Designer duds are now being paraded on runways in downtown Toronto at L’Oreal Fashion Week, which kicked off its first ’08 extravaganza yesterday.

Among the most avid watchers are no fewer than 40 accredited fashion bloggers. They are instantly recording and commenting on each designer’s show, then uploading the results to the Internet and sending them around the world as the final outfits disappear behind a curtain.

If any sector of the blogosphere is achieving desirable-venue status in the eyes of marketers, it’s these online fashionistas. At L’Oreal Fashion Week this time around, their ranks include www.torontostreetfashion.com, www.finalfashion.com, www.iwantigot.geekigirl.com, www.jakandjil.com and www.fashionverbatim.net – whose founder, Adrian Corsin, is the only Canadian blogger to be invited by Chanel to France to attend the recent launch of a new perfume.

Once snubbed by the fashion industry, not to mention advertisers, because of their tiny audiences, passionate fashion bloggers are now changing how people track fashion, and winning fast-growing followings in the fashion establishment.