Hi! I'm Emilia Cafiso. I'm a business and journalism student at the Fashion Institute of Technology, a reporter for HerCampus, and a born-and-raised New Yorker.
I'm incredibly excited to write for 404 Error and cannot wait to read all the great blog posts we produce. Now, on to the writing!
Substack is quickly becoming popular as a social media platform that allows journalists to build their reader bases through frequent newsletters, often supplemented with a paid option. Valued at $650 million, Substack prioritizes "good-faith discourse," where subscribers have a direct line to writers via community chat groups.
I subscribed to my first Substack in late 2022 after reading a New York Times article about the re-death of the email newsletter. I never thought they had died in the first place, so I took a deep dive into the fantastic world of independent media.
Substack writers have complete control over their newsletter content, frequency, and marketing. They don't have to pitch to a boss or give away part of their income. In a way, they're the influencers of journalism.
As of January 2025, I hold free and paid subscriptions to over twenty Substacks. They cover everything from cosmetics to brand marketing to Wall Street. I'm an avid reader of E. Jean Carroll's Ask E. Jean and Ella Emhoff's Soft Crafts. If you were to ask my friends what I'm doing at any given moment, they would probably tell you that I'm reading a Substack.
With over thirty-five million active subscriptions, Substack is changing the face of politics, culture, and our topic today, fashion.
Back Row - Amy Odell
You may recognize Amy Odell as the author of the highly controversial Anna Wintour memoir ANNA: The Biography. Although the admired Condé Nast editor doubted the book's accuracy, she allowed Odell to interview her inner circle.
Unsurprisingly, Odell has decades of industry experience, having worked for Buzzfeed, Cosmopolitan, and the Business of Fashion. Most notably, she launched The Cut, the fashion and women's interest section of New York Magazine.
Odell began Back Row in April 2021 after realizing that legacy media organizations must consider many parties before going to print. Brands, celebrities, and tech conglomerates constantly tug at the strings of Odell's previous employers. So, she took matters into her own hands and began writing for the actual audience: readers.
Named after her 2016 book Tales from the Back Row: An Outsider's View from Inside the Fashion Industry, Back Row has amassed over 57,000 subscribers in less than four years. Although Odell primarily focuses on fashion, she has also delved into the worlds of beauty, celebrity, and, a worthy read, debutante balls.
Back Row was one of the first Substacks I dipped into my wallet for, a decision that took less time than Ripley's Believe It or Not to let Kim Kardashian wear Marilyn Monroe's iconic "Mr. President" dress to the 2022 Met Gala—a travesty.
My favorite of Back Row's installments would have to be The Year' Vogue' Lost the Plot. In fifteen hundred words, Odell perfectly encapsulates A. why Vogue no longer has any real influence on the trend cycle and B. her staying power as an independent journalist.
I wholeheartedly enjoy the moment when the Back Row Substack appears in my inbox twice a week, right next to iCloud storage alerts and emails from professors.
Gumshoe - Harling Ross Anton
Harling Ross Anton wants you to shop less. Literally.
The New York-based brand consultant/writer/stylist sends her luminary writing to your inbox three to five times a month. Anton titles each newsletter in a style all her own: Shopping for Plates With Personality. Shop Like a Collector, Not a Buyer. The Art of Finding (and Wearing) the Perfect Baseball Cap.
My favorite: Have you ever been jealous of a baby's raincoat?
Anton specializes in communicating brand stories to the consumer, meaning she dives into a company's backstory, corporate culture, and the qualities that make them them.
She then uses her superb copywriting skills to deliver said story to its target audience. It's beautifully evident that this attention to detail is what makes Gumshoe so distinctive.
Dubbed for the rubber-soled private detectives of the early 1900s, Gumshoe cultivates outfits for real life. While Instagram is flooded with influencers dressed in impractical costumes, Anton focuses on the typical wardrobe of sweaters, t-shirts, and pants. Gumshoe explores how to style what we already own and invest in pieces that will last a lifetime.
However, what truly sets Gumshoe apart from the competition is its community chat. Towards the end of 2022, Substack launched the Chat tab for all newsletters. Writers and paid subscribers can create Threads (not the semi-failed Meta Twitter) where fellow readers can respond to past posts, photos, or text.
At least once a day, one of Anton's readers will post a Thread typically along the following lines:
Hello! I'm hoping someone has a recommendation for a durable, but stylish large checked roller bag. I've tried Away, Beis, and Calpak and they've all broken or cracked within a couple of trips. What is actually worth the money?
People then respond in droves, praising their favorite pieces. Nowadays, companies purchase bots to create fake reviews; some even prevent customers from reviewing entirely. Anton has fortuitously created a space where fashion aficionados can find good clothing at good prices, all advised by real people.
Five Things You Should Buy - Becky Malinsky
In a world inundated with gift guides and TikTok hauls, Becky Malinsky advocates for sustainable and tasteful closet building. Shop smarter, not harder.
Founded in May 2022, Five Things You Should Buy centers on getting the most bang for your buck. Malinsky “weeds out the extra” and selects the highest-quality clothing, jewelry, and home items for her reader base. You could spend hours and hours scraping the internet for the perfect pair of sandals, or you could subscribe to Five Things.
Over the last two and a half years, the high-profile stylist and forecaster has gained nearly seventy thousand subscribers. Naturally, Malinsky spent decades dressing everyone from the rich and famous to her friends and family.
Recently, she developed a series on Five Things in which she revives an oft-overlooked clothing item, such as the V-neck or the drawstring short. Socks and sandals once were untouchable, but Malinsky brought them new life without a second thought.
Like Anton, Malinsky understands that the outfits of the Instagram elite rarely touch the bodies of the average consumer. What Five Things' readers are most interested in are effortless yet classy "fits"(to use the slang).
It feels impossible to wholly characterize Malinsky, as she churns out outfit after outfit in her weekly Substacks. My favorite post of her extensive collection is her work with a single-breasted Armani jacket. The word timeless is an understatement.
Rest assured, I have an entire folder on my desktop just to save the wonderful stylings of Five Things.
I'm of the opinion that both Substack's user base and paid subscriptions will grow substantially in the coming years. Even so, is there a chance that Substack profits from a U.S. government ban on TikTok? On January 11th, Substack announced a $25,000 prize for the content creator that "inspires" others to post their own video inviting their audience to Substack and building a sustainable future.
Towards what seemed like the final days of the beloved video app (and the reason for my daily eight hours of screen time), hundreds of TikTokers opened new Substack accounts, hoping for a seamless transition. I would be pleasantly surprised if the viral lip-syncers of the deceased platform generate similar numbers, both financial and viewing.
In the words of Chris Best, Substack CEO, “We’re going to rescue the smart people from TikTok!” I say, “Can you rescue the fashionable, too?”
コメント