Blog Review-Shine By Three

By Daisy Waltermaurer

http://shinebythree.com/

Although it’s not one of the main categories people think of when they hear “art,” fashion is art, not only as the styling of clothing, but also how these styles are represented through photography. Margaret Zhang, creator of Shine By Three,  is a stylist and photographer who beautifully incorporates both these aspects of fashion into her blog. Margaret Zhang has worked with many well-known magazines including Harper’s Bazaar, Nylon, and Elle as a model, photographer, stylist, and consultant. She has been posting about her photography, style, travels, and various other categories since early 2012. Although her posts were more frequent in earlier years, she still continues to post a few times a month. Despite not having daily or weekly posts, the amount of posts on the site are no where few in numbers, and they have such a large variety of topics that the site continues to stay interesting.

As the site first opens up, there are beautiful photos of Zhang herself and other models. These photos are eye-capturing and make the reader interested in what Zhang writes about these pictures. Another positive aspect of the blog is that there are no advertisements distracting from the photos that are the main focus. Margaret Zhang is well known in the fashion industry so her site gets a fair amount of traffic. The amount of comments on her posts range from about 10-80, with a couple posts having over 100. Most of these comments are praise for her photography or how her writing speaks to whoever wrote the comment.

Before even clicking on a post, the reader is instantly captured by not only the featured photo, but by the title and description, which are usually vague, but witty enough to make the reader want to read the full story. All of Zhang’s posts contain one or more of her amazing photographs featuring either her, or another model. Her photos brilliantly work with the clothes as well as the background to create a picture the viewer won’t want to take their eyes off of. Not only are her photographs amazing, her writing is just as interesting as well. The actual written content of the posts range from tips and how-tos to funny stories about her travels abroad. As put together and glamorous her life seems through her pictures, her writing shows the real side of her. Zhang writes about her experience working in the fashion industry and constantly traveling in a way that makes her relatable to readers everywhere. For anyone who has questioned if fashion really is art, this blog definitely answers that it is.