Australian fashion blogger Lauren Bullen recently had to deal with every other blogger’s real-life nightmare: another blogger copying each and every photo she had, around 20 of them: from the pose, location, styling, and even the captions.
It’s downright creepy to say the least as Lauren writes, “I don’t promote and tag everything I wear, so that would have taken a lot of time and work, even down to the anklets and necklace. Not to mention the cost of all this—those outfits and accommodations don’t come at a cheap price.”
When Lauren reached out to the blogger, she was rebuffed by the copycat. The Dame Traveller told Lauren that she should go after someone who has more followers. As of writing, The Dame Traveller has taken down all her posts on her Instagram (brows raised) and issued not much of an apology to Lauren. She even told Lauren that if she doesn’t want to be copied, she should just keep her account private.
The experience has left Lauren reflecting about originality and art. “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” is even how Lauren entitled the blog post about the whole experience. But this is beyond imitation, it’s an extreme way of how we aspire to be the people we see on our phone screen. It’s definitely not healthy.
What happened to Lauren is yet another caveat as to how we view the lives of these picture-perfect personalities. Sure, it is something to aspire to but it’s not the only way to live our lives. So much more goes beyond the four corners of a photo, life is always more than a 10-second Snap.
There was some grain of truth to when Essena O’Neil said “social media isn’t real.” Social media is a lens we use to perceive what is around us, it’s through this we filter out things we only want to see. What makes it relatable or, in fact, real is how every person has their own perception of the world. My trip to Europe is going to be different to yours, one dress that looks good on you may look like a sack of potatoes on me.
What’s then important is that you focus on what really catches your attention. If you’re doing it all for the likes it’s easy: The Dame Traveller proved that beautiful photographs in scenic destinations can get a lot of likes, regardless if they are original executions or not. But her imitation, especially now it’s been found out, proves that people are hungry for more than just what’s like-worthy. Despite blogging being a business, and being an influencer a 21st century career, there is still something to be said about originality, the uniqueness of each individual, and how not everything is all about maintaining an Instagram account that’s all about #feedgoals.
Photos courtesy of Lauren Bullen
Featured image courtesy of Lauren Bullen’s Instagram
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