>> Say what you want about the bloggers vs. journalists scrap heap
that doesn’t want to die even though it effectively killed itself
off when journalists became bloggers and vice versa and thus turned
into a giant grey area. Instead of of the versus symbol, I’d like
to think it’s a -> / <- situation instead. Keyboard symbol translation?
That bloggers have much to learn from journalists and vice versa and
I learnt a little how from my short trip to Milan yesterday.

I was lucky enough to be privy to Anna “needs-no-intro” Dello Russo’s
personal scrapbook that she keeps and found a paper-based notation
system that was utterly inspiring. “I can’t get inspired in front
of the computer,” she says and so Dello Russo formulates her ideas
for blog posts by jotting down lists, drafting up posts and collaging
imagery into her Hermes leather bound notebook, ensuring there’s
enough highlighter pink and orange and birooutlined
lettering to hammer in her points.

If you thought that Dello Russo had a team of minions banging out
her posts, you can banish that though with a glimpse at her notebook.
Dello Russo may have embraced everything that the internet and
blogging has to offer but her experience having worked in print
for twenty years or so, shows in her dedication to the physical
written word. Her handwriting is neat, her lines are straight and
her colouring in of her bold lettering doesn’t stray beyond the
outline. That’s quite a plateful for any handwriting analyst.

Likewise with her imagery, she doesn’t simply tear out pages and
tack them into a book but instead carefully cuts things out, as
though she were about to do a bit of precise decoupaging.
I found myself absolutely mesmerised by her book, cowering
in the fact that I’ve never really thought to plan
my posts out by paper.

Even my own personal editorial-tearing and scrapbooking of physical
imagery has diminished when Tumblr and my organised folders of JPGs
came into place. Her desire to start her own blog in the first place
came about because she wanted to ensure the fashion credits of her
outfits were listed out properly, another reason why her print-to-blog
methodology works for her.

I never would have thought that Dello Russo would be a fashion media
benchmark but her simultaenous rooted dedication to print and positive
embracing of the internet as the vehicle of her self-image and her brand
definitely marks her out as someone in the industry, who
really knows how to get the best out of both worlds.