       A few weekends ago, my friend Emily and I teamed up to do a fun shot as Marina and the Diamonds and Lana Del Rey. We're both fans of their sad girl, vintage vibes and thought it would be a fun shoot to do around February. I don't like Valentine's Day in the traditional, romantic sense (like bouquets of roses and candlelight dinners). But I love it for heart shaped things, pink and red color combinations and an excuse to eat candy. I remember how excited I used to be to give out Valentine's to my classmates and eat cupcakes and doughnuts when I was in elementary school. I also feel like Valentine's Day is the first time we see a little novelty and magic since Christmas after a drab January.
What are your thoughts on Valentine's Day?
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     I happened to get this adorable orange dress from my friend Emily's vintage shop the week of Halloween. I'm not sure if it was just because Halloween was on everyone's mind at the time, but as I was trying it on, everyone around me kept saying it'd be perfect for Halloween and calling it a "pumpkin dress". Yes, it definitely was seasonally appropriate to wear that week, but that hadn't even dawned on me to wear it on Halloween. Orange (specifically red-orange) is one of my favorite colors, so I decided to share a few tips for rocking orange all year round and not look like you're dressed for Halloween.
wear as little black as possible: Black and orange together is inevitably what makes orange a Halloween color. I only have a tiny bit of black in my look here (pretty much just in my saddle shoes). I opted for grey tights instead of my usual black and decided against solid black shoes as well. choose other neutrals: Since black is out of the question, you have to turn to other neutral colors. I absolutely love navy blue with orange. Grey, like the tights I'm wearing here, or chocolate brown also work well with orange too. add just a pop of another color: Adding TOO much color could look a little clownish, especially since this dress I'm wearing here is so bold. I love baby blue together with orange, so I thought this bracelet would make for a fun little pop. Another color I love together with orange is hot pink! Basically when it comes down to it, opt for other neutrals to avoid black and orange together and you can rock orange all year round! Dress: Vintage c/o Lulaverse https://www.etsy.com/shop/Lulaverse Tights: Target; Shoes: Eastland Shoes; Bracelet: J. Crew Location: Schnackenberg's (Hoboken, NJ)         These boots are made for walking...not running.
It's officially one week into 2019, and I can't help but feel a little aimless, specifically when it comes to my blog and social media. It could be the weather and the fact that the freezing cold weather leaves me really unmotivated to take photos. Or maybe it's the fact that I spent the majority of 2018 unemployed and hustling for a new full time job, which left me a bit burnt out. Or maybe it's because since New Years, everyone has been constantly posting about what they want to accomplish this year, which has left me feeling a bit overwhelmed. Whatever it is, I feel sort of stuck and haven't had much motivation or inspiration for how I want to move things forward. So far, I feel like everyone is off to the races and I'm just strolling behind. I think posting about your intentions for the new year on social media can be great because it holds you accountable. Seeing what other people hope to achieve also motivates me to push myself and work harder. But the last week or so I've felt overwhelmed seeing everyones posts because it was so much all at once. I've written down goals for 2019, but after seeing everyone else intentions, I can't help but feel like what I hope to achieve is not enough and question if I could be doing more. I try to remind myself that there's no timeline on life and everyone's path looks different. Just because someone I follow on Instagram is going on vacation or starting a podcast this month doesn't mean that I can't do the same things later this year, next year or five years down the road. Or maybe I'll never do those things, because it's not something I'm truly passionate about, and that's okay too. Life is a marathon not a sprint. Since I've been off to a slow start this year, I've been using this time to relax and brainstorm where I want to take my personal brand next. Now that I've reached 10k on Instagram (a major goal I had for my account) I've been thinking about my next goal. Of course I want to continue to grow my community and collaborate with brands to create content. However, this year, I'd prefer to accomplish something outside of Instagram that will still continue to cultivate my retro inspired lifestyle brand. Here are some ideas I have:
What would you be most interested in seeing? Or is there something else I didn't mention here you'd be into? Let me know, I'd love to hear it! PS if you'd like to shop my boots you can find them here: https://www.king.it/product/venezia-nero/ My dress is vintage from Mod and Fancy. You can check out their vintage shop here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ModandFancy Boots: c/o King Tartufoli Dress: vintage c/o Mod and Fancy Location: Hoboken, NJ        I shot these photos for a campaign for Winc, a subscription based wine company. To give you a bit of background about how collaborations work, there is always a campaign brief with visual inspiration and requirements of do's and don'ts for the post and caption. Some brands are very specific with what they want, with strict requirements of how the photo should look or a word for word caption (which are usually the types of collaborations I turn down). Other brands are more lenient and give the content creator more creative freedom.
Shooting for a campaign is fun but can also be a bit nerve wracking because you usually have to submit your post for approval before it goes live on your social channels, so there's always a chance your work could be rejected. I always reread the campaign brief and requirements before I go out and shoot to make sure I'm getting what the brand is asking for. There are a lot of BYOB restaurants in Hoboken where I live, so I thought one of them would be a great backdrop for this campaign, to get a vintage, Sophia Loren inspired, Italian vibe. I was happy with the photos and video I created, but then I decided to take a look at the tagged photos on Winc's Instagram to see what other people were posting. Almost every influencer's post I saw looked very similar, either them posing in their kitchen or under their Christmas tree with the box of wines they received from Winc. Suddenly, I started worrying if the brand would accept the content I submitted. I only featured one bottle of wine from the box, not all four. They never said all four bottles had to be in the photo, but that's what everyone else did. The brand also asked me to submit a video to post on my story. My video was more inspirational to set the mood, rather than informative, such as an unboxing video or me talking to the camera about Winc. Ultimately, the brand approved everything I submitted, but it got me thinking... Are influencers even influential anymore? The term influencer was coined because that's what influencers were, influential. They gained a following because there was something about them people liked, whether that was their style, personality, photography, etc. Now, being an influencer has become a career choice and people are quitting their full time jobs to peruse being an influencer. Being a "microinfluencer" myself, I know how much work goes into content creation, so I 100% respect it as a career. However, like any career, I don't think it's just something you can decide to be. It's something that takes practice, natural ability and a point of view. But now it feels like people who set out to become an influencer are taking a cookie cutter approach and thinking if they do x,y,z, they will in fact be an influencer. Social media critics often say the influencer bubble is going to burst. While I agree that Instagram will not always reign as king, I don't think influencers are going anywhere anytime soon. Nowadays, people are watching more Netflix than they are cable, or spending more time watching YouTube tutorials than they are reading magazines. Traditional forms of advertising like TV commercials and print ads are dying out, so it makes sense businesses and brands are turning to social media to advertise. As a consumer, I've discovered brands or bought a product after seeing it on Instagram, which proves influencer marketing works. Sponsored posts don't necessarily have to be the most creative or entertaining to be effective (how many times have you seen a stupid commercial on TV, yet the message of the commercial sticks with you). However, I think influencers should strive to truly influence and inspire their audience, rather than just following the status quo. After all, you'll never influence the world by trying to be just like it. Beret: JJ Hat Center; Top: J.Crew: Scarf: Fred & Lulu; Earrings: Vintage Location: Johnny Pepperoni's (Hoboken, NJ) |
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