In such a prolific age when designers and brands are simply to numerous to cover, consumers rely on editors and bloggers alike to distinguish what's good and welcome suggestions about what's trendy. But how much can we really trust these sources when there's so much going on in the background?
When you work in fashion media or blogging and have a reasonable amount of followers who could potentially buy what you suggest, you get offered many gifts from publicists, either at events or directly in your office or even at home. The competition to be published is so fierce that there's more and more creativity involved to get your attention, with increasingly personalised gifts.
Company ethics policies differ, for instance at Bloomberg, staff is not allowed to accept anything, and all that is sent to the office is scrutinised. Others allow not only staff to accept freebies but can even turn a blind eye when they make a profit out of it on eBay. Others offer things to their friends or to charity.
All those double page advertising spreads actually support most of the costs of running a magazine, so the untold rule is to favour brands that are crucial to the sustainability of the publication. Newspapers such as the Guardian are actually inviting readers to contribute financially so that they can maintain editorial freedom.
Of course, bloggers who achieve a certain status only write about what they really like and for places with stricter ethics policies you can still trust they're being genuinely honest. It would be good for all fashion media to have a section on their website indicating clearly what their policy is. In the meantime, we suggest you always look at suggestions with a pinch of salt.