You’ll find them in the face row at Ottawa Fashion Week, Ming a cosmetics gala, hosting the gap of a new store, hobnobbing with visiting designers, or charitable advice on what purse to competition with those faux-lizard, open-toed ankle boots. And always bogging about it.You’ll find them in the face row at Ottawa Fashion Week, Ming a cosmetics gala, hosting the gap of a new store, hobnobbing with visiting designers, or charitable advice on what purse to competition with those faux-lizard, open-toed ankle boots. And always bogging about it.
“You have to be on every single media stage possible,” says Erica Work, who bogs as Erica on style and who sees Ottawa’s bogging corps as a sisterhood.
“We all have a dissimilar edge. We’re not competitive. We all want to see Ottawa succeed as a fashion assets.”
There are perks for those who attract sufficient of a following: the aforesaid front-row seats, the bubbly at launch parties, the free clothes. Yes, get enough eyeballs to your bog and Stella McCartney strength send you some freebie.
“In the U.S., there are bog superstars,” says Julie LAN, who bogs as Pop Champagne. “They get flown to Milan. They get asked to plan an outfit for Urban Outfitters.”
But fashion bogging can’t be about the free material, says LAN. “People see through that so easily.”
Being a fashion logger is a little like being an Olympic gymnast – the trick is to make it look breezy and easy. It’s not.
“A group of loggers would say ‘You get what you give.’ I get questions from younger loggers. The secret is that you have to provide,” says Marylou Moles, who bogs as Twenty York Street.
“It’s not how unbelievable you write. You have to engage your community.”
DARE TO UNRAVEL
Ashley McConnell is up-front syntax and spelling. She’s a stickler about both.
McConnell arrived in Ottawa with a degree in balcony management, then lost her job because of funding cutbacks. She turned to self-employed writing and worked on the online magazine The Dinner cover and as a stylist. In creating Dare to Unravel, she wanted to create different moods with photograph and capture hidden corners of Ottawa.
Her background in gallery organization has taught her to curate the images she presents as an additional room of her own esthetic. She won’t bog if she doesn’t have anything to say. And she’s picky about spelling and syntax because these have to be correct if she wants trustworthiness.
“I don’t want to add to the online babble that’s going on.”
McConnell, 28, doesn’t think of herself as a fashion logger.
“Fashion is so surface. It’s like a house of cards,” she says. “I’m more interested in design. I’m not trying to create an image or sell anything or market anything to anyone. I bribe my friends with food and drink to take pictures of me.”
Dare to Unravel gets between 200 and 500 views a day. But it’s not about the labels, she says. “It’s like a illustration diary. I have a terrible short-term memory.
She has been offered sponsorships and chances to wear fashionable pieces, but has always declined. “I don’t want to co-opt people into buying additional.”
However, she has agreed to a cooperation with Vancouver based sustainable designer Nixa to wear a mid-length navy organic wool wrap jersey for 30 days in different ways to demonstrate the versatility of a single piece of clothes.
“It’s not about how much you have right of entry to,” says McConnell.
My day job: Writer and stylist My favorite piece of fashion: skin goods, especially jackets. What I covet the most: This is a hard question for me. I absolutely love fashion in visual art – picture, photographs, illustration – I love it all. Currently, I’m lusting over the labor of Mexican artist Ana Teresa Fernandez.
Ottawa’s best kept secret: That it is in fact a cool city to live in.
Not sufficient people seem to know this.
What Ottawa needs right now: More original industry.
There are so many incredibly clever, active people in this city, yet it seems like too many efforts are put toward policy and politics. I think Ottawa needs to expand a more solid creative-industry backbone.
My last assignment: Shooting an leader feature jewelry from local designers and retailer.
My inspiration: To me, inspiration is something that cannot be controlled. It doesn’t show up on time. It doesn’t have a name or a mailing address. Inspiration is elusive. It’s like a happy accident. Noticing a being on the sidewalk, how a scarf is worn by a character in a movie, or the series of chords in a song can all be inspirational. It just has to make me feel a sure way.
LOULOU’S VIEWS
It’s not strange to find Lucia Zaloumi, a.k.a. Loudoun, tapping away after midnight. But that’s not because she just got home after a frantic night of clubbing. It’s because she’s the look after of two boys, a three-year old and a six-year-old.
Zaloumi, 35, has been bogging for almost five years. She studied communications and worked as a news reporter and an intern at Entertainment Tonight and CBS in Washington, D.C., before taking a job in communications with the federal government.
“Bogging is a great way to be original,” says Zaloumi, who writes the shopping bog Shop Mummy for yummymummyclub.ca, and another bog, Loulou’sViews, where she dishes on issues ranging from the annoyance of Christmas commercials in October to what to wear to Bliss Dom, the social media meeting.
Everyday life is great bog fodder, she says. Like the time she found two cracked raw eggs at the bottom of her Louis Vinton bag. “I just throw myself out there,” she says.
Named as one of Ottawa magazine top three Ottawa fashion loggers, Zaloumi was one of the top 10 finalists to host day Ottawa at Rogers.
She is paid to review crop from hair care products to hotels for Shop Mummy.
“I didn’t get into it for the money. I do it because I love it,” says Zaloumi, who gets flanked by 8,000 and 9,000 views a month.
“The most rewarding part about bogging is emotion connected to a large community of loggers, many of whom I consider my friends now. It’s a great way to create connections, share stories and find inspiration.”
My day job: My 24-hour-a-day job is being a mother to my two children. That’s a hat I always wear! My day job is also that of writer, logger, communications professional, and employee in the federal administration.
My favorite piece of fashion: I have a small … shall we say … obsession with designer purses.
Fend, Gucci and Louis Vinton are my top three preferred bags to own. And, I use them all the occasion, so they’re value every dollar! (So easy to justify!)
What I covet most: I’m always coveting a new purse. Currently, I can’t stop thinking about the Never full Louis Vinton bag … the holiday are just around the bend, right? And a pair of comfortable, yet stylish Eggs.
Ottawa’s best-kept secret: Not that it’s really a secret, but this city always has something fabulous going on in the museums for children. My six-year-old loves the gift shop in the Museum of Nature because he is a huge collector of rocks and gems and there is a wide variety to choose from at the gift shop.
