There, Saynt chatted and took photos with creative director Frida Giannini, and the company also had a bloggers-only tour of the store hosted by chief executive Mark Lee. “Can’t hate on Gucci anymore,” Saynt wrote on his blog. “Good job Gucci on keeping tabs on us rogue publishers. It’s the wild, wild West on the Web and it seems you’ve figured out ways to keep us outlaws happy.”

Inevitably, the more access independent online fashion media gets, the more liable it is to fall under the pressures of traditional fashion media: advertisers counting editorial credits, and write-ups glossing over certain things for the sake of relationships. Bloggers are still wrestling with the question.

“I’ll be brutally honest and say that when Gucci first approached me about participating in this trip and attending the event…I had to question whether me posting about Gucci, a brand that I have never shown great love for, would be blog-ethical,” wrote Susie Bubble of Style Bubble in London. “The way I did approach it is to perhaps try and see if I would personally have a change of opinion, whilst taking in a trip on behalf of the blog.”

But like print magazines, many bloggers believe they’ll be able to maintain their editorial integrity. Craig noted that even when her site is tough on bags from Louis Vuitton or those on offer at eLuxury — a site with which it partners — the posts are still referring readers and buyers to those sites. “They all realize that being talked about is good, even when it’s not so positive,” she said.