How Much Fashion Bloggers Charge On Instagram

From sponsored posts to fashion week invites and free designer goods, there is clearly a business in being young, pretty, stylish, and influential. The key word here is "influential." Danielle Bernstein of We Wore What, who has over 996,000 followers on Instagram, recently talked to Harper's Bazaar about how much fashion bloggers get paid per post, specifically what she pulls. According to her interview, We Wore What made six figures last year off her Instagram posts. Insane, right?

Bernstein, who currently works with Next Models to manage her sponsorship deals, revealed that her rate per post is anywhere between $5,000 and $15,000, depending on the brand and the terms of the deal. As soon as Bernstein hits the 1 million mark on Instagram, which she predicts will be in the next few days, she will be able to charge significantly more. Instagrammers with several million followers can charge anywhere between $20,000 and $100,000 per sponsored post. It's estimated that brands spend over $1 billion a year on sponsored Instagram content alone.

Fashion bloggers don't simply work with fashion brands to produce sponsored content—any brand that fits the influencer's audience is fair game. In the past, Bernstein has worked with Lancome, where she shared photos of its new Miracle Cushion foundation in her makeup bag, and Virgin Hotels, where she attended the Chicago opening and shared pictures from the event. She has even received payment from Project Runway in exchange for sharing a picture of herself on the couch, saying she's watching the show. She doesn't even have to watch the show.

This is a pretty sweet deal for Bernstein and other bloggers who have managed to get a surreal amount of followers as a result of their personal style and ability to take perfectly staged photos. However, I don't think these brands and influencers are following the proper FTC guidelines, which state that any time a blogger is receiving compensation for a post, whether that's free product or money, it must be disclosed, and it must be disclosed overtly. Typically, this means including #spon or #ad in the copy of a post.

Looking through Bernstein's Instagram, it doesn't look like she—or other bloggers—consistently follows the rules. And brands don't seem to care. Obviously it looks better for a brand if the influencer omits the part about being paid, making it look like they love the brand so much that they're willing to post about it without getting a paycheck. Oh well — the influencers and the brands they partner with clearly have the money to pay a tiny FTC fine.

Images: @weworewhat/Instagram (2)