You wouldn’t think that a random midnight scroll through the interwebs would spark a potentially life-altering interest. But then again, we do live in the flourishing digital age. As such, a simple peek into a foreign world on a computer screen is powerful enough to derail you onto an entirely different path. You just have to tread lightly. Oh, and “fashionably.”
I present my case. Exhibit A: a stumble upon moment at approximately 2 a.m. on a certain summer day in 2007 where I fell through the virtual rabbit hole and landed on the landmark Style.com page. I was somewhat intrigued. Exhibit B: the scene five minutes later, wherein a pair of piercing eyes fixed on what any other person would consider a common article, took Tim Blanks’ review of the work of British designer Hussein Chalayan as reason to rethink all matters entirely. Of course, nothing is common to “fashion” people about things of such perennial importance but I wasn’t a “fashion” person yet. Still, something triggered. I never anticipated that the days following that night would consist of educating myself on fashion lexicon. One day, haute couture. The next, Givenchy (which I foolishly mispronounced per my immaturity). Then, the big one- Anna Wintour. But aside from just learning that Louis Vuitton fathered much more than airport luggage, I became transfixed on the written word. The luxury of the fashion world seemed great, but the journalistic work behind it all seemed even greater.
It didn’t take very long for me to have that life epiphany that many of us do have circa those last years of school prior to reaching university status. So, in a need to document my thoughts about what I had and was still in the process of learning, I created The Style Inquisitor within a span of one mundane morning wake-up call and a highly ecstatic night slumber (to make a long story short and ruin the clichéd punch line, I turned “inquisitive,” into a noun). Suffice it to say, I couldn’t stop myself. Everyday, I logged on, and constant clacking of the keys followed suit. Analyzing Fall and Spring fashion week from New York across the sea to Milan and Paris, gawking at magazine editorials, admiring the then rising street style subculture…it was all divine. However, I was still unsure of the path I was embarking on. All I knew was that I wanted to write, plain and simple.
Things remained relatively normal until my site began to gain a following, among it a unique few asking me to share notions of my personal style on the blog. Now, at that time, the personal style niche was already becoming supersaturated, but I saw no harm in molding my aesthetic to include left out parts. Cue instant growth in readership. Yes, I panicked, but in the good way…and the bad. No shame!
Before I knew it, companies expressed interest, magazines emailed their words of admiration, and strangers spewed compliments on social media. Finally, the summer of 2011 rolled around and I was offered my first New York Fashion Week experience by a collaborative Nokia and Elle Magazine. I did hear that famed Hallelujah chorus at first, but it was quickly drowned out by intense zippering up of suitcases and sporadic yelps of excitement. Not kidding.
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Now, my rehashing my progress thus far sounds far from plateau, but people can’t forget that success is not measured by those wonderful high notes alone. What certain members of the blogosphere are fearful of revealing is that there are times when inactivity takes over, and things sort of mull over. Killjoy would an understatement for such a thing. Its somewhat of a poison, and has driven many bloggers to withdraw from what is not even supposed to be a race. Remaining steadfast on your goals and blocking out the negativity is the only remedy.
To this day, I still grow as a writer and blogger, and I am willing to admit that ups and downs will no doubt come my way. You have to realize it, otherwise being unprepared will take you down even more. And that, is not at all in fashion.
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