The Fashion Twitterati

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Bryan Bedder / Getty Images for IMG Daily Beast fashion correspondent Renata Espinosa shares the scoops from Bryant Park. Today, why Twitter has become the fashionista’s new best friend.

I finally understand the purpose of Twitter, and why I signed on to yet another distracting, time-wasting “social networking” Website. I did it for fashion.

This week, Twitter has been my most indispensable tool; it’s my pseudo-creative outlet; it’s my spirit guide. I no longer wait each morning to see what Cathy Horyn has to say about the shows she saw, I just login to Twitter a few times a day to find out everything I need to know about what I missed or to get an alternative take on something I actually saw myself. It’s a live feed of microinformation, like having cameras stationed in different corners of the room simultaneously zapping information back to the mothership and editing together the long shots, the medium shots and close-ups as it goes. You can follow my updates here.

When you’re dealing with fashion, and not the finer details of an economic stimulus package bill, a snap judgment is all you really need.

Fashion week used to be one of those controlled, inaccessible environments that CNN news tickers had no business covering. Now, all kinds of behind-the-scenes information can be had—dare we say, information that feels like it’s been covertly traded between spies (definitely part of its appeal, at least for me) from the inside, even when you’re actually, well, on the inside. I last felt this way a week ago when my friend Julie (@julieklausner) live-twittered from the Westminster dog show—you have to follow these out-and-about Twitterers because they’re there when you wish you could be, or more essentially, they’re there so that you don’t have to be.

Besides vicarious pleasures, another bonus to following fashion week experts on Twitter is that it doesn’t get bogged down on interpretation (we can always psychoanalyze later—that’s what reviews and trend reports are for, right?). Instead, Twitter works as is an ongoing narration as though fashion reporters are truckers on the highway staying connected via CB radio or hobos leaving warnings through cryptic roadside graffiti. “All news that’s fit to print,” is reduced to an insta-headline or a visceral first impression. When you’re dealing with fashion, and not the finer details of an economic stimulus package bill, a snap judgment is all you really need. Fashion blogging feels downright logorrheic in comparison, and of course, a newspaper is too slow. The new fashion journalism is a Zagat’s guide to style courtesy of Twitter.

So, here’s what you need to know about Monday, Twitter-style: Kicking off the day, Refinery29 told us that [sic] “At zero maria, a designer's wet dream: eds in the house: stefano, sally, Anne slowey, and cathy wearing ski cap,” and then a couple of hours later, “At yeohlee, our second tightly wrapped headgear runway spotting of the day (first at zero maria). Miu miu fall ‘08 lives, unfortunately.” It’s a little bit like jibberish, but for fashionistas, it reads like gospel.

At Donna Karan, I broadcasted to my followers the news that “Spanx will be doing brisk business if women with booty want to wear Donna Karan's draped jersey skirts or dresses. Which is, uh, most women” while The Moment, the New York Times T Magazine’s blog, relayed this description: “Draped cashmere with a strong, emphasized shoulder—wearable Donna Karan!”