Independent Fashion Bloggers Conference: Life, Love, & the Pursuit of Blogging with Style, Substance & Authenticity

by Sammy in — Comment — Updated February 28, 2010

Monday, February 15th was my favorite day of 2010 so far.

No, not because it was the day after Valentine’s Day and I was glad not to be reminded that I have no boyfriend or, for that matter, no boyfriend in sight.

No, not because it was roughly one month and one day until I turned 24 on March 16th.

YES! It was because I attended the awe-INSPIRING, awe-MOTIVATING, awe-MAGICAL Independent Fashion Bloggers conference at the Helen Mills Theater.

It was a conference for bloggers — fashion bloggers, in particular — reviewing, discussing and teaching the questions we find ourselves asking in this industry.

  • How to promote/market our content?
  • How to make money from our blogs?
  • How to remain ethical and true to our brand/reader as we grow and work with publicists and brands?
  • How to navigate the fame game and future of fashion blogging?
  • And of course …how to network & party in style at the after conference cocktail party as sponsored by the new site Couturious [so new, I can’t link you yet! It’s in BETA baby!]

Special thanks to Pamela Castillo of Market Publique for hooking me with 1st class seats.

Also, to the truly inspiring Greta Eagan & Jessica Schroeder & Suzanne Xie of Weardrobe for hanging with me and reminding me why I’m pursuing what I love. Because life is about surrounding yourself with the things — and people — that you love. Everything else will fall into place.

Scout’s honor.

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Evolving Influence. What what.

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Jennine Jacob, founder of Independent Fashion Bloggers, introduces the conference to a room of fab, fashionable, friendly bloggers & style-involved peeps.

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Jessica Schroeder of What I Wore talks about the ethics of blogging [AKA, if you get something for free and feature on your site, let your reader know about it! Easy as that.]

++ VIDEO!! Here’s a quick snippet of her words of wisdom.

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The last — and most star-studded panel — of them all.

From left: Britt Aboutaleb & Lauren Sherman of Fashionista.com, Bryan of Bryanboy, Tavi of Style Rookie, Susie Bubble of Style Bubble, Phil Oh of Street Pepper

[sorry kids, too lazy to link here! Google ‘em yourself!]

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Kicking off the day with Kate, resident photographer of Market Publique.

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I caught a seat next to the loveliest of NYC fashion bloggers [full disclosure: I’m bias] — Jessica Schroeder of What I Wore & Greta Eagan of Greta Guide. Thanks to Suzanne from Weardrobe, I snagged a copy of the new Weardrobe 100 book. Jessica & Greta are pictured side-by-side in a spread.

Soooo … what more fitting idea than to grab a shot of them next to each other in the flesh, and in the paper form, too?

Fabulous ladies. Paper or no paper.

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I hung out with Mariel of Preppy with a Twist & Becky of Prissy Poodle. They inspired me to tone down my style. [um … maybe]

They inspired me at least to interview them about incorporating vintage into a preppy/traditionally sophisticated wardrobe.

++ VIDEO!!! Watch ‘em dish their tips here.

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The lovely Zephorah of Zephorah Magazine with Ariel Maile Adkins of Artfully AWear.

Ariel even gave me a shout-out here!

And I gave Zephorah an awesome shout-out [++ VIDEO!!] here!

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These were my favorite boys of the evening. Read on to learn why:

  • They lived in Philadelphia
  • They went to Temple U
  • They just started a new blog, all about T-SHIRTS
  • They love men’s vintage
  • They were drinking beer at a party where everyone was opting for wine
  • They had facial hair. But didn’t remind me of a Bedford Avenue Brooklynite. [PHEW]

Check ‘em out here.

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Can we please admire this bow tie? It’s purple. It’s shaggy. It has fringe.

I want one.

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For those of you who didn’t know, I’m a bit obsessed with street art. So when I saw these shoes, I about passed out. On the floor. On top of these shoes.

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For the grand finale pic, introducing [money money moneeeyyyy! MONEY!] Wendy Brandes rocking the dollar bills, yo.

NOTE: It’s a vintage dress! Purchased on Ebay for approximately $45, says Wendy.

Love it girl.

*************

And on that note … love you all — my readers — for sticking by me & watching me grow. I hope to make you proud.

xoxo

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