5 easy steps to start a fashion blog

December 1, 2011 by 1 Comment

A quick Google search shows that there are over 60 million fashion blogs.  So why start another one?  The simple answer: because you like fashion. If it’s something you like, why not share it with other people?  It will be easy for you to write about since you are passionate about it – whether it’s providing style advice, posting pictures of your personal style, or sharing photos from runway shows – it’s worth getting it out there on a blog if you enjoy it!  But how do you get started?  Here it is in 5 easy steps:

1) Figure out what you want to write about and how it will be different. The easiest way to be different is by getting specific, like not just writing a wedding fashion blog, but focusing it on a certain type of weddings, like the Hipster Bride.

2) Choose what blog platform works best for your needs. The main platforms to choose from are Tumblr and WordPress.  Tumblr has become very popular for fashion blogs lately because the platform itself is very user-friendly and it’s great a displaying photos, tagging your posts, and following others.  Wordpress is the more traditional platform (and what I use).  It is easy to use once you get into it and works well if you will be writing blog posts versus just posting pictures all the time.

3) Start posting! It will take a bit for you to get noticed, so be patient.  The best thing to do is to write 2-3 posts a week for at least 3 months to get your foundation going and figure out what you like writing or posting about.

4) Follow blogs you like. You can do that by conducting a search for fashion blogs on Google or Tumblr like I did and browsing through to find what you like.  The Independent Fashion Bloggers network is also a great place to find blogs and connect with other fashion bloggers.

5) Comment, share and question. Blogging is all about being a part of a community of people who like fashion as much as you do!  On your own blog, ask questions to encourage people to comment on your posts and reply back to them if they do.  If you read a post that you like on the blogs you follow, comment back or share.

Good luck, have fun and please add your fashion blog to the comments to share with us all!

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Supporting small businesses

November 30, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Seeing small businesses stay successful, especially during this economy, makes me happy.  Small businesses are critical to local economies and they also provide products and services unique to the local community that a large company can never do.  As you probably heard all about, this past weekend was American Express’ Small Business Saturday, an event encouraging people to shop at local businesses between Black Friday and Cyber Monday.  This interview with fashion designer Maria Cornejo on Style.com was a nice look keeping a business small.

Did you support a small business in your neighborhood this weekend?

image from here

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How to become a fashion stylist

November 7, 2011 by Leave a Comment

I don’t know about you, but whenever I watch the Rachel Zoe show I think of how cool that job is (and how crazy she is).  You get to shop for your job, meet cool photographers and models, and are always surrounded by creativity.  I’ve also been to photoshoots as part of my day job working in advertising and every time I end up enjoying the wardrobe part of the shoot with the stylists the most.  Do you think being a fashion stylist would be a cool job?  Here are some helpful, realistic tips from an experienced stylist on how to get into the competitive fashion styling industry.

A quick recap of what she talks about:

- Have an absolute love for fashion and keeping up with the latest trends

- You don’t need a fashion degree, but courses in fashion styling are helpful

- Get internships at different companies to get a variety of experience

- Build your contacts with photographers, make-up artists, etc. in the industry

- Have a test shoot with the contacts you have built to create your portfolio

Are you a fashion stylist or know someone who is?  Please share your advice on how to get started in the industry!


image source

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1 sweater, 3 ways

November 1, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Do you have a sweater you love?  Here are some ideas for how to wear that one sweater, three ways:

1 – Dress it up with a pencil or mini skirt and heeled boots

2 - Get comfortable with a pair of leggings and flat boots

3 - Go casual with jeans and flats

Tahari, J.Crew, Citizens of Humanity, B. Makowsky


ShopStyle

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Vintage fashion show video

October 24, 2011 by 2 Comments

Watching vintage fashion videos never gets old.  It’s fun to see what’s still in style and to hear how the outfits were described, like one good quote from this video: “invitation to flirtation.” Ha!  What would this voiceover guy say if he saw what people wore on runways today?

(click on the image to watch the video)

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Inspired by fall foliage

October 21, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Apple picking, pumpkin pie, crisp air. As much as it’s sad to see the summer go, I love what fall brings – including new fall fashions and colors inspired by pretty fall foliage.

Culture Phit, Old Navy, Carolina Herrera, See by Chloe
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At the InStyle magazine Katy Perry cover photoshoot

October 18, 2011 by 2 Comments

Find out the inspiration for the cover photoshoot of this month’s InStyle magazine featuring Katy Perry (in purple hair).

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the clothing menu is back!

October 17, 2011 by 5 Comments

After a summer hiatus and lot of thinking about the future of this blog, the clothing menu is back with a new format that I’m excited about!  I always find it intriguing to hear how people turned their passion into a career, especially in the highly competitive fashion industry.  What was that final motivation that pushed them to go for it?  And what happens behind-the-scenes at a photoshoot, in the studio, or at a boutique? This blog will be a place to answer those questions and talk about the inspiration behind fashion.

Thanks for continuing to read my blog.  I look forward to reading your comments!

Kristen

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It’s summer time!

June 20, 2011 by 8 Comments

And that means weeks and weekends are really busy!  Is it like this on the west coast and south also?  In the northeast, summers are always really busy with lots of plans and parties because everyone is excited about the weather finally being nice and we know it’s not going to last.  What happens in areas of the country when it’s nice all the time?

Anyway, earlier this year around the busy holiday season time, I told myself I wouldn’t let this blog stress me out and would only write when I have time.  I still stand by that now..which is why I haven’t written for awhile.  What have I been busy doing?  Watching the Bruins win the Stanley Cup for one!  And cookouts and parties and seeing one of my favorite musicians, Eddie Vedder, perform live – twice!

Last Wednesday was one of the best nights ever.  My bf and I had bought tickets to see Eddie Vedder on his solo tour months ago.  We had tickets to see him play in Providence on Wednesday and then Boston on Thursday.  Well, when the Bruins series went to 7 games and they were playing Wednesday for the Cup, we had to make some decisions.  I tried selling the tickets (along with every other Bruins fan) with no takers.  So my bf said to go for it and try to do both events – and he’s a smart guy because it totally worked out to be one of the best nights ever!  We left work early, went down to Providence and watched the first period at a bar.  Then we went to the show just in time to hear our two favorite songs.  The show was amazing and they gave updates on the stage on the score of the game.  In the last note of the encore, we left the show and ran over to a bar to watch the last 8 minutes of the game to see the Bruins win the Stanley Cup! Awesome!  Here’s a little taste of the night:

What have you been up to this summer?

image from weheartit.com

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How to drive traffic to your blog

June 6, 2011 by 4 Comments

This is the magic question for anyone who has a website.  You built it and you have things to say that you know people will like, but how do you drive traffic to your blog?  There are many ways to do this and I can go on and on about it, but for this post I just want to share one very important way to drive traffic: search optimization.

As many of you know, search engines (primarily Google) are an important component to your blog and how people find it.  This article from Search Engine Land shows that at the time of the report last year there were 34,000 searches per second on Google versus 600 Tweets per second.  Convinced yet that search optimization is important?

How about this specific example to my blog.  November of last year I wrote a blog post about Kate Middleton’s style.  Leading up to the Royal Wedding in April I noticed that my blog traffic was going up dramatically as it got closer to April 29th.  The day of the wedding the average traffic on my site went up 400%!  And the majority of the traffic was coming in from Google from searches like “kate middleton style” and “kate middleton outfits.”

So how do you get similar results and traffic to your blog through search engine optimization?  Here are 3 simple things you can do to get started:

1) Sign-up for Google Analytics. Most blog formats have a way for you to easily integrate it into your blog.  It’s free and has a ton of information in it about how many visits your blog is getting, how they are getting there, and what they are searching for to get to it.

2) Figure out what people are searching for. This is key and not always easy.  It helps to start with some kind of idea about what you think people will want.  Then you can use the free Google Keyword Search Tool to enter your idea in and it will tell you how many searches per month there are for it and give you other related suggestions for what people search.

3) Optimize your blog post. Once you figure out a phrase that people are searching for, write your blog post about it.  It’s most important to state that phrase 2 to 3 times in the post, include the phrase in the title of your blog post and the first couple sentences, and include images and rename them with the phrase.  Just be careful to balance your blog post with the search optimized phrase and your normal way of writing so it sounds natural.

Do you optimize your blog posts?  Any other tips to share?

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