Fashion Indie versus The New York Observer
On February 9th, The New York Observer wrote a false and defamatory story about Daniel Saynt, Fashion Indie, and our bloggers. The article has led to the loss of clients, the cancellation of Fashion Indie Week, our writers being uninvited to fashion week shows, and the eventual BLACKLISTING of our brand in the fashion world. It’s not the first time The Observer has ruffled the feathers of bloggers and we are pursuing a class-action lawsuit against The New York Observer for writing a story which was completely FALSE and for lacking the journalistic integrity to confirm any of the supposed “facts” they reported on. Click Here to Read The New York Observers Article.
THE LIES
1.) In the article Daniel Saynt is described as “a 24-year-old blogger who fancies himself the “Perez Hilton of fashion“. HE IS 25 YEARS OLD and I has NEVER referred to himself as the “Perez Hilton of Fashion”, a distinction which to us is the equivalent of being called the “Hitler of Fashion”. In fact, this title has been given to Mr.Saynt by bloggers seeking to discredit him and Fashion Indie. We have only reported on the negative things that Perez Hilton has done to our industry and have pushed for the BOYCOTT of his website on numerous occasions.
2.) The article stated that Daniel Saynt was “planning on crashing Christian Siriano’s Fashion Week show on Feb 19. at Bryant Park”. There was NEVER any intention by Daniel Saynt to attend this event as he normally doesn’t attend fashion shows himself, opting instead to send Fashion Indie’s editors and writers. While we were intent on writing an expose through twitter and online on the art of crashing a fashion week event using Christian Siriano’s show as an example; our writers, Fashion Indie, and Daniel Saynt had no intention of “barreling” their way into the show unannounced.
3.) The article claims we have a “crew of crony bloggers“, which suggests that we lack the proper credentials to attend the shows at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. WE ARE MEMBERS OF THE PRESS WHO HAVE BEEN REGISTERING FOR ATTENDANCE FOR NEARLY THREE YEARS. The writer of this article was aware that making the statement would only discredit us in the industry and make it that much harder for us and other bloggers to attend events. This article has prevented us from providing the kind of coverage we are known for to our over 1.000.000 monthly readers and have forced us to cancel a number of our Fashion Indie Week events to protect the designers we’ve worked with from being associated with our action against The New York Observer.
4.) The article states that due to “pesky bloggers…like Mr.Saynt” designers and publicists aren’t granting our community access to their shows, fearful we “will post inflammatory reviews of stir up a scene for some cheap Web traffic”. There have NEVER been any attempts by Fashion Indie or Daniel Saynt or create a scene at any of the event we’ve attended and our runway reviews are level-headed considerations on how a designers collections appear in our opinion. We’ve never had any issue working with designers and publicists and the fact that this reporter would allude to such a fact is libel and an attempt to completely discredit our company and other bloggers who choose not to associate themselves with these supposed “safe” networks.
THE REASON
Fashion Indie and Daniel Saynt have been unfairly targeted by individuals in the blogging world for years. Those who claim they are “supporting” the industry regularly try to identify our company as “what’s wrong” with online publishing.
The fact is that we are one of the only companies that is not afraid to be vocal about our opinions . Certain hungry for headlines, jealous, unoriginal fashion bloggers know that attacking us will generate spikes in their traffic when we respond to their unfounded allegations, so they often engage in such behavior in a failed attempt to increase their readership base.
Julie Fredickson of blogger network Coutortue.com decided to remove us from her network when we posted a story about Andre Leon Tally’s noticable weight gain. We responded back, bashing the network for attempting to censor their bloggers and unfairly control the content of their members. Julie is no longer at Coutorture, but their attempt at censorship led to thousands of our daily readers heading to their site in defense of FashionIndie.com.
Sarah Morrison a “celebrity” blogger for Missbehave Magazine wrote a post which described our bloggers as “overweight”, “unattractive” writers who were desperately in need of gettting laid. Our response to the attack and reporting on Sarah Morrison’s own confirmation that SHE PERFORMED SEXUAL FAVORS TO PHOTOGRAPHERS TO GAIN ACCESS TO NIGHTCLUBS, led one off the magazines editors, Olivia Allin, to threaten to “slit [Daniel Saynt's] throat” next time she saw him We considered legal action at the time, but felt that the unneeded attention to the unpopular magazine would merely generate the wrong response.
Now Yuli Ziv and The New York Observer have joined in on the Daniel Saynt and Fashion Indie attacks, discrediting us in the industry and attempting to blacklist us based off of FALSE allegations and libel. Yuli is attempting to start a network similar to Coutorture, one which Gawker.com has properly described as The Kiss-Up Guild For Fashion Bloggers. We personally have no problems with her intentions, but when our bloggers and President are unfairly targeted as the negative parallel to her organization we have no choice but to fight.
Further proof of the articles affect on Daniel Saynt’s reputation can ironically be viewed on the Observer’s blog posting of the article in which
Julie Fredrickson, Sarah Morrison, Olivia Allin, Lauren Dimet Waters, and Yuli Ziv are merely bitter individuals who have failed to generate the type of media coverage, credibility or readership that Fashion Indie and Daniel Saynt have been able to. We’ve NEVER, ever been the first to attack any blogger, network, or publication. We are true supporters of online publishing and whole heartedly believe bloggers shouldn’t be censored, attacked or unfairly discredited by any publication, including members of traditional media, like The New York Observer, but unfortunately our success has led to sour grapes by many in the industry.
THE OBSERVER’S RESPONSE
As soon as we became aware of the story Daniel Saynt demanded The New York Observer post an immediate retraction or at least remove the part of the story that states obvious lies about our company. He made it aware to the writer that the claims she made were false, were directly affecting our business and that she should have contacted the group for confirmation before posting the story.
This was writer Gillian Reagan’s response…
“I’m sorry you feel slighted by the article. If you’d like to write a letter to the editor, I can submit it to the editorial department for consideration in next week’s paper. “
The writers contempt for the effect of this story on Fashion Indie’s business dealings and Daniel Saynt’s reputation in the fashion world forced us to speak to our lawyers and consider legal action. Suggesting that this could easily be fixed by publishing a “Letter to the Editor” only suggests that this person had absolutely no consideration for truth and was completely satisfied with her libel statements.
In order to protect our name and that of every other fashion blogger who feels they should have the right to be protected from slanderous statements by members of traditional press have forced us to pursue legal action against The New York Observer.
BLOGGERS UNITE!!!
We need the support of the blogging community to ensure that these kind of slanderous attack on independent publisher never happen again. There are four ways you can show your support.
1.) WRITE ABOUT OUR STORY: Feel free to grab any part of this post and tell your readers that you support Fashion Indie and a bloggers right to be protected from libel.
2.) JOIN SAYNTLY: We started Sayntly Network as a home for bloggers who want the benefits of being associated with a blogger network, without fear that they will be censored or kicked out for fear of having strong opinions. You can register for a free account HERE. Members enjoy access to exclusive ad campaigns prepared by Fashion Indie, story inclusion on FashionIndie.com, and the ability to connect to other online publishers and comment on industry issues.
3.) ADD A BANNER TO YOUR SITE: We’ve create a couple of banners for bloggers looking to show their support. We’ve added the banners below with links the code you will need to add it to your site. We only ask that you link the images back to FashionIndie.com so that more people can be aware of our current legal battle.
IMAGE LINK: http://fashionindie.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/newyork_observer.gif
IMAGE LINK: http://fashionindie.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/theblog.gif
IMAGE LINK: http://fashionindie.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/blogger_goliath.gif
4. ) JUST COMMENT: We want to hear what bloggers have to say about this case. Include your thoughts, share your love, or feel free to say that we should just shut the hell up and take it. We want every opinion possible. The best one’s will be added to this pages TESTIMONIAL section.
ABOUT FASHION INDIE
Fashion Indie provides services to fashion brands looking to understand the new media landscape. We are currently working with a national high-fashion magazine to create a performance-based advertising structure for fashion brands looking to influence bloggers. Our group has produced fashion events associated with companies such as H&M, The Body Shop, and Smart Car.
In addition to FashionIndie.com, we own 7 online publications and social networks which reach out to a global audience of nearly 1.3 million readers per month. One of the fastest growing digital properties on the web Fashion Indie has attracted the attention of nearly every major fashion label and publication. Our events and websites have been reported on by nearly 500 online blogs and have been featured by the BBC, The New York Post, The Daily News, The Village Voice, Time Out New York, New York 360, Numero, Elle Magazine, MTV True Life and The Tyra Banks Show.
Fashion Indie has produced events for Project Runway designers including Malan Breton, Diana Eng, Zulema Griffin, and recent winner Leanne Marshall. In addition, we grant access to producers and casting directors to engage with their database of over 500 emerging designers. The results have been collaborations with Maurices (owned by Dress Barn), Polartec Fabrics, The CW, The Travel Channel, Project Runway and MTV.
Our event development work with charitable groups including All for Africa, Action Against Hunger, and Fashion Delivers has helped raised over $10,000,000 for those in need throughout the world.
ABOUT DANIEL SAYNT
For nearly three years, Daniel Saynt has been a vocal advocate for blogger rights and their desire to be recognized in the fashion world.
In February of 2008, Saynt critiqued Gucci’s “Gucci Hearts New York” blogger campaign and was the only New York-based blogger who was invited to their Madonna hosted charity event at the UN. The story was featured in WWD and set a standard in the industry in regards to how large labels should work with bloggers.
“I believe that bloggers can unite to support each other without the rules established by faulty, ready to censor networks. Through the actions of independent publishers like myself, fashion is truly becoming a democracy that will one day encompass the views and ideals of the greater number rather than the chosen few.”
He’s established a network of over 50 select independent publishers called Sayntly, a group of partners supporting each other through content sharing and opt-in advertisement opportunities provided by Fashion Indie Media.
Saynt is a firm believer that bloggers should have the freedom to express themselves and not feel threatened by fashion labels or industry leaders.
TESTIMONIALS
Good Luck with everything! Such a shame….I will always be a fan of Fashionindie. You featured my boutique’s trunk show event last year and I’m very thankful for your support. As my company grows I will do more with Fashion Indie. Again, Good Luck and everything happens for a reason. This will take Fashionindie where it needs to be…….ON TOP! Stay strong.
- Edwina Ofori, Designer | Zhozet Boutique
MORE POWER TO YOU!!!!!!!!!
- Kim Kirby, Graphic Designer
We support you 100%!!
- Niki Johnson, Publisher | Detroit Fashion Pages
As a lawyer who has often enjoyed the sharp fashion criticisms offered by fashionindie, even when I disagreed with them, I wish you luck in your libel suit.
- Fashion Indie Reader
LINKS
Fashion Indie Cancels Fashion Indie Week
Fashion Indie’s Anti-Censorship Blogger Network, Sayntly
