I’ve just discovered a fashion blogger that everyone else already knows about, thanks to a newsletter from Refinery 29.
I hated her at Hello. I feel this is a huge faux pas on my part, and yet, there it is. My Hatred Endures, and it never runs out.
The interview with her is harmless, objectively speaking. She is asked questions about her style, and gives answers. She is asked to name 5 pieces that define her daily style. Piece number 2 cinched the deal for me.
“This ridiculously threadbare tie-dyed vintage Grateful Dead shirt. There’s a huge hole in the middle of it that’s literally held together by two stitches, it’s hilarious.”
God. It’s like a knife in my heart. The “ridiculously” hurt, and “it’s hilarious” was agony. I had trouble reading the rest of it. I was too tense to really take it in, but I did flinch at “iconic.”
What is wrong with me? Why can’t I give this girl some slack? She’s probably only 20 years old and who is she hurting (besides me?) It just struck me as the epitome of something that has bugged me from the first time I came upon a fashion blog. It’s kind of a narcissism crossed with a complete lack of inhibition about seeming shallow.
I have posted plenty of photos of myself, so I am hardly blameless. But the idea of dressing up and describing every piece of clothing as though it merited documentation is just horrible on some level. Who the fuck cares where your shoes came from, know what I’m saying? And yet, when I went to the girl’s blog, just to give her a chance to change my mind, a thingy on the page said there were 90 viewers online.
Fashion Girl, you are more than welcome to hate me back. I’m old and mean, for starters. You can just take it from there. It’s not fair for me to pick on you, but maybe it will make you a tiny bit more famous and beloved for all I know. While you’re busy laughing hysterically at your torn t-shirt, I’m sitting here disgustedly in my ill-fitting black Nudie jeans that I got from Tobi.com, with a roll of flab that I got from Having Two Kids.
Fashion has been an obsession for me since I was around 12, and even now I can talk about it forever with my friends who are similarly addicted to it. Yet I’m wondering if there’s a saturation point beyond which the whole subject is just pathetic and awful. OR, maybe I just need to stick to magazines and shopping sites. OR maybe it’s the grim economic news that’s making fashion seem so petty and irrelevant.
Or maybe I just can’t stand this particular girl. Comments or insults, anyone?
sister, i must confess it: i hate her too. i hate her because of her perma-pushing that braindead model erin wasson and imitating her “homeless people wear the coolest fashion, dude” look. i hate her because she’s literally everywhere in her skimpy slut-a-rama hooker shorts and orthopedic chloe boots, full of herself to the brim, mouth forever agape. i wish she went away already. but she doesn’t. boohooo. she just won’t go away. well. that’s why she’s so famous. wal mart is soon going to sell a capsule collection of fashion forward invisible pvc hotpants in her honor. muahahahahaha! rant over
can’t stand her. or any of the other ones who follow this template. what the hell happened to originality and individuality?? i’m only 25 but i’ve reached the fashion saturation point. clones, all of em!
I hate her too. She never SAYS anything! I mean, yeah sure, she has a pretty face but it’s as if she has no personality whatsoever.
AHAHAHA! I loved this post! I think most of the people who read this blog will completly understand and support your cause. I was pretty disappointed about the way most blogs had her on the links, saying she has a great style. I think its pretty boring, no structure, no shape, no colours, no fun. Oh well… Thanks god we have somone like you to share the hatred with!
There’s no shame in loving fashion. Dressing up is pure magic. One minute you’re Alice in Wonderland, next Wicked Witch, next slutty rock chick, next preppy, next Miss Jean Brodie (my personal favorite), next….god, I don’t know, but ever since I was a little girl I’ve loved dressing up. I drew dresses, made dresses, saw dresses in flowers. Dressing up, fashion, is basically a form of play. A more grown-up word for it might be “transformation.”
The style blogs that I love all have that whimsical, creative, transformative quality: Style Bubble, Kingdom of Style, Cherry Blossom Girl. The people who write these blogs also seem to occasionally have a laugh too, which is nice.
But Fashion Toast is just rubbish. It’s one note, the same note, all the time. I mean, congratulations to her for having solidified her “look” at such a tender age, but it’s the same look that you could find in any one of a gazillion magazine editorials. It all seems so studious and obedient and labored. It’s enough to put me off dressing up forever. What the hell is the point of it?
Oh I don’t know or care about her as she and all the young clones bore me. Quelle horreur that they do something different or even take the piss out fashion or themselves.
You forgot the other annoying things she said.
“This is so nerdy, but I freaking love Kinokuniya bookstore in Japantown. I always stock up on magazines there before going next door to get a crepe the size of my head. ”
It’s like she’s trying to be something different from who she actually is (A sheepy, narcissistic teenage girl who can’t even read anything from the bookstore except magazines.)
“shp online! Forever 21 is kind of a headache no matter how high your spirits are. I think I’ve familiarized myself with what they do right and wrong in terms of fabric, and cut so it’s pretty apparent on a random browse what has real life potential. ”
“The energy of the city is rad.”
“It’s all about Liv Tyler in that cropped sweater.”
Yes, keep hating her. Hard. What’s so sickening about her is that she thinks she’s so original, but she’s not even close. Scores of young women cultivate her exact look, even the ‘hilarious’ aspects. She’s a poor man’s Olsen Twin.
My feelings don’t rise to the level of hatred, but I find Rumi profoundly boring. The denim cut-offs with clunky ankle boots and a barely-there tank top look has been done to death a la Erin Wasson. Also, the thought of her offering “tips” on how to dress is ridiculous unless the first tip is “be 20 years old and 100 lbs.” Her outfits on anyone not conforming to those rules would be a fashion disaster.
If I’m going to look at semi-famous fashion bloggers young enough to be my daughter, I prefer Tavi (http://tavi-thenewgirlintown.blogspot.com/). She’s far more creative and articulate.
I don’t find the whole cutoffs and high shoes look very interesting to look at (and damn is it EVERYWHERE and has been for years now), and the whole wannabe Wasson posse thing is pretty dull. But I’m going to cut the kid some slack for just being young and pretty and riding that ride as far as it will take her. I do often wonder how many of her hits come from sleazy middle-aged dudes though, and that makes me a little bit sad for her.
I occasionally wish that I could have blogged when I was young and super skinny and had lots of time and energy to spare on myself and my wardrobe (the internet wasn’t invented then though), but I have no doubt that it would have been painfully obnoxious and shallow if I had. Probably would have had a much bigger readership though, because the people with lots of time and energy to spare to look at fashion blogs are also young and that’s what’s going to interest them. Fair enough, each to their own and all that.
I read this blog for a few weeks – to see what all the fuss was about / would it evolve – and I have to say, it’s not for me. I like a little more quirky, a little less ego. And her seeming obsession with Erin Wasson is irritating.
I kinda hate her cos she gets like a bajillion comments hahaha…And cos on my computer it takes like ages to load her page double haha!!
Nice legs though.
Tell Skye that ‘sleezy middle aged dudes’ cough up the cash for many young chicks. That is what money is about.
A saturation point *beyond which* the subject becomes pathetic and awful?
Stella Mayfair – Thank you, your confession is good for my soul if not yours.
anon – Amen.
Lori – I will take your word for it.
Matilde – Bring on the hatred!
annemarie – Yes, to all of it. I love Susie b and the Queens, too.
Make Do – Yep, they are not aimed at us anyway, are they?
Alannah – Horrible.
Mark – Ha! I saw a troll-like girl yesterday and thought “poor man’s Olsen twin!”
Iheartfashiosn – I have a bigger well of hatred.
Skye – I’ll bet that when you were ‘young and super-skinny’ you were engaged in better pursuits! I personally spent all my time reading and getting stoned, didn’t you??
K-Line -Take Erin Wasson away for the love of god!
Bex- Legs should be seen and not heard, or something.
john cramer – Okay, good to know.
Nephew Wolf – *yes* Is that a *problem* ?
I don’t really know where to start with this mess of a girl. She brings pretention to a whole new level. I’ve never walked away from reading an interview with such a feeling of being looked down upon, the way I did with this piece of crap. My God, her catchphrases and lingo! Does anyone actually talk like that?!
The whole article is swill. Worst line for me was her reference to Ebay: “It’s also really great for finding past season designer shoes you might have missed out on and have suddenly become completely necessary to live.” Excuse me??
And of COURSE her boyfriend’s name is Colin.
Re: her “complete lack of inhibition about seeming shallow.”
It’s GOBSMACKING!
No, no problem…except with the presumption that there is any point at which the subject is not pathetic and awful.
Oh dear dog! Just from the interview she’s pissin’ me off. She’s so vapid, banal, pretentious, and annoying. I wouldn’t say I hate her, but she has that vacant look in her eyes and her “style” is boring, repetitive, and unoriginal; we’ve see it all before. I will take Style Bubble & Kingdom of Style over Ms. Full-o-Herself any day, even under threat of pain.
your response to Skye just sums it up proper.
and i have to admit, there is a site of an equally appalling nature that i go to on occasion just to be appalled. it’s kind of sick!
I find that a huge majority of fashion blogs are just a ‘my-space cam whore in disguise’ exercise in vanity, it’s so funny you made this post because I’ve been looking at blogs like hers lately and wondering why I don’t get it but a bajillion other commentors do (!?) I love the more creative blogs like those mentioned above but I can’t help but feel ones like hers only exist to exclaim ‘see how pretty i am!? validate me!’.
Also i’m the same age as her and I can’t imagine spending so much of my time each day, meticulously posing with a vapid look on my face for unknown shutter bug entitys, while thinking it’s super important that I do so. Actually i’m embarassed just thinking about it.. but I never was a scene kid!
I love to read your blog!
You speak so candidly and unabashedly, it is wonderful! I tend to agree with so much of what you say.
I am kind of with Iheartfashion. I don’t so much hate her, but I do find her uninteresting, and rather vacuous. It amazes me how many fans she has. What is it that makes her soooooooo famous??? Why do I care? Unfortunately the Imp of the perverse sometimes takes over and I look at the site, so that I can malign her in my mind. Horrible. I then feel like an asshole.
OH well…
Ann – It’s frightening, isn’t it??
annemarie – Gobsmacking, and tragic.
Anouk – You are a credit to your generation. Seriously.
arline – You are no asshole, madam. Sometimes, one just needs to wallow in something, like when I read about Madonna. It’s fun knowing there are people stupider than one’s own self!
sister wolf says out loud what the rest of us have been thinking…
but anyway i’m sure you’ll get a big backlash from all of her (very devoted) fans. She’s harmless, hot, self-confident and popular. I don’t think there’s anything fundamentally wrong with that. but i agree… it’s a cookie cutter “alternate” aesthetic. if you’ve seen one olsen you’ve seen them all… by that i mean. if you see one olsen, you also see the other one (the one who used to be anorexic and in rehab or something) plus a hundred other artfully touselled skinny tanned girls in hobo clothes and clunky hooves. btw susie bubble had an oblique dig at fashion toast and cohort on her blog a while ago too. (albeit in a much more subtle way).
Yikes – I guess I am guilty too! But I post outfits because I feel like I’m just talking at people otherwise, you know? I feel I need to demonstrate in photos the shit I’m talking about it. I’m under no illusion about being a young, hot woman so I don’t feel the need to dress ‘hot’, or be photographed in the glowing sun on top of a mountain with the wind rushing through my artfully tousled hair. It’s boring photos taken against the living room wall for me.
I think Rumi is a girl who hasn’t really lived a life – no death, no illness, no depression, none of the awful things you go through when you get older, and it is very much reflected in her blog and general tone. For us older peeps fashion is an escape from all the crap in our lives, for someone like Rumi it is a big part of her life and in some way perhaps defines her. Maybe I’m wrong and she’s gone through awful traumas but I’m not getting that from her. She seems harmless enough.
You are not sorry 🙂 If hating were an Olympic sport, you would be America’s next Michael Phelps, minus the unfortunate face. Rumi doesn’t really do it for me. She seems perfectly nice but her style isn’t what I aspire too. I could appreciate it a last year but now I don’t even go there looking for inspiration because everyone and their mother’s got her look now! I think even when I was her age, I never would be able to pull those looks off (I was quite a husky thing). . . so I find myself not visiting too often. But she seems nice, if anything else so she gets no hate from me. . . just shrugged shoulders (which I’m sure would be her reaction if ever she were to visit my blog!)
Miss Wombat- Yes, but, why can’t I read your blog?? It won’t let me! Waaaah!
Queen Michelle -You are in a different category! You pass on your knowledge and you are equipped with a sense of humor and a prickly temper, when appropriate. KOS is like a beautiful oasis. My only problem with you is that you are much too pretty, but I’ve already made that complaint! When I don’t leave comments on your posts, it means I am too demoralized by your beauty.
Aja -Wait, you mean it’s not an olympic sport?!?
I can’t really knock her as you have because I do respect that she has built up an INCREDIBLY successful blog…mind bogglingly so…I sometimes go over to my site and question “Relevant? Not so much… Oh well…I’ll keep on blogging for self-joy….”
The people who comment on her blog though…. joyless, empty drivel…. it really drives me up the South Bank wall….
Susie-B – But is popularity automatically worthy of respect? Isn’t there a hugely popular website about cats doing something stupid? Your joy comes through loud and clear in your blog. You are adventurous, self-deprecating, and passionate about what you’re doing. Watching you blossom from camera-shy to proudly-mercurial and adorable makes me feel okay about loving fashion.
Question: can you have authentic style with no actual sense of humor? I don’t think so. Maybe you can substitute taking risks. This one – no humor, no risk.
And isn’t she from San Diego? doesn’t that say everything – no experience, just sponged full of advertising….though the better metaphor might be a young, dumb ungulate – all big clumpy feet and long legs…except that a real animal wouldn’t have a camera, a website and the consequent tsunami of self-absorption…
Well, I am like a decade too late on this thread but I’m going to throw my ten pence worth in anyway!
My Fashion Toast niggle is that she just posts several million photographs of what are essentially the exact same outfit and shot? Why will one not suffice? I can see perfectly well the hotpants, vest and clumpy shoes in the first image. And I appreciate that your arm is in a slightly different position in the second, third, forth and fifth picture but it really doesn’t mean I need to see them all! No no no.
Still, she has build up a very successful blog and I applaud that. Boring? Yeah. Repetitive? Yeah. Car crash visual appeal? Hell yeah!
i hate her as well. and i am always wondering why people would go back to her blog day by day – since it’s always the same? i don’t even like her style. there are so many creative and fun fashion blogs out there, so i really don’t see how she got that popular. i also don’t see why her blog is appearing in every “top 10 fashion blogs” list. mentioning her next to people like susie and the queens feels like an insult to the latter ones.
i hate karla as well. she’s just the same as rumi, only has a better taste and is prettier (imho). you may want to take a look and enjoy the wonderful feeling of hatred: http://karlascloset.blogspot.com/
but i love you sister wolf. you’re a star.
I love this blog (and this comment thread) so much!
Rumi is actually 26, you can find her Maxim profile here:
http://www.maxim.com/girls/hotties/2005/19839/rumi-san-rafael-ca.html
I took the time to read the entire article and all of your comments..I happen to be a little “fan” of her blog,and may I just say that I’ve been wondering for the past few months who was it exactly that left her hate/critique messages so very often…and I’m guessing that after googling “I hate Fashiontoast” and ending up on this page, some of you might have been the ones who did it…. I’m actually very neutral about this whole topic, since I like her blog, but don’t LOVE it, and I’ve never supported her in terms of buying whatever she has been selling for the past few years, and I really think that tee she’s designed is quite awful, but you see, if you lived in my rathole-country(romania) for the same ammount of time I have, then you’d like it too, and why? Because everyone here (92% actually) dresses like crap, and we have some of the worst fashion designers on this entire planet….if you had to wait for a period of 4 years for a nice trend to surface too (example:ugg boots, and yes, I know, so overrated, but it feels awful to not have access to things like that or decent vintage shops and brands like H&M or Topshop)…
I love a lot of fashion blogs, but I simply cannot identify myself with a 13-year-old girl (Style rookie, correct me if I’m wrong ,she might be 12 or 14-15 ,I’m not sure) or a cute asian girl (Stylebubble) because none of their outfits are easy to reproduce and actually wear on the streets of Bucharest here..I agree there are plenty of other creative fashion bloggers out there, but I’m always looking for something I can actually try for myself at one time, and it sure beats buying a Vogue (which btw costs exactly 23 dollars here)…I’ve honestly seen a lot of girls with over 200 photos per profile (hi5,myspace,facebook), so I really don’t see much of a difference between posting shitloads of pics of yourself on your own blog or chictopia/lookbook/myspace….and of course it’s vain, but self-promotion has never been so “in” like it is right now, I know people who even have youtube videos to promote themselves and what they do;
It’s really easy for you to hate her, but it won’t change much about the current situation, I mean I hate the likes of Paris Hitlon or Lohan too, but I won’t go on their twitters/etc and tell them how I feel, it really wouldn’t change a damn thing….seriously, there are more important things to hate than a girl you don’t personally know, I wouldn’t waste my time with it , for example I can’t stand people who wear fur but I sincerely wouldn’t tell them in their face/in an online comment, because no one will CARE!
And another thing: It’s impossible to make EVERYBODY love you or what you are doing, and that’s exactly why there are plenty of fashion blogs you can check out :):) ….if you don’t like this one…
PS: there will always be some people who lack personality and just let themselves brainwashed by what they see, like all of Danny Roberts’ fans ,who can’t even tell that he totally copied some other artist’s style and modified it a tiny bit ,and all of a sudden he’s some sort of god….I refuses to let that piss me off and decided to support the artists and people I find inspiring ,while trying my best to develop a style and I’m actually getting ready to create some cute fashion illustrations sometime soon……
It’s all a matter of taste,really….
just ignore it if you dislike it, because there are a lot more other important things to worry and fuss about..and just so you know, you are all so very lucky to not be in my position and live where i do 😉
PSS: thanks in advance for not deleting my comment, (if you decide it’s not impertinent and/or annoying you) ..and please do excuse my occasional spelling/grammar mistakes, I always try my best to write proper English 🙂
I would also love to hear an extra opinion or two, nothing you might say will bother me, as I’ve just mentioned, I’m neutral about this whole topic …..
PSSS: I also agree that’s more popular than it should be….but a lot of things are
i hateddddddddddd herrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!
she always put all of her works upon on meeeeeeeee…………
🙁
OK so i don’t hate her, but her style and site annoys me. Its like what is the big deal she wears the look everyone wore when i was like seven cos grunge was the thing. She is a very pretty girl, but her photos are such a bore she walks around looking bored and stupid wearing utter garbage. She just looks dead like an emaciated skeleton with nothing going on up there in these overrated clothes. Its sad that she is being hyped as a style icon, i don’t see her contributing anything to style, unless its already what the fashion magazines did moths before. Also the people that leave her comments going on about how fantastic her clothes are, are so deluded. Oh well maybe i don’t get it. Good on her i spose she is milking her vanity for what she can get while the gettings good.
Rumi bugs me because she has sooooo many photos of herself posing with an open-mouthed dullard-face for each blog entry. The additional photos don’t give more outfit detail. She just comes off like an egomaniac. Who takes her photos? She needs to edit more. 6 photos for one outfit is way too much.
I don’t really see what the big deal is. Half the thing(s) she wears I wouldn’t DARE wear out in public because it has so many revealing rips and tears. I mean you if you want to go for the whole ‘hooker” get-up then thats fine. But honestly her style isn’t for me. I just wish she’d WRITE something and not post so many pictures of herself…with the same face.
I actually came across her website not long ago and I fell off my chair! I never ever in my life seen somebody dressing so trashy in public except the girls who fell into prostitution, which is another case. I mean we don’t need our mom to tell us what’s trashy and what’s classy, she is old enough to understand what a hooker looks like. I remember when in paris, I use to dress normal with jeans not revaling at all and a bunch of loosers would come and try to talk to me. Imagine this girl, she is crazy and can be followed in the streets dressed like a prostitute. Really!
Ones has to draw the line, what kind of image do you want to project? a sell absorbed whore? no thank you. we already have fashion magazines for that with the dog leash and demonic symbols.
I recently came across her website. It is such a bore. I don’t know much about her, but I don’t hind her posts very inspiring, stylish, or entertaining.
I love The Cherry Blossom girl, because her photos are magnificent, she dresses classy, and gorgeous, and shows her smile.
I also love the Style Rookie, maybe not entirely for the style, but for Tavi’s extremely entertaining, witty, and odd posts. She writes very well for her age, and is a TRUE individual.
Finally, a place where I can say that I also hate people who use “ridiculously” – as in “my ridiculously retro glasses” and “I’ve lost so much weight on my ridiculously restrictive diet.”
I also hate people who use the word “epic” when not speaking of Homer or Virgil. “As in, my dog engaged in epic amounts of puke.”
Both word uses are somehow wrong, showy, self-congratulatory and, most important of all, irritating.
Artful MJ – Also “insanely” as in “These moto skinnies are insanely fierce!”
I hate her simply because she seems to be allergic to anything that may cover her legs. Ok they’re good legs, show ’em off – but not ALL THE TIME.
What is interesting to me is how her style has “evolved” over the last few years. I used to read her blog when she used it as a showcase for her ebay vintage store – she often had interesting, unique vintage finds.
More recently, she has lost weight, moved in a very “Erin Wasson” direction, and completely lost me as a blog reader. She is beautiful, but often I look at her outfits and think “hooker wear”. That’s not what I’m looking for in a style blog.
This was hilarious. Also I just spent my entire morning reading through all the comments. Thank you for that.
I actually like Rumi. I don’t know why you all have to hate like this JUST on her. There are many girls who do this as well – take ChicMuse (thechicmuse.blogspot.com), for example. And yes, Rumi WAS anorexic, but she is doing better lately. And keep in mind, she IS a model. And actually, people DO give a fuck where her shoes came from. In fact, ALL OF THESE FASHION BLOGS EXPLAIN WHERE EACH ITEM OF THEIR OUTFIT CAME FROM, in case you haven’t noticed. And if you find her looking like a “prostitute” and what not, WHAT DOES IT MATTER TO YOU? She doesn’t affect you by having this style, does she? If you don’t like her, DON’T LOOK AT HER. Ignore her then, dammit. And why are you so sensitive about the fact that she talked about a shirt like that? What if she thinks “it’s hilarious”? It’s her opinion. How is it agonizing and “a knife in my heart”? Cut Rumi some slack, honestly. She’s young, yes, and maybe she’ll change in the future. For now, she’s like this, and you can’t do anything about it. IT’S HER LIFE, NOT YOURS.
I think Rumi’s fugly…and I can’t stand Erin Wasson.
She’s 27, i imagine she’s thrilled people think she looks like a teenager though. Rumi’s amazingly lucky to have been given a break when there are so many other clones out there, just as pretty, just as underweight, and writing their blogs while dreaming oh, so hard of that elusive modelling contract that they could get – if only they weren’t 5″6.