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><channel><title>FashionIndie &#187; julie fredrickson</title> <atom:link href="http://fashionindie.com/tag/julie-fredrickson/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /><link>http://fashionindie.com</link> <description>FashionIndie features all facets of fashion lifestyle.</description> <lastBuildDate>Thu, 16 Feb 2012 00:48:36 +0000</lastBuildDate> <language>en</language> <sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod> <sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency> <generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1</generator> <xhtml:meta xmlns:xhtml="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" name="robots" content="noindex" /> <item><title>Fashion Indie versus The New York Observer</title><link>http://fashionindie.com/fashion-indie-versus-the-new-york-observer/</link> <comments>http://fashionindie.com/fashion-indie-versus-the-new-york-observer/#comments</comments> <pubDate>Thu, 19 Feb 2009 16:39:04 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator>Saynt</dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[ADDICT]]></category> <category><![CDATA[BEAUTY]]></category> <category><![CDATA[GIRLS]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Mens]]></category> <category><![CDATA[NEW FACES]]></category> <category><![CDATA[RANDOM COOL SHIT]]></category> <category><![CDATA[SPREAD'EM]]></category> <category><![CDATA[TRENDSPARK]]></category> <category><![CDATA[-FASHION WEEK-]]></category> <category><![CDATA[blacklisting]]></category> <category><![CDATA[blogging rights]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Celebrity]]></category> <category><![CDATA[coutorture]]></category> <category><![CDATA[fashion indie]]></category> <category><![CDATA[fashion work]]></category> <category><![CDATA[fashion world]]></category> <category><![CDATA[julie fredrickson]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Lauren Dimet Waters]]></category> <category><![CDATA[lawsuit]]></category> <category><![CDATA[new york observer]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Olivia Allin]]></category> <category><![CDATA[PHOTOGRAPHERS]]></category> <category><![CDATA[sarah morrison]]></category> <category><![CDATA[yuli ziv]]></category><guid
isPermaLink="false">http://fashionindie.com/fashion-indie-versus-the-new-york-observer/</guid> <description><![CDATA[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. [...]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img
class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-33632" title="blogmightier" src="http://Fiw3.fashionindie.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/blogmightier.gif" alt="Fashion Indie versus The New York Observer " width="570" height="200" /></p><p><span
id="more-33627"></span></p><p
style="text-align: justify;">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 <strong>BLACKLISTING</strong> of our brand in the fashion world. <a
href="http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2008/05/vulture_vs_doree_shafrir_and_t.html">It&#8217;s not the first time The Observer has ruffled the feathers of bloggers</a> and we are pursuing a class-action lawsuit against The New York Observer for writing a story which was completely <em>FALSE</em> and for lacking the journalistic integrity to confirm any of the supposed &#8220;facts&#8221; they reported on.<a
title="new york observer lies" href="http://www.observer.com/2009/o2/fashion-bloggers-unite-you-have-nothing-lose-your-pariah-status" target="_blank"> Click Here to Read The New York Observers Article.</a></p><p
style="text-align: justify;"><h1 id="33627_the-lies_1" style="text-align: justify;">THE LIES</h1><p
style="text-align: justify;">1.) In the article Daniel Saynt is described as &#8220;<em>a 24-year-old blogger who fancies himself the &#8220;Perez Hilton of fashion</em>&#8220;. HE IS 25 YEARS OLD and I has NEVER referred to himself as the &#8220;Perez Hilton of Fashion&#8221;,  a distinction which to us is the equivalent of being called the &#8220;Hitler of Fashion&#8221;. 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 <a
href="http://fashionindie.com/perez-hilton-not-only-a-fashion-victim-hes-racist-too/">have pushed for the BOYCOTT of his website</a> on numerous occasions.</p><p
style="text-align: justify;">2.) The article stated that Daniel Saynt was &#8220;planning on crashing Christian Siriano&#8217;s Fashion Week show on Feb 19. at Bryant Park&#8221;. There was NEVER any intention by Daniel Saynt to attend this event as he normally doesn&#8217;t attend fashion shows himself, opting instead to send Fashion Indie&#8217;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&#8217;s show as an example; our writers, Fashion Indie, and Daniel Saynt had no intention of &#8220;barreling&#8221; their way into the show unannounced.</p><p
style="text-align: justify;">3.) The article claims we have a &#8220;<em>crew of crony bloggers</em>&#8220;, which suggests that we lack the proper credentials to attend the shows at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. <strong>WE ARE MEMBERS OF THE PRESS WHO HAVE BEEN REGISTERING FOR ATTENDANCE FOR NEARLY THREE YEARS. </strong>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 <a
href="http://www.newyorkfashionweek.fashionindie.com">Fashion Indie Week</a> events to protect the designers we&#8217;ve worked with from being associated with our action against The New York Observer.</p><p
style="text-align: justify;">4.) The article states that due to &#8220;pesky bloggers&#8230;like Mr.Saynt&#8221; designers and publicists aren&#8217;t granting our community access to their shows, fearful we &#8220;will post inflammatory reviews of stir up a scene for some cheap Web traffic&#8221;.  There have <strong>NEVER</strong> been any attempts by Fashion Indie or Daniel Saynt or create a scene at any of the event we&#8217;ve attended and our <a
href="http://fashionindie.com/category/womens-fashion/emerging-fashion/fashion-week-reviews/">runway reviews</a> are level-headed considerations on how a designers  collections appear in our opinion. We&#8217;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 &#8220;safe&#8221; networks.</p><p
style="text-align: justify;"><h1 id="33627_the-reason_1" style="text-align: justify;">THE REASON</h1><p
style="text-align: justify;">Fashion Indie and Daniel Saynt have been unfairly targeted by individuals in the blogging world for years. Those who claim they are &#8220;supporting&#8221; the industry regularly try to identify our company as &#8220;what&#8217;s wrong&#8221; with online publishing.</p><p
style="text-align: justify;">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.</p><p
style="text-align: center;"><img
class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-33715" title="320591219_d477c1b78a" src="http://Fiw3.fashionindie.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/320591219_d477c1b78a.jpg" alt="Fashion Indie versus The New York Observer " width="490" /></p><p
style="text-align: justify;">Julie Fredickson of blogger network<a
href="http://www.coutorture.com"> Coutortue.com</a> decided to remove us from her network when we posted a story about Andre Leon Tally&#8217;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.</p><p
style="text-align: justify;"><img
class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-33720" title="l_a6dbc6b5b1a7c3520b4bec318e3b4717" src="http://Fiw3.fashionindie.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/l_a6dbc6b5b1a7c3520b4bec318e3b4717.jpg" alt="Fashion Indie versus The New York Observer " width="490" height="328" /></p><p
style="text-align: justify;">Sarah Morrison a &#8220;celebrity&#8221; blogger for <a
href="http://www.missbehavemag.com/2008/09/i-get-it-i-am-a-jaded-bitch-too/">Missbehave Magazine wrote a post</a> which described our bloggers as &#8220;overweight&#8221;, &#8220;unattractive&#8221; writers who were desperately in need of gettting laid. Our response to the attack and  reporting on Sarah Morrison&#8217;s own confirmation that SHE PERFORMED SEXUAL FAVORS TO PHOTOGRAPHERS TO GAIN ACCESS TO NIGHTCLUBS, led one off <a
href="http://fashionindie.com/if-daniel-saynt-turns-up-dead-this-week-heres-who-to-blame/">the magazines editors,  <strong>Olivia Allin</strong>,  to threaten to &#8220;slit [Daniel Saynt's] throat&#8221; next time she saw him </a>We considered legal action at the time, but felt that the unneeded attention to the unpopular magazine would merely generate the wrong response.</p><p
style="text-align: justify;"><p
style="text-align: center;"><img
class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-33722" title="yuli-ziv_1h" src="http://Fiw3.fashionindie.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/yuli-ziv_1h.jpg" alt="Fashion Indie versus The New York Observer " width="490" /></p><p
style="text-align: justify;">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 <a
href="http://gawker.com/5151238/the-kiss+up-guild-for-fashion-bloggers">The Kiss-Up Guild For Fashion Bloggers</a>. 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.</p><p
style="text-align: justify;"><img
class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-33738" title="lauren__carol_secondcitystyle_gla_2" src="http://Fiw3.fashionindie.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/lauren__carol_secondcitystyle_gla_2.jpg" alt="Fashion Indie versus The New York Observer " width="374" height="298" /></p><p>Further proof of the articles affect on Daniel Saynt’s reputation can <em>ironically</em> be viewed on the Observer’s blog posting of the article in which <span
class="entry-author-name"><strong>Lauren Dimet Waters (pictured r.) of <a
href="http://www.secondcitystyle.com/">SecondCityStyle.com</a></strong> deems Saynt “<em>sophomoric</em>” and a “<em>rotten apple</em>“, blaming him for setting “<em>online media back 50 paces</em>” and stating that other bloggers should “<em>distance themselves from [Saynt].</em>“</span></p><p
style="text-align: justify;">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&#8217;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&#8217;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.</p><p
style="text-align: justify;"><h1 id="33627_the-observers-respon_1" style="text-align: justify;">THE OBSERVER&#8217;S RESPONSE</h1><p
style="text-align: center;"><img
class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-33736" title="b00005nip201lzzzzzzz" src="http://Fiw3.fashionindie.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/b00005nip201lzzzzzzz.jpg" alt="Fashion Indie versus The New York Observer " width="490" /></p><p
style="text-align: justify;">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.</p><p
style="text-align: justify;">This was writer Gillian Reagan&#8217;s response&#8230;</p><p
style="text-align: justify;">&#8220;I&#8217;m sorry you feel slighted by the article. If you&#8217;d like to write a letter to the editor, I can submit it to the editorial department for consideration in next week&#8217;s paper. &#8220;</p><p
style="text-align: justify;">The writers contempt for the effect of this story on Fashion Indie&#8217;s business dealings and Daniel Saynt&#8217;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 &#8220;Letter to the Editor&#8221; only suggests that this person had absolutely no consideration for truth and was completely satisfied with her libel statements.</p><p
style="text-align: justify;"><strong>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.</strong></p><p
style="text-align: justify;"><strong><br
/> </strong></p><h1 id="33627_bloggers-unite_1" ><strong>BLOGGERS UNITE!!!</strong></h1></p><p
style="text-align: justify;">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.</p><p
style="text-align: justify;">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.</p><p
style="text-align: justify;">2.) <a
href="http://weindie.ning.com/main/authorization/signUp?">JOIN SAYNTLY</a>: We started <a
href="http://weindie.ning.com/">Sayntly Network</a> 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 <a
href="http://weindie.ning.com/main/authorization/signUp?">HERE</a>. 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.</p><p
style="text-align: justify;">3.) ADD A BANNER TO YOUR SITE: We&#8217;ve create a couple of banners for bloggers looking to show their support. We&#8217;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.</p><p><img
class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-33624" title="newyork_observer" src="http://Fiw3.fashionindie.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/newyork_observer.gif" alt="Fashion Indie versus The New York Observer " width="300" height="250" /></p><p
style="text-align: center;">IMAGE LINK: http://fashionindie.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/newyork_observer.gif</p><h1 id="33627__1" ><img
class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-33626" title="theblog" src="http://Fiw3.fashionindie.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/theblog.gif" alt="Fashion Indie versus The New York Observer " width="160" height="600" /></h1><p
style="text-align: center;">IMAGE LINK: http://fashionindie.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/theblog.gif</p><p><img
class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-33623" title="blogger_goliath" src="http://Fiw3.fashionindie.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/blogger_goliath.gif" alt="Fashion Indie versus The New York Observer " width="160" height="200" /></p><p
style="text-align: center;">IMAGE LINK: http://fashionindie.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/blogger_goliath.gif</p><p
style="text-align: center;"><p
style="text-align: justify;">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&#8217;s will be added to this pages TESTIMONIAL section.</p><h1 id="33627_about-fashion-indie_1" style="text-align: justify;">ABOUT FASHION INDIE</h1><p
style="text-align: justify;">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 <strong>H&amp;M, The Body Shop, and Smart Car</strong>.</p><p
style="text-align: justify;">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 <strong>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</strong>.</p><p
style="text-align: justify;">Fashion Indie has produced events for <strong>Project Runway</strong> designers including <strong>Malan Breton, Diana Eng, Zulema Griffin, and recent winner Leanne Marshall</strong>. 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 <strong>Maurices (owned by Dress Barn), Polartec Fabrics, The CW, The Travel Channel, Project Runway and MTV.<br
/> </strong><br
/> <strong>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. </strong><strong></strong></p><h1 id="33627_about-daniel-saynt_1" style="text-align: justify;">ABOUT DANIEL SAYNT</h1></p><p
style="text-align: justify;"><img
class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-33744" title="daniel_saynt-550x4121" src="http://Fiw3.fashionindie.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/daniel_saynt-550x4121.jpg" alt="Fashion Indie versus The New York Observer " width="490" /></p><p
style="text-align: justify;">For nearly three years, Daniel Saynt has been a vocal advocate for blogger rights and their desire to be recognized in the fashion world.<strong></strong></p><p
style="text-align: justify;"><strong></strong>In February of 2008, Saynt critiqued <strong>Gucci</strong><strong>’s “Gucci Hearts New York” blogger campaign </strong>and was the only New York-based blogger who was invited to their <strong>Madonna</strong> hosted charity event at the UN. The story was<strong> featured in WWD</strong> <strong>and set a standard in the industry in regards to how large labels should work with bloggers</strong>.</p><p
style="text-align: justify;">“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.”</p><p
style="text-align: justify;"><strong>He’s established a network of over 50 select independent publishers called Sayntly</strong>, a group of partners supporting each other through content sharing and opt-in advertisement opportunities provided by Fashion Indie Media.<strong></strong></p><p
style="text-align: justify;">Saynt is a firm believer that bloggers should have the freedom to express themselves and not feel threatened by fashion labels or industry leaders.</p><h1 id="33627_testimonials_1" style="text-align: justify;">TESTIMONIALS</h1><p
style="text-align: justify;"><em>Good Luck with everything! Such a shame&#8230;.I will always be a fan of Fashionindie.  You featured my boutique&#8217;s trunk show event last year and I&#8217;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&#8230;&#8230;.ON TOP!  Stay strong.</em></p><p
style="text-align: justify;">- Edwina Ofori, Designer | <a
href="http://zhozetboutique.ning.com/" target="_blank">Zhozet Boutique</a></p><p
style="text-align: justify;"><em>MORE POWER TO YOU!!!!!!!!!</em></p><p
style="text-align: justify;">- Kim Kirby, <a
href="http://www.kimkirby.com/" target="_blank">Graphic Designer</a></p><p
style="text-align: justify;"><em>We support you 100%!!</em></p><p
style="text-align: justify;">- Niki Johnson, Publisher | <a
href="www.DetroitFashionPages.com">Detroit Fashion Pages</a></p><p
style="text-align: justify;"><em>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.</em></p><p
style="text-align: justify;">- Fashion Indie Reader</p><h1 id="33627_links_1" style="text-align: justify;">LINKS</h1><p
style="text-align: justify;"><a
href="http://www.observer.com/2009/o2/fashion-bloggers-unite-you-have-nothing-lose-your-pariah-status" target="_blank">The New York Observer Lies</a></p><p
style="text-align: justify;"><a
href="http://fashionindie.com/a-letter-from-fashion-indie-president-daniel-saynt-concerning-fashion-indie-week/" target="_blank">Fashion Indie Cancels Fashion Indie Week</a></p><p
style="text-align: justify;"><a
href="http://weindie.ning.com/" target="_blank">Fashion Indie&#8217;s Anti-Censorship Blogger Network, Sayntly </a></p><p
style="text-align: justify;"><a
href="http://fashionindie.ning.com/">Fashion Indie Week Site</a></p><p
style="text-align: justify;"><a
href="http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2009/02/fashion_indie_f.php" target="_blank">The Village Voice Responds</a></p><p
style="text-align: justify;"><a
href="http://racked.com/archives/2009/02/18/fashion_week_catfight_blogger.php" target="_blank">Racked.com Responds</a></p><p
style="text-align: justify;"><a
href="http://sfindiefashion.com/2009/02/18/hell-hath-no-fury-like-an-indie-fashion-blogger-scorned/" target="_blank">SF Indie Fashion Responds</a></p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://fashionindie.com/fashion-indie-versus-the-new-york-observer/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>8</slash:comments> </item> <item><title>Sinners and Saynt: Torture Coutorture, Round Deux</title><link>http://fashionindie.com/sinners-and-saynt-torture-coutorture-round-deux/</link> <comments>http://fashionindie.com/sinners-and-saynt-torture-coutorture-round-deux/#comments</comments> <pubDate>Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:02:23 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator>Saynt</dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[THE BURNBOOK]]></category> <category><![CDATA[blogging]]></category> <category><![CDATA[fat people]]></category> <category><![CDATA[julie fredrickson]]></category> <category><![CDATA[online]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Sinners & Saynt]]></category> <category><![CDATA[terrorists]]></category> <category><![CDATA[turbans]]></category><guid
isPermaLink="false">http://fashionindie.com/?p=7507</guid> <description><![CDATA[Let me be the first to admit it, yeah I&#8217;m an asshole. I&#8217;ve never claimed to be the nicest person in fashion and I&#8217;ve never made it seem like I&#8217;d ever sugar coat my thoughts or views. I just want to be as honest as possible and give an opinion which is well within my [...]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p
style="text-align: center;"><a
href="http://Fiw3.fashionindie.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/daniel_saynt_assaholic.gif"><img
class="alignnone size-full wp-image-7504 aligncenter" title="assaholic" src="http://Fiw3.fashionindie.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/daniel_saynt_assaholic.gif" alt="Sinners and Saynt: Torture Coutorture, Round Deux" width="403" height="468" /></a></p><p><strong>Let me be the first to admit it, yeah I&#8217;m an asshole. </strong>I&#8217;ve never claimed to be the nicest person in fashion and I&#8217;ve never made it seem like I&#8217;d ever sugar coat my thoughts or views. I just want to be as honest as possible and give an opinion which is well within my freedom of speech and expression.</p><p>So I said some mean things. So I posted unflattering pictures of a rival. Sue me. It isn&#8217;t like I said shit that hasn&#8217;t been said before, behind peoples backs, without them knowing, said in jest so it&#8217;s &#8220;okay&#8221;. I&#8217;m saying the stuff some folks in fashion are afraid to say and now I&#8217;m getting flacked for it. Well, fine. I&#8217;m okay with being the media&#8217;s whipping boy for a few cracks, as long as I get my point across it&#8217;s all good.</p><p><strong>Now onto part deux of Torture Coutorture in which Julie responds to her company&#8217;s idiotic practices, I try to make good with one of the few nice people in fashion, and I apologize (kind-of) for being a royal doucher </strong></p><p><a
href="http://Fiw3.fashionindie.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/fashionindievscoutorture.jpg"><img
class="alignleft alignnone size-full wp-image-7498" style="float: left; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px;" title="fashionindievscoutorture" src="http://Fiw3.fashionindie.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/fashionindievscoutorture.jpg" alt="Sinners and Saynt: Torture Coutorture, Round Deux" width="204" height="271" /></a>The email from Julie came in on Friday, soon after the Coutorture crew realized that the story had gone viral and was on sites like <a
href="http://gawker.com/tag/andre-leon-talley/?i=5024094&amp;t=nuclear-smear-campaign-against-fashion-blogger" target="_self">Gawker</a> and <a
href="http://pipeline.refinery29.com/news/burning_bridges_fashion_indie.php">Refinery29</a> (great Civil War pict, seriously).  The email had all the details we were initially looking for as to why we were kicked off their pubescent network.  Basically, Meghan and Sarah had been reading through Fashion Indie, red-flagged a post as offensive (just one?) and made efforts with Julie to kick us off.  When the issue was properly explained, kicking us off the network made perfect sense since they are try to foster a sedated message across their publisher sites. So, playing nice for advertisers (wait, they don&#8217;t have any) trumped freedom of speech and we were kicked off. Understandable. We never stated we we&#8217;re a PC site. We&#8217;ve been pushing envelopes since day one and we get it if certain folks don&#8217;t want to associate themselves with us. That&#8217;s okay. What&#8217;s is not okay is how the issue was originally handled with anonymous comments and criptic emails from the Coutorture crew.</p><p><strong>Next Julie explained why they didn&#8217;t do the right thing from the beginning&#8230;</strong></p><p
style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>We are concerned with the culture of fear in blogging and indeed we had been concerned to address these issues with you and the Fashion Indie team for sometime precisely because we were afraid of your reaction given your preferred methods of engagement. Sadly we let that fear color our short email towards you ending our relationship because we did not wish to go into detail lest it be used against us. For this we apologize sincerely.</em></p><p>Hold up. Numero uno, I&#8217;m not a scary dude. Ask anyone who knows me or has met me in person and they&#8217;ll tell you that I&#8217;m a pretty easy going, rational individual.  I&#8217;ve never engaged in such &#8220;methods of engagement&#8221; before so it made no sense for Coutorture to assume (make an ass out of you and me) that this is they way we would respond if they had initially treated us with some respect and explained themselves properly.</p><p>Two, Julie, Sarah and Meghan all know me personally. I&#8217;ve known Julie for nearly three years and while she has remained the same cold fish she&#8217;s always been, I&#8217;ve been nothing but personable and friendly with the girl.  Personally, I think she&#8217;s suffering from an <strong>Anna Wintour </strong>complex, but that&#8217;s just from observing her sitting at runway shows, with her sunglasses on, not speaking to anyone, not even me when I go up to her and say hello.  Sorry, I just believe that people like that don&#8217;t belong in fashion.  Sarah is also another Coutorture chick I&#8217;ve known for sometime. Our editor IM&#8217;s her on the daily and we&#8217;ve maintained a friendly relationship. We&#8217;re always ready to blast anything she requested out to our email list and we&#8217;ve been more than kind to her. So her responding this way was also idiotic and childish.</p><p>And three, GROW SOME FUCKING COJONES. YOU&#8217;RE IN BUSINESS JULIE AND YOUR NETWORK MAKES MAJOR CLAIMS. YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO LEARN CONFLICT RESOLUTION AT SOME POINT OR AT LEAST LEARN TO CRAFT A PROPER EMAIL.</p><p>So basically, Julie admitted to not handling the situation well, apologized and all is once again good in the world of online fashion blogging. Congrats on being the bigger person, it&#8217;s not always the easy thing to do.</p><p><strong>Next Up, I apolize to Fat Folks.</strong></p><p>I know it&#8217;s not easy being fat. I tipped the scale at 270 when I was 17 and that was the worst time in my life. I&#8217;m still not the thinnest dude on the block (there hasnt been a pair of skinny jeans that have met the crease of my crack) but honestly folks, is it so wrong to call someone fat? They make it seem like I&#8217;m a monster for stating something that everyone else is aware of. You&#8217;re fat, it&#8217;s okay, it&#8217;s not the best thing in the world to be, and you&#8217;ll probably die earlier than those of a moderate weight, but it&#8217;s okay cause that extra slice of cheesecake is so worth it, right?!?  No one is forcing you to be overweight. No one is telling you to overeat. And in a society of liposuction, gastric bypass, and Alli, there is no reason why you can&#8217;t drop a few pounds, unless of course you like being fat, in which you shouldn&#8217;t be offended if I say you are.  Yeah, I would love it if this wasn&#8217;t the case, if we could all sing around the campfire and gouge our eyes out so we can&#8217;t see each others imperfections, but that&#8217;s not the way life works and if you&#8217;re are in an industry that stresses the need for lack of flaws, it&#8217;s a little difficult to get by with such a big one.</p><p>I&#8217;m all for big is beautiful and I&#8217;ve had my share of thick loves in my life, but enough is enough.  It&#8217;s okay if you want to be fat, just be ready for the occasional stare, chuckle or thoughtless comment.</p><p>I&#8217;m sorry for offending anyone with my fat jokes or commentary.  Just don&#8217;t be too hard on yourself, it&#8217;s not easy being a big girl in a size zero world.</p><p>Sarah, I am honestly sorry if any of my comments hurt your feelings. That was never my intent.</p><p><strong>Now on to Terrorist.</strong></p><p>Terrorists,</p><p>I&#8217;m sorry for associating Turbans to your practices of mass terror and destruction. You see, over here in America we have magazines like The New Yorker and a station called Fox News which is run by super racist-bigot billionaire Rupert Murdock.  On it, all the men who attack and attempt to destroy our country wear turbans, have beards, and weird names I don&#8217;t understand like Akemed Ikahina bin Laden.</p><p
style="text-align: center;"><em><a
href="http://Fiw3.fashionindie.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/original.jpg"><img
class="alignnone size-full wp-image-7499" title="original" src="http://Fiw3.fashionindie.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/original.jpg" alt="Sinners and Saynt: Torture Coutorture, Round Deux" width="350" height="479" /></a></em></p><p
style="text-align: center;"><em>Really? Who decided this was a good idea?</em></p><p>These images of turban wearing terrorist fester in my weak mind and I begin to associate all terrorist as turban wearing middle easterners.  I realize that not all terrorist wear turbans, so it was wrong to associate all of you together and adhere to such a stereotype. I now understand that some of you may enjoy wearing fitted New Era caps or knit hats, some of you out there may wear Sunday Derby sunhats or may choose to rock a nice suede kippot when you&#8217;re feeling fiesty.  It was wrong to think all of you wear turbans and I&#8217;m sorry if I offended you with my comments.</p><p>Hugs and Disses,</p><p>Daniel Saynt</p><p><strong>To other Turban wearers.</strong></p><p>I&#8217;m not an idiot. I know you&#8217;re not all terrorists. Homeland Security doesn&#8217;t, but I do.  It was a joke. Hell, you can&#8217;t really consider it a religion if you don&#8217;t suffer a little persecution, right?</p><p>So that&#8217;s about it indies. I know it&#8217;s been a harrowing ordeal for some of you, but the whole thing was pretty easy for us. This week we plan to launch an initiative to prevent such things from happening to bloggers in networks and to provide a means to identify sites that aren&#8217;t censored by their networks. We&#8217;ll be wearing our badge proud and will continue to give you the type of stories and posts you&#8217;ve come to expect from the sons of bitches at FashionIndie.com.</p><p>P.S. In one day <strong>Fashion Indie </strong>was compared to <strong>Fox News</strong> and the <strong>Bush Administration </strong>for stating the facts and reporting on our experience.  Damn, there must be something really wrong in the world when battling a larger power, defending your freedom of speech, and speaking up against censorship is considered Republican.</p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://fashionindie.com/sinners-and-saynt-torture-coutorture-round-deux/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>7</slash:comments> </item> <item><title>Sinners and Saynt: Torture Coutorture</title><link>http://fashionindie.com/sinners-and-saynt-torture-coutorture/</link> <comments>http://fashionindie.com/sinners-and-saynt-torture-coutorture/#comments</comments> <pubDate>Thu, 10 Jul 2008 15:10:10 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator>Saynt</dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[coutorture]]></category> <category><![CDATA[julie fredrickson]]></category> <category><![CDATA[sarah conley]]></category><guid
isPermaLink="false">http://fashionindie.com/?p=7299</guid> <description><![CDATA[There has been a lot of concern from our readers lately regarding our &#8220;indieness&#8221;. Some of you have stated that we&#8217;ve sold out and given in to the Net-a-porter machine. Some feel that we&#8217;ve become a bit too mean lately and are now alienating some of you. And other ass wipes feel that we&#8217;re no [...]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>There has been a lot of concern from our readers lately regarding our &#8220;indieness&#8221;. Some of you have stated that we&#8217;ve sold out and given in to the Net-a-porter machine. Some feel that we&#8217;ve become a bit too mean lately and are now alienating some of you. And other ass wipes feel that we&#8217;re no longer politically correct enough to be in their shitty blogger networks (Torture Coutorture)!!! To all our haters we have one thing to say, &#8220;THANK YOU!!!&#8221;</p><p>Your discontent for us fuels our fires and let&#8217;s us know that we&#8217;re doing something right. Because of our new direction we have shot up in traffic, now reaching nearly 25,000 eyes per day. In addition, we&#8217;ve gotten some more inquiries on our site and our business. We&#8217;ve leveraged our hate mail to get us an article in an upcoming magazine and it&#8217;s let me know that we&#8217;re affecting a shit load of people on the web.</p><p>We haven&#8217;t sold out (yet).  We&#8217;re still looking to provide our readers with the newest trends, designers and fashion news. We&#8217;ve kept our opinions sharp and our views are clearer than ever. We have gotten a bit meaner lately but that&#8217;s only cause more and more idiots are trying to become fashion designers when they know they shouldn&#8217;t.  We like to keep it real and not sugar coat what we have to say. If you don&#8217;t like it, don&#8217;t come to our site. There are over a billion people on the web and we&#8217;re not gonna cry over losing one person who doesn&#8217;t agree with us.</p><p
style="center;"><strong>NOW TO TORTURE COUTORTURE<br
/> </strong></p><p>First, let&#8217;s backtrack. We enjoy writing back to our haters in blog comments. When someone tells me I know dick about fashion, I kindly remind them that the only reason anyone cares about them is cause they decided to comment on my blog, not the other way around, and that if they had an opinion of their own, they should get to writing something and leave us the fuck alone.  Well in a recent post on <a
href="http://fashionindie.com/ten-things-that-andre-leon-tally-seems-to-not-realize/" target="_blank">Andre Leon Tally</a>&#8216;s douchiest qualities <strong>Sarah Conley</strong>, a Coutorture worker, became offended that I used too many fat jokes in my post. I let her know that I was an asshole for saying the jokes, but hell, it was funny. Keep in mind that Sarah herself is not a svelte fashionista, so I could see why saying Andre Leon Tally was &#8220;too fat for fashion&#8221; might offend someone like herself.  Basically, because Sarah commented on the post she was now subscribed to our further comments.</p><p><strong>The post stood on the web for a few days and then I received this comment.</strong></p><p
style="30px;">so i don’t normally respond to bigoted,nasty uninformed comments but thought this actually warranted a sane response…<br
/> just a few little questions<br
/> 1. what do you actually do ?<br
/> 2.what movies magazines or any other form of media have you being on recently<br
/> 3.does anyone actually give a shit who you are?</p><p
style="30px;">so i think the answer to all of the above questions will be a big old no no no and nothing…</p><p
style="30px;">so before we slag off anyone lets take a look around at ones own life to see if its worthy</p><p><strong>Now of course, this was fuel to my fire cause this was obviously a doucher who didn&#8217;t realize my glory (talking as Daniel Saynt right now so don&#8217;t freak out).  I quickly answered back&#8230;</strong></p><p
style="30px;">Let me bestow on you some knowledge of how shit works around here in Fashion Indie Land. Numero uno, this is what I actually do. We are one of the most successful fashion blogs on the planet. More people read us than all the international Vogue’s combined. Number two, I’ve recently been on the Tyra Banks Show, MTV, and The Travel Chanel bestowing on others my genius. Also, Time Out New York listed us as one of the top blogs of New York City, just under the Satorialist. I’ve been asked to judge numerous design competitions and my company (the one I started four years ago) has developed events for Maurices, Polartec, H&amp;M and a slew of other designers and brands. We’ve worked with over 100 fashion labels and produced some of the most frequented events in NYC.</p><p
style="30px;">Does anyone give a shit about me? Try over 500,000 readers per month and an industry that has already marked me as one of the top upcoming influencers in fashion.</p><p
style="30px;">So am I worthy. Fuck yeah. Don’t be jealous, just accept.</p><p
style="30px;">Hugs and Disses,</p><p
style="30px;">Daniel Saynt</p><p><strong>Yeah, I&#8217;m full of myself, but hell I&#8217;ve been working this game for over 4 years and I deserve some credit for the work I&#8217;ve done.  Within minutes of posting I received this comment from someone posing as help@googleanalytics.com<br
/> </strong></p><p
style="30px;">Daniel,</p><p
style="30px;">No offense but I think you may not have a very good grasp on webanalytics. You can’t actually determine that you have 500,000 readers using any proper analytics program. Maybe you have 500,00 impressions a month (though your Alexa ranking doesn’t really suggest that you do) but that isn’t unique views. And unique views isn’t necessarily readers but simply unique IP addresses.</p><p
style="30px;">Before getting all high and mighty, realize that these readers may not even give a shit about you, they may be simply random SEO traffic wandering in off the proverbial internet street because you strung together something nicely that some Joe in Kansas had an interest in. Determining influence is a much more nuanced beast.</p><p
style="30px;">I would suggest having less of an attitude and simply working harder when a critic comes up. Blowing hot air may seem like a great way to get attention but in the end you have to have something to say that makes people think. This just makes people cringe.</p><p><strong>Web Analytics? Alexa Ranking? This must be the work of some angry little blogger. Possibly someone who is a little worried that our site, which launched over a year ago is creeping in on her traffic base. Maybe it was from a blogger who recently held a conference on web analytics which was listened to by five people in her apparent network of 250. Maybe it&#8217;s a blogger that everyone openly hates and wishes would just disappear cause seriously, nobody cares about you.  Bitch please. I think some people were forgetting where I came from, so I kindly answered&#8230;</strong></p><p
style="30px;">We use Google Analytics to track our readership levels and our page impressions are much higher than mentioned. In addition, we have built a fairly influential network of bloggers which carry our content and have distribution through partner networks. Plus our reach through social networks like MySpace, Facebook, and our own Indies United is substantial with a reach well above a daily 20,000 mark. (We don’t count that when speaking to advertisers and sponsors, it’s just a bonus).</p><p
style="30px;">Alexa is a fairly inaccurate way to track unique views since it only tracks the views of those with an Alexa tool bar on their browser. Most young women (the bulk of our audience) don’t give a rats ass about Alexa and probably don’t know what the hell it is.</p><p
style="30px;">We do get a good amount of pop-ups from SEO which only shows that we are producing content that is of interest to readers. Terms like “Summer Hair Trends” and “New York Fashion” are fairly targeted search terms which get readers to our site. Our bounce rate has decreased by about 25% since February and many of our current marketing outreach plans should help us generate a more dedicated direct visitor (someone who types in fashionindie.com rather than reaches us through Google). Still an SEO generated reader is still a reader, so we’re very happy we have laid out such a successful campaign.</p><p
style="30px;">Basically, my background is e-commerce. I graduated Berkeley with a degree in Business and a minor in Information Technologies. Before Fashion Indie I was in online marketing and ran campaigns for Action Against Hunger and the United Nations. I’ve worked in my share of dot.com’s and have built the infrastructure for sites like Trendible.com.</p><p
style="30px;">I’m not trying to be all high and mighty, but occasionally we get dicks on our site who like to believe they know what the fuck their talking about. They don’t. We enjoy correcting them.</p><p
style="30px;">Plus, I’m a total asshole online. It’s fun to play a role a bit and make your opinion known. If people disagree that’s okay. We encourage people to write their opinions and regularly feature our favorite “Hate Mail”. Will we answer back? Hell to the yes. It’s fun to fight.</p><p
style="30px;">Please don’t think I’m trying to make people cringe. I love the bulk of our readers and regularly feature their lines and comments.</p><p
style="30px;">On a side note, who are you and why do you care so much about what we’re doing?</p><p><strong>Within a few minutes of writing this response it became blatantly clear who wrote the comment when we received this email from Coutorture.</strong></p><p
style="30px;">Daniel,</p><p>Fashion Indie has been removed from the Coutorture Network.  Please remove any Coutorture badge currently running on your site.</p><p>We wish you continued success in all your endeavors.</p><p>Best,</p><p><span
class="nfakPe">Sarah</span></p><p>&#8211;<br
/> &#8211;<br
/> <span
class="nfakPe">Sarah</span> Conley</p><p>Holy shit!!!  I tracked the IP address of the person who was claiming to be <strong>help@googleanalytics.com</strong> and the address was from some computer in Brooklyn, in an area that certain Coutorture girls like to call home</p><p>My theory is that <strong>Julie Fredrickson</strong>, the most loathed blogger in fashion, decided to answer back on my claims of online greatness and when I trumped her &#8220;Alexa&#8221; claims she became angry and decided to kick us off the network. Great way to do business. Get rid of one of your top bloggers.</p><p>Now it&#8217;s time to Torture Coutorture.</p><p>So here are some great Julie Fredrickson links for your viewing pleasure&#8230;</p><p><a
href="http://www.jossip.com/coutortures-julie-fredrickson-recommends-best-lesbian-sites-20080207/">Julie Fredrickson Knows Where to Find the Best Lesbian Porn</a></p><p><a
href="http://www.jossip.com/gossip/fashion/julie-fredrickson-tells-her-coutorture-bloggers-to-fuck-off-coutorture-bloggers-comply-20060920.php">Julie Fredrickson Tells Coutorture Bloggers to Fuck Off</a></p><p>And some pictures of her looking really shitty in everything she wears.</p><p
style="center;"><img
src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/130/320591219_d477c1b78a.jpg" alt="Sinners and Saynt: Torture Coutorture" width="500" height="375" title="Sinners and Saynt: Torture Coutorture" /></p><p
style="center;">FAIL</p><p
style="center;"><img
src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/78/158791225_09d49d309a_o.jpg" alt="Sinners and Saynt: Torture Coutorture" width="499" height="666" title="Sinners and Saynt: Torture Coutorture" /></p><p
style="center;">FAIL</p><p
style="center;"><img
src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/46/159391280_38268726b9.jpg?v=0" alt="Sinners and Saynt: Torture Coutorture" width="375" height="500" title="Sinners and Saynt: Torture Coutorture" /></p><p
style="center;">FAIL OVER A CLIFF</p><p>Seriously girlie, you&#8217;re in fashion, dress the part.</p><p>Also, here&#8217;s a quote in which she threatens to bash me over the head.</p><p><a
href="http://www.coutorture.com/1653528">&#8220;Sometimes we want to smack Daniel Saynt upside the head&#8230;.&#8221;</a></p><p>Okay the last one was probably said in jest, but I can&#8217;t be too sure these days.</p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://fashionindie.com/sinners-and-saynt-torture-coutorture/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>30</slash:comments> </item> </channel> </rss>
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