Warning: The following Letter From The Editor contains details that may prove disruptive to certain audience members. Reader caution is advised.  

  When asked by Racked to sum up the year 2012 in fashion in a single word, Cynthia Rowley replied, “Disruption.” The outspoken designer shared several other bons mots in the interview, published last week, but her one-word summation hit my brain like a ton of bricks. The term ‘disrupt’ means to break apart, to throw into disorder, or to interrupt the normal course or unity of. Merriam-Webster illustrates with examples including a barking dog (sleep disruption) and inclement weather (travel disruption). To me, however, the word has personal resonance. You see, it made frequent appearances in my early childhood, the single blemish on report cards throughout my school years. Grades? Excellent. Attendance? Satisfactory. Behavior? Disruptive. My wrist was slapped again and again for talking out of turn, disobeying rules, or galvanizing my classmates to one inappropriate end or another. To wit, I once organized a rogue tabloid, chronicling the imagined sex lives of our teachers. Oops. So, disruption and I have a long history together. Fast forward a few years to DFW Style Daily. This publication is known as a disruptive business model. In basic terms, disruptive models introduce new markets or ideas, which ultimately have the power to change or overtake existing business models in their sector.  

DFW Style Daily Spring 2012 Editorial Featuring Eric Renteria's Etiquette Vintage Designs

   

I feel that we, in some small way, or not-so-small, are taking part in the disruption of the fashion world at which Rowley hinted. Our focus, of course, is fashion media.

To understand the sea change occurring in our category, let’s briefly examine the great challenges facing print magazines. According to Media Daily News, magazine ad pages are plummeting, to the tune of a 38.4% decline in the past six years. A key source of revenue for our favorite glossy periodicals, these ads fell 8.6% in 2012 alone. Circulation is also down in the dumps, with declines of 5.7% at Cosmopolitan, 6.8% at Glamour, and a staggering 20.5% at Elle. A growing preference among readers for online media is largely blamed for these falling figures. To sum up 2012 for magazines, Media Daily News selected a single word of its own: crappy. As a journalist, I have specialized in new media, or online media, for the majority of my career. I founded DFW Style Daily on my belief that an immediate daily connection with the audience was imperative to track the emerging world of Dallas fashion. It’s all of us together that create a disruptive influence.  

On Camera Reporter Priya Rathod, with Christian Siriano

  Since the launch of DFW Style Daily in the Spring of 2011, we’ve featured countless international designers, celebrities, and industry experts. Even more notable, however, we’ve highlighted many North Texas talents unknown to our local print counterparts. Via original interviews and editorials, we have championed their creative drive and unique perspectives. Eric Renteria, for example, went on to be featured in Playboy, among other publications, following his first media exposure from DFW Style Daily. Shona Gilbert, a fascinating and prolific jewelry designer, was also a DFW Style Daily first. She recently completed a national Neiman Marcus trunk show tour, launched e-commerce on her website, and her career is rising fast. They are but two shining examples, among many.  

Diamond Mahone, DFW Style Daily Best Dressed 2012 Honoree

  Likewise, our Best Dressed 2012 list showcased ten true Dallas trendsetters, beyond the staid society photos of the monthly glossies. Other local magazines subsequently featured many of our picks, with one such pub “discovering” a certain DFW Style Daily Best Dressed honoree months after the fact. We love that. In Letters From The Editor, I tackled tough topics such as deceptive fundraising practices, head-scratching fashion week initiatives, and blogging for swag. And each day, original articles, videos, photography, and more, from our team of expert contributors, chronicled this fast-changing scene’s every move.   In summation: By presenting coverage beyond the conventional, we disrupt. With the discovery of new and notable talent, we disrupt. In producing professional daily content for the audience via multiple voices and platforms, we disrupt. And by challenging the market to acknowledge the diversity and sophistication of the Dallas fashion scene, we disrupt.   Such disruption, however, is hard to contain. In my passion to keep this publication afloat, disruption has spilled into my personal life. I’ve made a few enemies. I’ve sold off pieces of my wardrobe to make payroll. I have become an insomniac, and I now suffer frequent bouts of stress-induced IBS. Too much information? Through it all, though, I still believe that success only comes with sacrifice. Sacrifice, and disruption. And so, with the start of this New Year 2013, my resolution also has also but a single word. Will you join me in the disruption? It’ll be fun, and I promise not to land anyone in detention this time around.  

Almost all of us together, at our First Anniversary event in July

  For starters, find us on Facebook or Twitter. Sign up for our daily emails, and come to our frequent events. We choose our partners carefully, and recent soirées at Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, and Mockingbird Station have been fashion bashes to remember. Lastly, spread the word. Send an article link to a friend if you like what it has to say about Dallas fashion. In turn, we’ll be shaking things up a bit here on the site as well. You’ll note changes over the next few weeks that’ll keep us fresh and engaging. Where are we headed? I honestly don’t know. Disruption, by nature, can be unpredictable. What I can say, for sure, is that we have built a community here at DFW Style Daily that cares about our local designers and local passions. That’s worth it to me. As always, my best to you. If you have any disruptive comments or questions of your own, hit me up at the address below. I’d love to hear from you.   Lisa Petty Editor, DFW Style Daily lisa(at)dfwstyledaily.com     Headshot images by Sylvia Elzafon. With special thanks to makeup artist Waylon Tate and stylist Heather Lettieri. All additional inset images, credit DFW Style Daily.