You don’t have to be Paris Hilton or Anna Wintour to have a say in the fashion world anymore. Nowadays, “regular” people from all over the world are becoming the biggest voices in fashion, and it all starts with a fashion blog.

With hoards of Twitter followers, Facebook likes and tons of traffic, fashion bloggers are fast becoming fashion influencers — a title, in the past, that was only given to celebrities. Even top designers and major labels are buying into this, requesting fashion bloggers to be at the front row of Fashion Week and other star studded events.

This movement is creating a new breed of entrepreneur; where a simple love of fashion can be flipped over into a business. Savvy bloggers are changing the way brands reach customers forever, while defining trends for readers that were once only swayed by the big fashion magazines.

The Companies

Thanks in part to the power of social media, blogging has transformed from a personal hobby into a valuable asset for brands. Companies such as Mod Cloth, h&m, Birchbox and American Apparel are all starting to bypass the traditional press, talking directly with personal style, beauty and fashion bloggers.

For brands, this means tons of exposure for a small price. Connecting with bloggers gives companies a new chance to reach highly targeted, passionate readers. Sometimes, money isn’t even involved. Instead, casual bloggers are known to simply take free clothes and products.

While talking about her fashion line, designer Norma Kamali states:

“We love what bloggers are doing to change the structure of how fashion reaches the consumer. They are truly pioneers of the fashion world, and it’s a pleasure to watch the evolution of that change.”

The ways fashion reaches consumers has changed over the past few years, and even larger companies such as Kmart have noticed for their latest campaigns. T.J. Maxx even hired fashion blogger Lindsey Calla of Saucy Glossie to be a “Maxxinista” in their commercial, where she gives style tips based on her blog. Modcloth, which got its start by tapping into this new breed of fashion influencer, is spending time recognizing bloggers with its Blogger of the Moment. Levi’s joins this list as well, having enlisted a handful of bloggers for its latest campaign.

The Bloggers

With all this attention from brands, it’s no surprise that some bloggers are quitting their day jobs and making a living from branding themselves.

Blogger Leandra Medine of The Man Repeller has made an empire out of her site. She’s teamed up with fashion lines such as Gryphon and Dannijo to help create collections and timeless pieces based on her fashion sense. She’s is invited to Fashion Week events all over the world, she’s modeled for Saks, she’s been interviewed by top fashion magazines, she once strutted down the runway for Rebecca Minkoff and she’s just recently signed a book deal. Keep in mind, this is all due to the popularity of her blog that was started a mere two years ago.

Medine isn’t the only blogger to cash-in on success in recent years. Style blogger Emily Schuman of Cupcakes and Cashmere started her blog as a personal project; a creative outlet and a place to catalog items and ideas that inspired her, making food and style the two main themes of her blog. Since then, Ms. Schuman has turned Cupcakes and Cashmere into her sole source of income. She also has a book based on her blog, set to be released in August of this year.

Age doesn’t have anything to do with all this success, either. Tavi Gevinson started her blog The Style Rookie at the ripe young age of 13. Now 15, Tavi has quite a brag-able resume: Fashion Week invites, style muse for designers, a cover appearance on Pop magazine, features in Teen Vogue, the inspiration for Target’s Rodarte collection, almost 57,000 Twitter followers and her own Wikipedia page – all because a quirky 13 year old decided to document her style online for all to see. Young Tavi is now a valuable asset for all fashion related brands. If she wears it, many young girls are bound to run out and buy it.

Along with her popular style blog, this young entrepreneur is now the Editor-in-Chief of her very own magazine titled Rookie Mag. This online magazine is geared to teens with daily updates by numerous writers with topics from fashion to tech. Rookie Mag has almost 13,000 Twitter followers making Tavi a double threat.

Tavi Gevinson

Why does this matter?

Fashion has always been led by the few: The top brands, a handful of celebrities and a couple publications. Now, with genuine voices popping up all over the Web, our entire flow of information is changing.

Fashion bloggers prove you don’t need to be an actress or singer to become famous or have a voice, but it’s important to remember that it’s not for the faint of heart. It takes a lot to satisfy the fashion world, and it’s not meant for everyone. Not only do you have to have a unique style and voice, you need to have what it takes to keep up among stiff competition.

There’s a fine line between the bloggers that document their day and the bloggers that truly want to create something out of hard work and vision. By starting a fashion blog you are, in a way, starting your own business that requires a lot of responsibility as your monthly viewers rise.

No matter what, the different ways fashion blogging as a scene evolves over the next few years will have a massive impact on the industry. Fashion blogging has created a new era of influencers, and its impact is only just beginning.

Black-rimmed square glasses, printed t-shirts, utility trousers, short sleeve shirts with a pocket and strange techy accessories used to be the essential items in a geek’s wardrobe. Wearing these made you stand out and probably made you a bit less popular than the other kids at school. But in past few years something has changed. Look around you and you’ll see people wearing big black-rimmed glasses, t-shirts with geek in-jokes and even women wearing fitted utility pants. What’s going on?

To understand this we need to take a quick trip down memory lane. In the 80s and 90s a new stereotype was created. Thanks to movies like “Revenge of the Nerds” people created a certain image about what folks that are into science and technology should look like. Ill-fitted clothes, shirts, black-rim square glasses and a lack of social skills meant that you were a nerd. Being a nerd then was not something you really wanted to be called, as it usually ended with being bullied by the “popular” kids and being invisible to everyone else. Back then mainstream fashion paid no attention to geek culture and geek movies were rare. I remember discovering my favourite movie, WarGames, when I was a kid and I still can’t find people that have seen it or like it.

During the following decades we saw a huge shift in people’s behaviours. When I was growing up in the 80s, computers were expensive and required skill. Most people that owned one were also geeks and interested in programming or at least games. During the 90s, computing started invading all parts of our lives and by the time we entered the new millenia we all considered mobile phones a necessity and computers became part of our everyday lives. Culture started changing. More and more people were playing electronic games and becoming interested in what was originally geek and nerd territory.

Pop culture and especially movies had an incredible impact on the change of our culture. People that had never read Lord of the Rings queued to catch a screening. The Matrix created a sensation that a few years back would have only been noticed by geeks. Spiderman 3 (a Marvel Comics hero) for years held the top position on the opening weekends chart only to be outranked by The Dark Night (a DC Comics hero) and the last film of Harry Potter. Add to that popular TV shows (Big Bang Theory anyone?), the Star Wars franchise and geek living is starting to seem a lot more fun. People that used to make fun of our AD&D group would now devour any Lord of the Rings content and probably take part once they understood the concept behind the game.

In the past decade things have become even geekier. Day by day more people are getting online and technology that used to be science fiction is now part of our daily routines. People from every age group and walk of life now have the tools and skills that only a few years ago would put them in the geekosphere. There has also been a huge change in the people we look up to and admire. The bankers of the past decade and the magnates of the one before, have been replaced by geeks like Jobs, Gates and Zuckerberg. Success and geekiness appear to go hand in hand and have become mainstream.

This brings us to its affect on fashion. In the past few years we saw people borrowing elements of our geek style and adapting it to their own. The black-rimmed glasses, one element that has always been characterised as geeky and nerdy, is now part of the wardrobe of celebrities, emos and hipsters. With the shift of our culture people started seeing the value of our geek jokes and the utility of our clothes. Fashion saw the shift and by making geek fashion even more stylish they created the Geek Chic look. Do a search for Geek Chic and you will even find how-to articles on adopting Geek Chic style and what essential items you need.

A few years ago you could only get geeky t-shirts from ThinkGeek, now I have even seen a ctrl+alt+del t-shirt at high street fashion stores. Geeky accessories have also filled the shops and people’s wardrobes. Cool belt buckles, bow ties, binary watches, suspenders, stuff made from circuit boards and even jewellery made from computer parts can be found at market stalls and worn by geeks and non-geeks alike.

Where there is demand there is also opportunity and some brands have taken the Geek Chic style completely on board. Blackmilk Clothing (the creators of the Retro Gamer Leggings that Boris, Courtney and Hermione rocked on the TNW Conference stage) has more than 5 fabrics that are completely geeky. They include Tetris pieces, circuit boards and even galaxies. They do fashion, they do it with style and they are geeky. New York City eyeware startup Warby Parker has so many geeky frames in their collection that I lost count. People want geeky glasses and they can now find them in every eyewear store. Or go to Threadless and devour all the geeky t-shirts that are now available to the mainstream consumers.

With technology infiltrating every part of our lives people are getting geekier every day. We have reached a point that geek culture is not just a small group of people but becoming one of our main cultures. I’ve even read an article from Lars Konzack where geek culture is compared to the hippie culture in the 70s and I think he’s right. As he puts it “The geeks are the third counterculture, rejecting both the values of the hippies and the yuppies, demanding focus on fields of interest and introvert activities rather than extrovert performances.” Moving forward the line between geeky and mainstream will continuously become thinner and blurrier. I don’t know if it’s a good thing but I kinda like it…

Ã?Â??mit Erdem, Alexander Gitlits via shutterstock

What if you could get rewards towards future purchases, just by sharing what you have in your closet already? Zappos founder Nick Swinmurn has launched a new site to do just that. It’s called RNKD, and it wants you to show the world what kind of clothing and accessories you already own.

Even though the site launched last month and is still in beta, RNKD shared some extremely interesting stats with us that show a growing community for the premise. You might think that something like RNKD is just for the ladies, but the company tells us that 46% of users are male. They’re seeing some eye-popping engagement too, with users sharing 26 items each on average.

The idea is pretty brilliant when you think about it, if people share the items that they already have, then the site will known exactly what brands to partner with and what deals to offer to its user base. RNKD says that 2,000 different brands have been uploaded to the site so far.

The most popular brands on the site are Nike, Ralph Lauren, Express, and H&M. With this type of data, RNKD can do some serious damage in the social shopping space.

Show me yours, I’ll show you mine

Just getting deals based on what you have already purchased is interesting enough, but being able to share the contents of your closets with others takes it to another level. Each user gets a profile, and that profile shows all of the items that they have uploaded.

You can search through the items by type, brand, or the store that they bought it from. One neat feature is a quick breakdown of items by category so if you were holiday shopping, you’d be able to see the gaps in your friends wardrobe.

You can upload your items on the site, or use RNKD’s iOS and Android apps.

Reward me!

Here’s where things get interesting on RNKD. The more you share, the more chances you have to win rewards. The rewards or none other than Zappos gift certificates. Makes sense, since RNKD’d creator is the founder. The site sets up fun little categories like “Most Improved” and “Best Watch Collection” and rewards its users with gift certificates to buy more stuff. Pretty genius. You can even get badges for the types of things you share, cementing your place as a top brand maven.

If you’re really into fashion, you can get lost for hours on this site. RNKD has done a really awesome job of making everything clickable and shareable, so you can share something from someone else’s closet on Facebook or Twitter.

We’re told that of the items uploaded, the average user shares 12 different brands & 9 different stores, so I have to imagine that partnerships with these big brands are coming soon. It’s the perfect audience to share deals and exclusives with, and since they’re showing what they have in their closet already, we know that they like to buy.

➤ RNKD

As we know, today is Cyber Monday in the U.S. That means that all of the people who aren’t crazy enough to have visited stores on Black Friday, can sit in the comfort of their own homes or offices and buy a lot of crap that they don’t need.

BeachMint wants to revamp a tried and true model, home shopping networks. You know, the channels that show attractive hosts hawking items for hours and hours on end, swearing to us that everything is in limited numbers, so you better hurry up and dial.

Randi Zuckerberg, having just left Facebook to start her social media agency R to Z Media, has teamed up with BeachMint to bring you an all-day “home shopping experience”, hosted on Facebook.

The live video segments will feature, beginning today at 10am PT, BeachMint partners and designers Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen.

During the livestreamed telecast, you’ll be able to purchase the deals that the hosts are talking about, much like you would on the Home Shopping Network. However, a telephone isn’t required, thanks to the Internet.

BeachMint was founded by MySpace Co-Founder, Josh Berman, and Diego Berdakin. The company is launching small curated sites with designers such as Kate Bosworth, Jessica Simpson, and the Olsen Twins. It hopes that this approach can beat out the nameless and faceless daily deals style of sales that has become so hot these days.

Will you tune in and buy? I’ll be checking in to see how it all goes, as bringing known names together with fashion and technology is a brilliant play in my opinion.

➤ Cyber Monday with BeachMint and the Olsen’s

If you’re shopping for gifts this holiday season, or enjoy limited edition fashion, one site has paired something you’re already doing, with something you should be doing. Giving money to charitable causes.

The site Community Collection hand-picks the top fashion designers and sells their goods, while pairing pairs each designer with a different charitable cause for social good. Money from each sale goes to the charity, and you get a great piece of limited edition designer fashion. Everyone wins.

Here’s how Community Collection describes itself:

By getting “must have” merchandise from fashion and accessory designers you love, you also give back through your personal retail purchases. 20% of every purchase you make on our site goes to the charity paired with that specific designer. But it doesn’t stop there – we are committed to working with the charities to report back to you where your dollars went and the impact of your 20%.

It’s better to give than receive

Since launching on October 18th, Community Collection has raised $3,142 benefitting 15 different charities. The charities include American Cancer Society, Best Friends Animal Society, College Access Plan, Flying Kites Global, and Girls Inc.

The premise is simple enough and extremely powerful, since you’re shown how much of your purchase will go to charity, and which charity will be benefited.

Along with charitable giving, the site brings you exclusive items from such designers as Lulu Frost, and gives us an opportunity to learn more about the designer since each one has their own favorite charity. For each collection, a fundraising goal is set up, and the 20 percent that goes to charity is shown with each item.

If you’re already surfing the web to buy gifts for loved ones this holiday season, or even treating yourself, why not raise some money for charity at the same time?

➤Community Collection

If you’re one of the many carrying around a Square device to process payments or get money back from your friends after a night out at the bar, you may be interested in The Square Pouch.

Jack Dorsey, CEO and founder of Square, tweeted out the link to the Square Pouch last night.

While endorsed by Dorsey, the Square Pouch doesn’t seem to be created by anyone at the company Square.

After clicking through, the site explains exactly why you should both keep your Square safe and make it look pretty with its pouch:

Keep your Square dirt and lint free! Unlike others, the Square Pouch keeps your Square fully protected with its new design.

The company has even posted a video about how to use its Square Pouch:

Apple products are notorious for making people obsessed with accessories such as iPhone cases and iPad stands, so it’s only fitting that Square would get the same treatment. The Square Pouch starts at $7.99, and is available in black, white, red, pink, and blue.

How many devices in the Apple Store are under $10 and do so much? Not many. You might as well protect your Square in style.

Spanish startup Chicisimo launched last year as a community for fashionistas to share photos of their favourite clothes, tagging them with data about the brands, items and colours being worn.

Similar to Fashiolista (our previous coverage here), a community of fashion-obsessives has built up around the site, voting and commenting on each others’ looks. While there are obvious benefits for helping to push retail sales here, what’s really interesting is the data that can be extracted from the service. Chicisimo recently published a Street Fashion Report that shows how the service could offer Last.fm-like data to the fashion industry.

The data that Chicisimo can drill into is impressive. Top high street brands (Zara and H&M were runaway leaders of the pack here), top luxury brands (Chanel won on this front), most popular colours (black) and best of all – data about current trends in clothes. The startup’s analysis showed that the colour red, vests and long skirts have all increased in popularity amongst photos shared by users on the site in recent weeks.

At present, the dataset Chicisimo is working with is currently quite small. The data for Chicisimo’s report was gathered from 30,000 looks shared by 6 000 users between July 2010 and February 10th 2011. As such, the report can’t be taken as a guide to wider tastes, but as the service knows its userbase (all female, mainly under 35) it will become increasingly valuable as the service expands.

At the moment the data is a nice talking point and some prime fodder for a press release, but if Chicisimo is able to make this information update in real-time like Last.fm, it could actually be a great way of measuring young women’s clothing taste. Offer even more granular data at a price, and I’m sure the fashion industry would be very interested in paying for it.

Chicisimo launched German and Polish versions of its site this week, in addition to the existing English, Italian, French and Spanish offerings.