sense means they have no credibility. That’s a pretty strong statement from San Francisco and a surprising one considering its close proximity to Silicon Valley, a place that usually welcomes the advancement of new technologies.

However, Donna’s reply does bring up the interesting question, should bloggers be considered members of the press?

We say yes.

While some blogs are only popular for their shock value, like Perez Hilton’s celebrity gossip page, others are widely read for their reputable content, such as Who What Wear, with editors that used to write for magazines like ELLE, Nylon, and Teen Vogue. According to Technorati, the blog most linked to right now is Engadget, and with its breaking technology news now offered in Japanese and on your mobile, you better believe these guys know what they’re talking about.

When it comes to public relations, we believe bloggers can be key influencers and disseminators of important information that deserve respect. We welcome their opinions and make every effort to make pitching to them part of each of our clients’ PR campaigns.

Here in New York, authors of blogs are encouraged to attend Fashion Week in September with press passes in hand. We have every confidence that our favorite fashion bloggers will be sitting in the very front row, as it should be, and hope over time San Francisco will follow suit. Until then, it looks like A-list fashion bloggers like Scott Schuman of The Satorialist, a Time Magazine Top 100 Design Influencer no less, are just going to have to take a seat in the back. Maybe he can sit next to Arianna Huffington…

Photo Credit: The Mercury News