Aussie fashion blogger Nicole Warne, known by her 1.3 million Instagram followers and 29.4K Twitter followers as @garypeppergirl, caused a bit of a scare for her loyal fanbase recently. Warne went off the grid for nearly two weeks — and people freaked out.
Warne’s last post before her unintentional hiatus garnered over 800 comments, ranging from curious (“Where did she go”), to concerned ("You have been missed!” and “Where have you been? Is everything okay?” and “I hope you have a well deserved break love, and get well soon, we all miss you!”), to a little confrontational (“She is killlllin me.” and “Why aren’t you posting on Instagram anymore?”).
“
where have you been? Is everything okay?
fashionista_traveler
”
Wrote Warne on her “Hi, I’m alive” Instagram post on Monday, "This is easily the first time in my life I've ever taken such a long break from Instagram and I didn't realize it would have so many of my friends, family, and all of you concerned. It was not intentional, so please know there's nothing to worry about.”
The reason for Warne’s brief social media break was a gig as “creative director for a covetable commercial campaign.” “It's consuming all of my focus and energy, so despite the stress/pressure, I'm incredibly excited to have had the work I do behind closed doors lead me to an opportunity like this,” Warne wrote. We think a vacation not spent jockeying for the perfect ‘gram shot would (or should) have also been a perfectly acceptable reason to be disconnected for a bit.
"Having to be constantly present is literally the worst thing about working in social media. I don’t really dare to research into it — ignorance is bliss! — but I’m sure it’s bad for my mental health,” blogger Zanita Whittington says. “Lately, I’ve been posting less and less on Instagram and more on the newer forms, like Snapchat and Facebook Live. I’d absolutely love to have a week or two away.”
Being a blogger has segued from the frivolous vanity project of a wannabe street style star to a viable career path. Case in point: Whittington and Warne were featured, along with The Blonde Salad’s Chiara Ferragni, on the cover of Lucky (RIP) back in February. Putting bloggers on a glossy cover was a big deal — that’s coveted real estate usually reserved for Tinseltown's biggest stars, music heavyweights, and the occasional model. A pop star has albums to make, tours to perform, and press junkets to promote themselves; Hollywood notables have similar to-do lists, swapping in screen time for hours in the studio. Bloggers are expected to create content and interact with followers, to be continually “active” and “available” to a degree that more traditionally famous folks are not. They're also expected to turn quiet, personal, private moments into shareable content.
For some big fashion bloggers, the omnipresence factor exists, but it’s not a problem. “WeWoreWhat is a 24/7 job, so of course there is pressure to always be ‘on’ — loving what I do definitely makes it a whole lot easier,” WeWoreWhat’s Danielle Bernstein says.
Perhaps it’s a sign that we’re entirely too tethered to our technology — and we want our must-follow social media superstars to be equally, if not more, on. Or maybe being constantly reachable, like-able, and re-'gram-able a necessary evil of the (quite plummy) job of being a successful fashion blogger. There are much worse gripes one could have about a gig.
“When life and work gets busy, or you lose momentum and/or inspiration and can't meet [readers’] expectations, it can feel like you're failing...on top of that, hundreds of thousands of people are waiting for your next post — and there’s pressure that whatever you put up next better be amazing. Or at least you need a good reason for the hiatus to prove that you're 'really busy' with 'lots of meetings,' 'collaborations,' and just being a goal-kicking, high-achieving entrepreneur,” says Sara Donaldson of Harper & Harley. “Sometimes, it's just a simple fact that you would rather not be on your phone and instead, live your life in the present.” Amen to that.