With Art Of The Trench, Scott Schuman of Satorialist fame has teamed up with Facebook to create a social networking fashion blog bizzarely centered solely around the Burberry trench coat. The site features a colorful grid of photos of street walkers – all non-generic, beautiful and photogenic - sporting the renowned and timeless trench. Many of them have tattoos, some are riding their bikes, and others have scarlet red hair. When you click on one of them, their snapshot becomes enlarged and the Facebook influence becomes clear – you can “like” or “leave a comment” and “share” the image. You can even sort the images by popularity, or weather!

The site has media and fashion junkies (and even the Financial Times!) buzzing. And we’re not surprised – the interface is pretty flawless, and the design itself is attractive. But as timeless as the Burberry trench is (and as good looking as these supposed non-models are), will the new site actually affect sales, as NYT Fashion speculated in its tweet yesterday?

The full New York Times article, which appeared in the Global Business section, reported yesterday:

“Those raincoats, a 95-year-old fashion icon, remain Burberry’s best-selling item, and Ms. Ahrendts — who now runs the company — is hoping to move the quintessentially British brand into the age of the Internet to attract a new generation of shoppers.”

We don’t doubt that Art Of The Trench will be bookmarked and thrown in our fashion blogs folder, among the likes of The Sartorialist and Garance Doré, but will we ever revisit it? However iconic, the revolving of a website – a social networking one no less – around a singular piece of clothing is a risky move. While it has caused a sudden buzz from a wide array of media outlets, Art of the Trench just doesn’t have the repeat user pull that it needs to be a sustainable campaign. Unless of course, this is just one part of a grander plan. Perhaps the site will expand in a LookBook-ish type way. But to maintain the hold on the web attention they’ve managed to attain so quickly, Burberry will have to deviate from only focusing on the trench. Which was sort of the site’s manifesto to begin with. It’s a Catch-22 that’s relevant in a day and age where anyone can start a blog or create a website on a whim.

There’s no doubt that the trench will stick around, but only time will tell if the Art of it will.

Maybe I’m jumping to conclusions, but, who is to say that bloggers are nothing less than journalists in their own right? Ironically enough, the former bro is currently gaining as much attention as the latter bro, having just signed a deal with Style.com. Yes, that’s Tommy Ton signed to Style.com — run by Vogue, heard of it? — where he is currently being touted proudly as “Our Man In Milan.” Oh, and he inherited that position from another blogger bro: Scott Shuman, aka The Sartorialist.

It’s 2009. It’s about time that talents are recognized, regardless of résumé.

It is also important to note that since the invention of the Internet, increasing attention has been paid toward the fashion world; magazines have been folding left and right, yet thousands of new websites are created each day. And, to be sure, social-networking has helped to aid in the dissemination of information. Fashion “bible” WWD has garnered over 1.2 million followers on Twitter and the newest generation of bloggers seem to be more important than ever; 13-year-old Tavi of Style Rookie scampered from runway show to runway show [with the accompaniment of her father] this past season, which raises the question of how age and education are truly weighed when explosive creativity is at play. Achieving popularity has been more about how authors have redistributed knowledge from experience by going out into the world, whether physically or electronically.

To say that e-writers are “the future” is a bit of cliché, but I truly feel there isn’t much difference between myself and already-respected writers; I could do as much research, speak to as many people, and have the potential to work as hard if given the opportunity. (And have all the free time of a 13-year old!) I may not have the same closets, connections, or credentials as some of those who have risen to the top, but, who is to say that I couldn’t in the future?

I, and many others, could. Plus, I have great hair.

Sara is a 24 year old certified archivist with a passion for wall collages, eating soup, thrift shopping, and old books. Past fashion faux pas include sandals with socks, wearing the same sweatshirt for an entire week straight, and owning a fanny pack. Read her daily tomfoolery at www.sarazucker.com.