I curse the internet for this. I curse it.
You know how you study and work for years and years to know about the things you're interested in? And how some upstart reads one book and is suddenly an expert because he or she has a Blog with Opinions? And then how you are terribly discouraged because you have put in so much effort to know things, but no one believes you know them because you don't have a Blog with Opinions or a degree in the subject?
Maybe that's just me, but there are days I really hate Wikipedi@ and the awful bloated glut of information, often misinformation, out there. There are so many fashion blogs and history blogs and vintage blogs that I feel displaced. I can't swim against the current when everyone assumes (based on faulty research) that 19th century women had their ribs surgically removed, for instance. Or when they buy a couple of vintage dresses and now they know all the mores and motivations behind WWII "make it do" fashions.
Granted, there are some people who really do know what they're talking about, but finding them amongst the flotsam is hard. In this age of instant expertise (I read it on Wiki!), how do the dues-payers cope? I don't know everything even though I've always thought I know quite a bit, but public opinion seems to be against me because I don't have a cutesy blog with kooky pictures of myself wearing vintage dresses with ugly boots. I fear that even if I DO get a masters in the area of clothing/textile history, I'll still not be taken seriously. I'll be dismissed because I won't accept most research at face value.
On the other hand, if I really do this (if it pans out as planned), should I CARE what some 20-year-old wannabe sartorialist says or does? Should I CARE that people will always take for granted what they've been fed out of poorly-written books? Should it bother me at all that some people will never take me seriously because they dress like teenagers?
I probably shouldn't care or be bothered, but more often than not I want to reach through my monitor and throttle people who don't know what they're talking about.
