Swide Magazine by Dolce&Gabbana

| posted Aug 3, 2009

In Swide's series Meet The Bloggers - Swide interviews leading bloggers to ask them what life is really like in the blogasphere. Next up is superblogger Dan The Scout.

Dan Thawley behind the blog Dan The Scout is one of a new breed of bloggers that are sickeningly good at, well everything, Talented, beautiful, creative and capable of finding the energy to blog and run other projects - Swide investigates what makes him tick.

Dan's blog was founded in Sydney in 2007, run out of London in 2009, and is now written (more of less) in Antwerp, Belgium. With his eye for detail - Dan brings an edited selection of style, design, music and art to the blogasphere.

 LIFE PRE-BLOG

I was singing in my band Die Monde after high school, studying some French and politics at Sydney University, and modelling with Chic Management all in Sydney, Australia.

As such, my first taste of the fashion industry came from in front of the lens, then quickly moved into styling also. I really nurtured my interest in fashion working at ASSIN boutique in Sydney [www.assin.com.au].

Next a move to London in the start of 2009, and now I am based in Antwerp, Belgium.

Image of Dan by Robert Grima for METAL, 2008

HOW DID THE IDEA FOR YOUR BLOG START?

I wanted to showcase the quirky style of my friends and people I saw on the street in Sydney, and then Dan The Scout evolved into more of a curation of all my interests, not just street style but fashion shows, photography, designers’ other projects, art and architecture.

ONLINE IS A WAY OF LIFE - IS IT ALL CONSUMING?

I would have to say that blogging for me is all-consuming, though I haven’t succumbed to the iPhone yet, it is all on my MacBook!

Image of Dan by Bowen Arico, in Sydney 2008

WHO IN YOUR OPINION ROCKS THE BLOGOSPHERE?

For me the blogosphere is really clogged with repeat-offenders – people simply happy to repost information that they found in very close proximity to their own worlds. I look for people who think outside the square, and go ‘the extra mile’:

Stoned With Carl by Carl Ganivet
Dean Mayo Davies Live by Dean Mayo Davies
Monochrome magazine by Jamie Richards
Stil in Berlin by Dario Natale
A Boy in Mid Air by Ravi Vasavan
Cultures in Between by Mike Huynh

Modelling in Sydney 2007. SummerWinter Magazine photographed by Chris Ferguson, styled by David Bonney.

 

HAVE YOU EVER BLOGGED WHEN UNDER THE INFLUENCE AND REGRETTED IT?

No never, blogging for me is not something I do on a whim or force myself into either. It comes from wanting to express, not feeling I have to express something. So if I don’t post on Dan The Scout for a few days, I am not concerned.

Self portrait, Antwerp street, July 2009.

 

STRANGEST PLACE YOU’VE BLOGGED FROM?

That is a tricky one. Maybe sitting in the middle of Pitti Uomo trade fair in the blistering heat in Florence this June, or in the park at Place des Vosges in Paris?

Image of Dan by Robert Grima for METAL, 2008
 

IS THERE A PERSON YOU WISH WOULD START A BLOG?

No. I can’t imagine wishing anyone to, I think it really has to come as such a personal decision, and I quite like when I discover an unexpected blogger – like the quite reclusive UNDERCOVER designer Jun Takahashi, who blogs here: blog.honeyee.com/jtakahashi

But I am sure I wouldn’t say no to a Rick Owens daily blog!

Dan photographed for PIG Magazine, London 2009

BLOGGERS YOU ADMIRE

I think this falls under the previous question ‘bloggers who rock the blogosphere’
I would add to this Bryan Boy [say no more, he is a blog pioneer], Zana from Garbage Dress [the only girl that can pull off the daily outfit posting idea!] and Jean Paul Paula [famous as the boy in heels, but to me he is a boy who would never say a bad word about anyone, a good heart!].

Dan's blog tools – Apple MacBook, iPod, BlackBerry, A MAGAZINE curated by Proenza Schouler [new issue] and A MAGAZINE curated by Haider Ackermann [now online], Dior Homme bag, Moleskine notebook, iOmega external backup hard drive, Comme des Garçons wallet for business cards, Bottle of water…
And his Canon G10 camera [he used it to take the picture above!]

WHAT POST RECEIVED THE BIGGEST NUMBER OF HITS ON YOUR SITE OR THE ONE YOU CONSIDER TO BE THE MOST SUCCESSFUL?

A hard question. I would have to say that interviewing Suzy Menkes for A BLOG curated would have to be one of my biggest achievements, as is my photo of Chloë Sevigny and Jack McCullough from Proenza Schouler clutching a hideous doll at Pitti Immagine in June.
For Dan the Scout, my image of Aussie model Tallulah Morton in Paris was very popular, as was my coverage of London designer Katie Eary’s show at London Fashion Week in March.

Dan in Tuileries, Paris for Mens Fashion Week SS10 photographed by stonedwithcarl, June 2009.

 

 

HOW DO YOU SEE TWITTER IMPACTING ON BLOGGING?

Twitter is furthering the immediate nature of news and blog reporting. It has a tendency to make things a little too easy for some people, as twitpics and 140 character ‘twitters’ are not often followed up with well thought-out reports and personal opinions.
On the positive side, it is another platform to master, another audience to reach, and a test in how much information you can relay in 140 characters! In the end, everything a blogger does is linked - from your blog, to Twitter, to Facebook to email, Skype and Myspace.

Follow Dan The Scout on Twitter at www.twitter.com/danthescout

Blogging in Place des Vosges, Paris June 2009

FOR ANY BUDDING BLOGGERS – WHAT WOULD BE YOUR ADVICE ON MAKING IT WORK?

Hone your aesthetic – nobody wants to read a blog that looks like everyone else’s blog or reads like a news website. It is too easy to become just another blog hanging on the big story of the day or the week. It does not all have to be about the here and the now, the hottest of the hot, it can look into the past, even speculate on the future.
Blogging is about a personal world, but I believe must strike a balance between a focus on ‘yourself’ and the things that you appreciate. It is also too easy for blogging to become an entirely self-indulgent exercise. But in saying that, never be afraid to have an opinion.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A BLOGGER 

For me blogging is a really full time job, I not only run my own site, I run the new, up-and-coming blog for an amazing landmark concept store opening in Antwerp, Belgium in October www.RA13.be/BLOG.

I am also the online journalist for www.ablogcuratedby.com, the blog of A MAGAZINE CURATED BY. Daily I am exploring the archives of the past issues as they are released online, researching their contributors and writing about them.

So a day in the life of Dan The Scout involves a lot of reading - of art, fashion and design magazines, dictionaries, encyclopedia websites and much more.

Alongside reading it also involves finding inspiration in my surroundings, beautiful places, people, buildings, art etc. for me to photograph, or simply to discover.

I am lucky enough to travel to fashion weeks in Paris, London and other cities, so the fashion shows and events I attend offer a world of amazing people with great stories to tell and lots of things to learn. While I travel, I try to stay up to date with art gallery exhibitions in the various cities I visit also, as well as seeing beautiful stores and landmarks that inspire me.

See more from Dan The Scout's blog at www.danthescout.com/blog

With special thanks to Dan The Scout

Kerry Olsen

Source & Photo Credits: Dan The Scout

**See more bloggers in our series here**

www.swide.com/Meet-the-bloggers--BryanBoy

www.swide.comMeet-the-bloggers--Susanna-Lau--Stylebubble

www.swide.com/Meet-the-bloggers--Liberty-London-Girl

www.swide.com/Meet-the-bloggers--Melanie-Crete

www.swide.com/Meet-the-bloggers--Kitsune-Noir

www.swide.com/Meet-the-bloggers--Foxyman

 

 

 

 

 

TAGS: meet the bloggers fashion bloggers dan the scout stylebubble bryan boy liberty london girl online magazine fashion magazine luxury magazine style fashion