Fashion is arguably the ultimate form of an individual’s self-expression. What could be more expressive than wearing something that speaks to who you truly are? Just as we use fashion to express ourselves in the real world, a personal blog allows you to express who you are online. These forms of expressions collide into the supernova that is…fashion blogs! Think of the cover image as your headwear/eyewear, the body as your clothes and the footer as your shoes.
If you are an individual who loves fashion, you probably put a lot of thought into what you wear every day. This can be a combination of the type of jacket that needs to match your jeans, color as well as patterns – A blog can be thought of in the same way. This is where we come in to help!
We put together these reviews by considering factors that have been tried and tested and has had a huge impact on the quality of a blog theme. Here’s the list:
- Page load speed
- Ease of use
- Attractiveness of design
- Mobile responsiveness, and;
- Extensiveness of functionality
If you want to know why we think these factors are so important, check out our article on how to choose a WordPress theme. We carefully choose and weigh each factor to give you the best advice. So without further ado, let’s look at the top 20 WordPress fashion blog themes to help you choose the one that’s best for you!
20 Best WordPress Themes for Fashion blogs in 2017 – 2018
- CheerUp WordPress Theme
- The Voux WordPress Theme
- Tempest WordPress Theme
- Applique WordPress Theme
- Olsen WordPress Theme
- MyBlog WordPress Theme
- Sleek WordPress Theme
- Heart & Style WordPress Theme
- Extra WordPress Theme
- inFashion WordPress Theme
- Armonioso WordPress Theme
- Magazine Pro WordPress Theme
- Elegant WordPress Theme
- Divi WordPress Theme
- Infinite WordPress Theme
- Fashion Chic WordPress Theme
- Grateful WordPress Theme
- Fashion Blog WordPress Theme
- Vogue WordPress Theme
- Epilog WordPress Theme
Review: Top 3 WordPress themes for a fashion blog
Based on analyzing the page load speed, ease-of-use, attractiveness of design, mobile responsiveness, and extensiveness of functionality, we have ranked the top 20 WordPress fashion blog themes.
Here are the Top 3:
CheerUp WordPress Theme (9/10)
CheerUp theme at a glance:
- Wide range of layouts
- Thorough use of animations and hover states
- Flawless mobile experience
It’s easy to see why CheerUp is at the top of our list. It has a wide range of layouts that cover almost any type of page you would want in a fashion blog. This theme features great navigation, the design is tasteful, with well-chosen typefaces and use of white space, and makes great use of CSS with engaging hover states on images, and other elements.
CheerUp page load (7/10)
It might seem like a pretty average score, but it is impressive considering the amount of media, widgets, and content on a single page. CheerUp scores perfectly in most factors, but could improve in combining external JavaScript and CSS. In general, script requests are kept to a minimum. The theme scored a respectable 77 (mobile) and 63 (desktop) for page speed.
CheerUp ease of use (9/10)
CheerUp’s page load score is impressive, considering the amount of media, widgets, and features included in this theme. CheerUp scored perfectly in most categories of the Google page speed test, but could improve by combining external JavaScript and CSS. In general, script requests are kept to a minimum, and the theme scored a respectable 77 on mobile, and 63 on desktop.
CheerUp design (9/10)
The design of this theme is elegant, yet simplistic. It has enough interesting quirks to keep the viewer’s attention. Text in the form of titles and links are used pleasingly on top of images to compel someone to click. If some of the layout is not to your taste, don’t worry, there’s more than enough to choose from! Lastly, there is a good combination of stylistic typography for titles and sans-serif fonts for the main text. The only negative however, is that the default size is too small.
CheerUp mobile responsiveness (9/10)
It is rare to see such a perfect transition to mobile. All the images have the same hover states, triggered when you touch the image while swiping and when they are in the middle of the screen. Whitespace is not overused and the padding between elements is perfect. The only downside is that the menu elements are a bit small and is not the easiest to use.
CheerUp functionality (10/10)
First of all, the shop is integrated well into the theme with all the functionality you will expect of an online store. To top it of, CheerUp has just about any widget you can think of. It also has MailChimp integration so that you can easily reach out to your subscribers. We have already touched on the mega menu and the image galleries. This theme has one of the largest range when it comes to different layout options.
The Voux WordPress Theme (9/10)
The Voux theme at a glance:
- Stylistic typography
- Exceptional mega menu
- A lot of features
The Voux also made it into the top 3 of our Best Blog WordPress themes list, and we are not surprised to see it again. It’s a theme brimming with features, layouts, elegant animations, good use of color and stylish typography. Also, it looks even better on mobile! The Voux is an all rounder that will satisfy all your demands.
The Voux page load (7/10)
Just like CheerUp, 7 is a pretty good score for this theme, considering the amount of content and media on each page. When you break it down, they did a very good job concerning browser caching, avoiding bad requests, reducing request size, etc. But with images taking up a whopping 70% of requests and over 83% of data size, there isn’t much you can do to remedy the 49 page speed score from Google PageSpeed.
The Voux ease of use (8/10)
The Voux also features a mega menu to rival CheerUp. You would think a mega menu with multiple levels and images would be hard to use, think again! Other than the expansive menu, the rest of the navigation is still pretty standard. The Voux also features an image slider with arrows and drag ability. However, the drag doesn’t work as well and sometimes the slider jumps around. It loses another point for the infinite scrolling feature in articles, which can be slightly confusing. But then again, you don’t have to use it.
The Voux design (9/10)
This theme incorporates color to the best of its ability. Helpful summary boxes with bright colors slide up over images that link to articles. Links have equally bright colors for hover states to ensure the user is aware that it is a link. Stylish fonts are also used, however, the text could be a little larger (even though the text is still larger than others on this list). A common problem with themes that are ‘feature-rich’ is that they can often feel a little cluttered, which is about the only criticism we have about The Voux.
The Voux mobile responsiveness (10/10)
This theme is perfect for mobile responsiveness. On mobile, the theme solves the only real complaint we had of the desktop design, which was that it felt a little too cluttered. White space and padding is used effectively to give the content some breathing room. Everything else still works as expected and, to no surprise, it passed the Google Mobile-Friendly test. Let’s not forget that the mobile page speed scored 13 points higher than desktop!
The Voux functionality (9/10)
The Voux is certainly geared to fashion lovers. The layout works perfectly for this niche. What we also love about the store is that you can immediately browse items straight from the mega menu, before even navigating to the store. This helps present recommended or featured products straight to the viewers. The social media widgets are also positioned nicely where a user will most likely click on it and still not interfere with the overall design.
Tempest WordPress Theme (8/10)
Tempest theme at a glance:
- Functional gallery
- Visually interesting and engaging
- Sales driven
Tempest is one of the most visually appealing sites on this list. Image hover states are used to its maximum potential to provide the user with handy social media shortcuts. There are plenty of opportunities to intersperse shop items through your content pages and drive sales. Various well thought out layouts and the best gallery on this list rounds it off.
Tempest page load (6/10)
Tempest has the slowest page speed out of the top 3 list. A huge contributor is the number and size of images used on the demo site. Images make up 60% of requests and 82% of data! So, it’s important to keep this in mind when you add your own, otherwise you will end up with a low score of 50 for mobile and 34 for desktop. Besides Minimize Redirects, every other factor receives an A rating, which is great as it shows that the developers have done their job.
Tempest ease of use (9/10)
Unfortunately, Tempest doesn’t feature an amazing mega menu like the previous two themes, however, the menu overlaid on a cover image is classy and has elegant animations. Images linking to content also have a hover state that allows you to share the post immediately. This theme does have the best image gallery out of the top 3. It also doesn’t feel bogged down in all its features and widgets.
Tempest design (9/10)
A big part of the reason why Tempest deserves a 9/10 for design is because of its originality. The use of blurbs that slightly overlap article images is such a nice touch. This is another theme that makes great use of image hover states to convey extra information or add functionality. The use of pitch black text on white also allows for easy reading with the only negative feedback being that the text is a little too small.
Tempest mobile responsiveness (8/10)
There isn’t much to complain about its mobile responsiveness capabilities – All the images retain their hover states, so you can still share from the home page. The cart is still displayed, but moved right underneath the search bar to make it better for mobile viewing – The shop also functions very similarly. The only negative feedback is that the menu button and the menu itself could be placed and designed a little better.
Tempest functionality (10/10)
A lot of these points are earned by the theme’s excellent shopping feature. The cart is always displayed in the top right-hand corner, so the user can always keep track of it while browsing content on the main site. There are also widgets with featured products so users can be enticed to buy while reading articles. On the landing page there is also a subscription box on the bottom left-hand corner that thankfully doesn’t grey out the page. Although it doesn’t have a huge range of layouts, each one feels well thought out and serves a purpose.
Additional fashion blog WordPress theme reviews
Below are the WordPress fashion blog themes that made the top 20, but missed out on the top 3 spots.
Applique WordPress Theme (9/10)
Applique just missed out on a podium finish. However, it’s definitely worth checking out as it has a wide range of site designs and layouts with multiple color schemes to suit almost anyone. Scoring well across all categories this theme a large number of features, is well designed, and easy to use. This theme passed Google’s mobile friendly test and provides a solid user experience on all devices.
Our only feedback is that it would be nice if gallery posts had zoomable images, also, the shade of skin color on the makeup site is a little too light and the ‘Continue reading’ link tends to disappear. The text size may also be a little too small, however these critics can all be amended via the theme customizer.
Summary statistics
- Speed: 7
- Ease of use: 8
- Design: 8
- Mobile experience: 9
- Functionality: 9
Olsen WordPress Theme (8/10)
Olsen is an incredible theme and made it to the top 3 list of our best WordPress blog themes article. What keeps it out of a top 3 spot in this occasion (other than a need for variety), is its slower page load speed score. It has a good range of features, including e-commerce and is compatible with the Divi Builder plugin for easy built custom page and post layouts.
It is one of our favourite blog themes and makes good use of image sliders and hover states. It comes with a number of layout options, and demo content to get you up and running quickly. We have created a full tutorial with this theme which is featured in our How to Set Up a WordPress Blog article.
Summary statistics
- Speed: 6
- Ease of use: 8
- Design: 10
- Mobile experience: 9
- Functionality: 8
MyBlog WordPress Theme (8/10)
What we liked about this theme is that it focused heavily on ‘Lifestyle’ design. This is arguably the best feature of this theme, and the most conducive layout option for a fashion blog. What we love most about this theme is that it has great page load speed, is easy-to-use, and provides a solid user experience across all devices.
It’s a well designed theme, however we realize that not everyone will find the design overly inspiring. eCommerce supported, with functional and easy to use navigation, this theme features most of the things you’ll need to create a successful blog, however, the lack of Fashion specific layouts may present a challenge.
Summary statistics
- Speed: 9
- Ease of use: 8
- Design: 8
- Mobile experience: 8
- Functionality: 7
Sleek WordPress Theme (8/10)
Often times, horizontal displays don’t look great on desktop. Sleek however is an exception as it comes across, well, sleek! It definitely still looks better on a tablet, however, it still looks great on desktop. There’s only a few layout options available but what’s included is unique and can provide an alternative layout style to the typical fashion blog.
With unique post type format styles, both fullscreen and minimal layouts, and tasteful use of design elements, this theme is sure to be great fit for a number of fashion bloggers. The only negative about this theme however, is that it doesn’t support e-commerce.
Summary statistics
- Speed: 7
- Ease of use: 9
- Design: 9
- Mobile experience: 8
- Functionality: 7
This is another theme that capitalizes on its simplicity by presenting an easy-to-use navigation and fast page loading speed. We’re huge fans of this theme’s design – specifically it’s nice use of typefaces (especially on top of the images), use of whitespace, and post styling.
It features three specific base designs to choose from, that can be customized to suit your specific style and branding. It does lack some of the features you would want in a fashion theme, namely eCommerce support, however, it does have a number of the widgets you would want. The theme is mobile responsive, however, the way it handles menus could be improved.
Summary statistics
- Speed: 8
- Ease of use: 8
- Design: 9
- Mobile experience: 9
- Functionality: 5
Extra WordPress Theme (8/10)
This theme really takes its name to heart! Extra is just bursting with features, layouts, modules, and widgets. Even though not all of them are fashion-specific, there’s more than enough to adapt to any occasion. What’s impressive about this theme is that it’s relatively easy to use.
The featured posts slider works well, as do the image hover states on both desktop and mobile. Extra also features an easy to use mega menu, that includes some nice hover state animations. The only downside is that is that is more tailored to a fashion magazine type blog, rather than a straight up fashion blog.
Summary statistics
- Speed: 5
- Ease of use: 8
- Design: 8
- Mobile experience: 8
- Functionality: 10
inFashion WordPress Theme (7/10)
InFashion is designed specifically for a fashion blog, and does a reasonably good job with it’s clean and minimalistic design. The post image slider is a nice feature that is quite unique. It’s easy to use, the navigation is straightforward, and the theme transfers reasonably well to mobile.
Our only concern is that it’s not overly engaging, and the simplicity of the design may be interpreted as a little dull, particularly in regards to its animations and sliders. Although, with most of what you’ll need in a fashion blog theme, this could be a unique option.
Summary statistics
- Speed: 6
- Ease of use: 8
- Design: 8
- Mobile experience: 9
- Functionality: 6
Armonioso WordPress Theme (7/10)
The only thing that brings this theme down in terms of points is its lower page speed – Everything else about this theme however is great! The design is a little different but it’s very attractive. The image sliders have three different navigations: drag, arrows, or selection. Most images have hover states and animations and it also has a wide range of features, including a nicely styled shop.
With so much going on, it can feel a little overwhelming at times, however with a great range of layout styles, custom widgets, and one-click demo content, this theme might just be the right theme for you. The mobile experience is great, making this theme an all round winner.
Summary statistics
- Speed: 5
- Ease of use: 8
- Design: 8
- Mobile experience: 8
- Functionality: 8
Magazine Pro WordPress Theme (7/10)
Let’s start with the positives. The shop is very useful and has almost everything you could want. Similarly, the mega menu, although standard, is easy-to-use and uses animation well. This theme responds well on all devices, providing a consistent user experience.
Our only concern is that it’s a fairly basic design, and may require some imagination and creativity to get the look you want. It does also score a little lower on the Google page speed test than some of its competitors. That being said, it’s a classic minimal design that will allow your content to shine through.
Summary statistics
- Speed: 6
- Ease of use: 9
- Design: 7
- Mobile experience: 7
- Functionality: 7
Elegant WordPress Theme (7/10)
This theme scored really well in our page speed tests, in fact it was one of the fastest on this list. However, in the game of trade-offs, it lost some points for design and ease of use, in large part due to it’s ‘unique’ navigation, and choice of layouts.
This theme can feel a little awkward at times.That being said, it has a well integrated shop and a very handy “Magazine” layout that is more suited to a fashion blog than the default. The same is true for the shop landing page. Elegant responds well on mobile, and also gets rid of some of those awkward elements of its design, and provides a solid user experience with intuitive navigation.
Summary statistics
- Speed: 9
- Ease of use: 7
- Design: 5
- Mobile experience: 7
- Functionality: 8
Divi WordPress Theme (7/10)
Divi is a powerful multipurpose theme and could be a great option for your Fashion blog. Particularly, when leveraging one of the many child themes available that are tailored to this theme, like the one used on The Daily Ply blog. We also currently use Divi on the OHKLYN blog.
The out of the box layouts aren’t ideal for a fashion blog, however, one of the best things about Divi is it’s intuitive page builder, enabling you to easily style the pages on your blog. Divi is one of the most popular themes around, and has a huge community of followers and contributors, meaning you get access to support, forums, layouts and designs, and free tutorials.
Summary statistics
- Speed: 6
- Ease of use: 8
- Design: 5
- Mobile experience: 9
- Functionality: 7
Infinite WordPress Theme (7/10)
If you want to start an online fashion blog and plan on selling your merchandise, or an affiliates merchandise, then Infinite could be the blog for you. It’s a solid theme that ships with most of the features you’ll need: A good megamenu, store integration, plenty of widgets, multimedia capable, and an easy demo content importer.
This theme features a fairly minimal design, and unfortunately doesn’t come with as many layout options as some of its competitors. However, what it does come with is is done well. This theme scored well across all categories and provides a consistent user experience on all devices.
Summary statistics
- Speed: 8
- Ease of use: 7
- Design: 6
- Mobile experience: 7
- Functionality: 8
Fashon Chic WordPress Theme (7/10)
Fashion chic is another fashion-lifestyle theme. Its design is more feminine with great use of soft pinks and classy fonts, whitespace, and social sharing integration on posts. This theme scored reasonably well in our Google page speed tests, which is largely the result of its use of minimalist design principles.
Unfortunately, this theme lacks the design and layout options required to earn a higher score, however, the mobile experience is solid and passes the Google mobile friendly test, making this theme worth considering.
Summary statistics
- Speed: 6
- Ease of use: 9
- Design: 7
- Mobile experience: 7
- Functionality: 5
Grateful WordPress Theme (7/10)
This theme features a unique horizontal design, that is minimalistic and features an infinite scrolling that works surprisingly well. The design comprises stylish serif fonts and simple layouts, with subtle hover states, styling that is incredibly well suited to its genre.
Grateful doesn’t support eCommerce, and doesn’t have a lot of extra functionalities to offer, however, its design works great on mobile, and passes Google’s mobile friendly test, with simple and intuitive navigation.
Summary statistics
- Speed: 6
- Ease of use: 7
- Design: 8
- Mobile experience: 8
- Functionality: 5
Fashion Blog WordPress Theme (7/10)
This theme is another theme that we thought could’ve scored higher on this list. Although the theme has a nice modern chic feel that just screams ‘fashion magazine’, it’s slower page load speed lets it down, along with its limited functionality.
It’s playful design will suit a visually driven fashion blog. It makes good use of image sliders, hover states, and combines modern sans-serif fonts with ample whitespace to create a clean and minimalistic look. The theme has a number of header styles to choose from, responds well on mobile and allow you to add a store through Ecwid.
Summary statistics
- Speed: 6
- Ease of use: 9
- Design: 7
- Mobile experience: 5
- Functionality: 6
Vogue WordPress Theme (7/10)
Vogue is a modern fashion blog theme that combines both serif and san-serif typefaces to create an engaging user experience. Designed with the publisher in mind, this theme features unique comment blocks and great positioning of elements, with a clean and modern feel.
Our only concern is that it’s quite limited in terms of layout options, features and widgets. For example, there’s no eCommerce support, and the page load speed could also be improved. Other than that though, it’s a well built theme and fits in well in the fashion blog niche.
Summary statistics
- Speed: 6
- Ease of use: 7
- Design: 8
- Mobile experience: 7
- Functionality: 5
Epilog WordPress Theme (7/10)
Epilog is a modern and engaging blogging WordPress theme that features a great post image slider, with clean design, and a reasonable number of layout options – perfect for your fashion blog. The design incorporates a nice combination of serif and san-serif fonts that are paired well for greater legibility. It also uses hover states well, and includes social media widgets to help share your content easily.
This theme scored reasonably well on the page load speed test, however the lack of eCommerce support may be a concern for some. The theme’s navigation is simple and intuitive, and the theme looks great on all devices, making Epilog a real contender.
Summary statistics
- Speed: 7
- Ease of use: 8
- Design: 7
- Mobile experience: 7
- Functionality: 5
How to start a blog – step by step guide
Want to start a blog? Then check out our guide on how to start a blog, where we go through how to set up a WordPress blog. We use bluehost as our hosting provider, and as part of the OHKLYN community you get access to discount hosting.
