Originally posted on eurorscgpr.com/blog.

In the world of high-end editorial fashion, print magazines are revered and respected for their wit, honesty and credibility—and probably the most highly so is Vogue, with Anna Wintour at the helm. But despite the editor’s and the magazine’s reputation, it couldn’t avoid editorial layoffs late last year. Vogue was just one among several Condé Nast publications that lost staff members (the company also folded Cookie and the stalwart Gourmet in 2009).

Still, the fashion industry is largely sticking by print. Forbes.com reported that luxury designers are slowly embracing social media, but they aren’t jumping into it at full throttle.

“Magazines have the glossy photos that grab the attention of readers and show off a designer’s collection,” said Mengly Taing, former style and design editor at Time and contributing lifestyle and fashion editor at Glamour, when I spoke with her. “That appeals to designers, versus seeing a small photo on a blog.” But according to Nielsen research, fashion and retail bloggers appear to have more influence on consumer spending, something fashion houses should consider carefully if they want to survive the current economy.

Another reason the industry has been slow to warm to social media might be that designers and fashion houses don’t consider bloggers as credible and experienced as their print counterparts. Recently, I was able to see how knowledgeable these bloggers really are. On Dec. 2, the Fashion 2.0 Fashion Trivia Event: Print vs. Bloggers, hosted by Yuli Ziv of MyItThings.com and the Style Coalition, was teeming with fashion bloggers, associates of online fashion companies and other PR professionals. The host of the trivia portion of the event jokingly asked if the audience could feel the tension between the bloggers and print representatives.

Team Blogger included Carolyn Hsu (The Daily Obsession), Kristin Booker (Fashion.Style.Beauty.) and Kimmie Smith (Kitten Lounge), while Team Print comprised two editors from two Condé Nast publications (which we aren’t allowed to name because they didn’t have clearance from Condé Nast’s PR department to participate in a public forum) and Anne Fritz, the former fashion editor of Life & Style. The trivia was set up like “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” and each team had three lifelines (Twitter Feed, Ask the Audience and Phone a Friend). The questions consisted of fashion history, influential figures and pioneers of different fashion eras, and the audience was able to help by Twitter when allowed. Both teams demonstrated impressive fashion knowledge, but Team Blogger won by a narrow margin.

Fashion houses definitely shouldn’t put all their eggs in the print basket. Not these days.