What, you may ask, have I been writing about?  Here’s a little slice from Rorymartin.com:

The top 10 social media mistakes your business is making: You need to sit down and create a social media plan, you need to engage and listen, you should address negative comments – in whatever manner you see fit, and you should research ways to measure the time you’re investing in social media.  Whether you’re a business or a fashion blogger, it’s a good idea to flip through these tips, and think about ways to improve your social media strategy.

If you’re asking, “Why do all my visitors only stay for a moment, and how do I keep them on my site?”, you may need to delve into your visitor bounce rate.  It could be your industry, it might be your content, or you may not be using target=”blank” in your URLs.  Whatever it is, this cool KissMetrics graphic shows you the factors that keep people on your page.

Are you properly using keywords?  I know for a FACT that I am not – and as a fashion blogger who wants to maintain an audience, using the right keywords on posts can make a world of difference.  Build a great keyword strategy that utilizes both specific and broader terms to really get your blog out there.

Not sure how to use Facebook as a blogger or as a business?  There’s this little thing called Edge Rank that will make or break your page, and to beat the algorithm you need to find new and better ways to connect with your users so your content is seen by more people.  Edge Rank determines the relevancy of your posts, and then decides whether or not you’re relevant enough to show to a Facebook demographic.  How do you become relevant?  Ask questions, use polls, link your blog to your Facebook page with a simple like button.  Get involved, interact and have fun.  Most of all, do more listening than self-promoting.

All this information is definitely useful, no matter what sort of website you’re running.  Stay informed and stay ahead of the curve.  And never fear, we’ll have more fashiony posts again, before you even know it!

I met Irene from Couture Petite (who’s super adorable) and their Celebrity Makeup Artist Shalini Vadhera, whose had quite the roster of clients.  Throughout my session, Body Shop associates kept coming up and commenting on how luminous my makeup looked, courtesy of their full line of bronzing products. We were offered goodie bags and photos with professional photographer Paul Nathan. I was really impressed with the quality of their makeup products. Helloooooo Gorgeous!

I was amazed at how much fair trade sourcing they do, and I really liked the idea of “trade,  not aid“.  The Body Shop promotes small and struggling economies around the world by sourcing ingredients, with the objective of “creating trade to help people in the Third World utilise their resources to meet their own needs”.  Having studied the phenomenon of trade in third world economies in Econ, I believe this is much more effective than throwing money at a problem until it goes away. This might be considered anti-capitalist or anti-globalization, but the Body Shop philosophy is actually in favour of international marketplaces. The Body Shop uses its profits and influence to enact fair labour practices, safe working environments and pay equality.  That’s definitely cool in my book, because that’s the best way to boost the international marketplace.

Another interesting thing the Body Shop lists in their values is their Stop Trafficking campaign, calling for a safe harbor law for child-victims of sex trafficking.  In their campaign they say,

The US should change the laws that allow children to be arrested and prosecuted when
they are victims of sex trafficking. Instead of arrest they should be offered support and
protection as they are in New York and Washington states.

A “safe harbor” law can:

• Protect and prevent any person under the age of 18 from being charged, prosecuted or incarcerated for prostitution.
• Refer exploited children to special services and shelters that will support their recovery.
• Require the training of law enforcement, judges and first responders

I think this is a wonderful and worthy campaign so I asked how I could help. Lara, my Body Shop contact, said it’s as simple as getting people to sign the petition.  She offered a couple goodies to give away to participants who’ve signed, so I have 3 items from their Honey Bronze line to give out to you, dear readers.  They are the Honey Bronzing Powder in Medium, the Honey Bronze Face Gel, and the Honey Bronze Brilliance Powder.  Faux, being my preferred method of bronzing, I can say I’ve used all three products (as well as the Honey Bronze Shimmering Dry Oil) and they’re shimmery, but not too heavy – great for a sun-kissed glow without the risk to your skin.

So click below to add your signature to the petition and comment to let me know you’ve signed.  You can also tell people about this petition (and contest) by tweeting:

Help @birdiee and @thebodyshopusa stop Sex Trafficking! Sign the petition (& let us know, to win a Honey Bronze set). http://bit.ly/j6VYsK

On July 15th, I’ll pick a name from the comments and tweets about this post, and the recipient will receive this lovely little care package, courtesy of the Body Shop.  I’m excited to be helping the Body Shop with such a great cause.

While flipping through June’s Elle last night, (I go through it a couple times, once for the pretty pictures, once for the articles and once to tear all my favorite images out of) I stumbled across a quote that seemed incredibly relevant:

“It just reminds us how different “real” women and celebrities are when it comes to their relationship with fashion.  Stars [and internet stars - my emphasis] use it to build an image; the rest of us look for clothes that connect with some inner part of ourselves – we need self expression, not a fan base.”

As the much-talked-about Blogger Beautiful post from Gala Darling points out,

“We all retouch our faces to be blemish-free, & if you only knew how many bloggers manipulate their waistlines or thighs in Photoshop! My point is, some fashion blog images are as unrealistic & idealistic as what is presented to us in magazines.”

Our relationship to the clothes, the platform, the photos are all different – but for many of us, it’s a form of self expression, not a means to a fan base.  And the beauty of that is that our self expression is what keeps us beautiful, relevant, shining, bright.  I sometimes wonder if, as fashion blogging becomes a bigger industry, it is becoming less creative – following the footsteps of the fashion world.  I wonder that and then I remember all the unique, down-to-earth, well read and amazing people whose lives I’ve been given a peek into.  And if they stopped blogging (and if you stopped blogging) and being them (your) selves, yes, fashion blogging would be less creative, less fun, and less intriguing.

When we give ourselves permission to be and feel everything we are – monstrous, large, loud, brazen, occasionally ugly – we age backward.

Translate that: when you love yourself regardless of your bad hair days, your outfit faux-pas, your gaffes in public (I’m a total goober in public, but I laugh, because it’s often hilarious!), you are nothing but inspiring – even on your non-fashionable days.  When you allow you to be you, when you’re not afraid to post images of yourself, and challenge others around you to do the same, you are courageous. That’s what style blogging is all about.

It’s those meaty, well thought out posts that I feel most proud of, not a post about cute shoes, or an outfit post.  The writing that really matters to me are those posts I’ve worked on, and thought about, and deliberated.  Sometimes it’s hard to continue writing that type of post of when there’s very little feedback, and I know that’s also the case for many other bloggers.  I’m guilty of shooting off a quick Twitter response, or commenting as I share a post in Google Reader.  I sometimes feel bad about doing that instead of going to the actual site for a well thought out discussion.

I also feel like it’s better to have zero comments than to have spam comments, or follow requests – comments that don’t have much to do with what I’ve written (more on that from Ashe Mischief).  If your comment is thoughtful, it takes me about 30 seconds to pop over to your site and see what you have to say.  I know the ball bounces both ways.  Ultimately, it’s up to me to make conversation happen in my own webspace.

The trick is to not be discouraged, but to realize that those essay pieces are complete as they are – comments or no.  They were complete when I hit post, and I’m truly graced with being part of a great community when I get twitter replies or actual comments.  It’s not really about the comments, but about speaking my mind.  As Jamillah of made-to-travel said to me yesterday, “There is a quote … that says, ‘Speak, even if you think no one will listen’, so I do.”

However, as a blogger, it is important to strike the balance between oration and conversation; between yourself and your audience.  Write for you – of course – but realize that what people most respond to isn’t self promotion.  Your readers want to respond to something that engages them.  They like to read posts that are real, and include situations they’ve experienced.  That means that blog success often comes from connecting with your readers.

This doesn’t just apply to your blog.  Do you have a Facebook page for your blog?  I know I do, and sometimes I’ve struggled at knowing exactly what to do with it.  Even more discouraging: I recently found out that a very small percentage of Facebook page updates are actually visible to fans, because of an algorithm called EdgeRank.  EdgeRank gives every post a quality score – measuring the number of comments, likes, and shares per post against the number of fans a page has.  To be more visible and build up your EdgeRank, a page has to make posts interaction friendly – with polls, tags, questions, relevant links, and a whole lot of community.  It’s kind of a Catch-22, but you can do it by asking questions, engaging other bloggers, making vlogs, and just generally becoming an active part of the community.

That Facebook algorithm is relevant, because that’s kind of the way blogging works.  If you build up your interactions with your readers and bloggers you admire, you’ll be more visible.  I believe we’re all here as part of a community.  And as I mentioned on this great post from Jamillah on Beautifully Invisible:

Sometimes fashion blogging may seem like a tight knit circle of people who all blog/tweet/talk together. But it’s not – all you have to do is add value. Thoughts, links, laughs – those are all value. That’s the easiest way to break the ice, and break into that circle. Once you make that conversation and connection, it’s a very inviting and easygoing community.

I sat down with the book and a notepad, and diligently followed a few of the exercises.  Was I “this” or “that”?  Was I “matte” or “glossy”?  Was I “round” or “square”?  How do I feel in a bookstore?  How do I spend my free time?

As I wrote, I began to notice that I was writing the same things over and over – not one or two words, but whole lists of words written out like punishment on a chalkboard.  Soon enough, I stopped writing.  I would gloss over the questions, and read others’ responses.  Playful Casual… I liked the sound of that.  Dramatic Contemporary… I like the sound of that!  Cultivated, Magic, Frivolous, Vintage, Connected, Cherished, Feminine, Cosmopolitan, Treasure, Vibrant, Curated…  Full-time Dreamer.  Motherfucking Starchild Odyssey.

And as so many of these words kept popping up, I realized that I just like words for words, and that I couldn’t boil my life and experiences down to just 2 words.  Sometimes I feel like Cultivated Magic.  Sometimes I feel like Connected Treasure.  Sometimes I feel like Frivolous Vintage.  I looked at my closet, I looked at my house.  I looked at my art, I looked at the treasures I collect.  I looked at these little slices of my life and all of them were different, and intertwined and just as much a part of me as the next.

At this point, I haven’t been able to nail down two words that define me.  80% here, 20% there.  I haven’t been able to hit that magic number and I think it’s because I often feel like I’m more than a ratio.  The whole “trying to fit my existence into two words” felt a little like surpressing all the other words I wanted to or could possibly be.  And I know that that’s the point – once you figure out those magic two words, your life falls into place, you realize who you are and what path you’re on and all the sudden the Universe magically opens and you can rename your blog and your cat and your purpose in life.

Unless you’re like me… in which case, all of that happens without having just two goddamn words.

I have to give it to Style Statement’s authors.  They genuinely made me think, and I’m not sorry I bought and read over half the book.  And I think someday, I’ll probably plow through the rest and realize what I’ve been missing. Eventually, maybe, I’ll find that magic definition (Ooh… that’s a good one, right?  Magic Definition?!) that I can’t quite nail down because my brain is a maze of letters and pictures and stars and numbers.  I tried so hard to want one of these statements but the Childlike Wild-Thing (Is that one?  I dunno… I think that’s 3 words) inside me cannot commit to one set of ideas.  Objets Magiques, Strange Treasure, Random Clarity… my brain fills up with all the words I could be – words just spilling right out of my ears, there are so many – and somehow I’m comforted in knowing that somewhere inside my head I’m already defined.

As my Notes from the Universe said the other day: “Insisting on details, Birdie, always limits you.”

White is virginal and I have a tendency to sometimes be a slop.  White is prone to stains and spills.  I’ve seen a lot of white done wrong – especially in too-light trousers.  In the past, it’s been easier to not buy white, just to avoid the challenge of keeping it clean.  I’ve often opted for light grays, light blues, light greens, even black and white or red and white stripes – anything to avoid committing myself to a solid color that makes me somewhat uncomfortable.

But there have been a few accessories I’ve coveted this spring that have made white a little more accessible in my wardrobe.  Along with the accessories, the second Bloggers Do It Better challenge really turned me on to the idea of white done well.  There were lovely lace skirts, slim trousers, and ladylike dressing.  It’s still intimidating (and I’ll admit, I bowed out of the white-out challenge)… but I’m working my way up to wearing white.

For example, this pair of Chanel sunglasses did me in.  I spied them while wandering around Nordstrom, waiting for a friend.  The sunnies were a little out of my budget but ultimately gorgeous. I tried a pair on and was hooked.  They’re not too wide, not too hip; it was love at first glance.  And they looked great with the red and gray outfit I was wearing.

And since then, I’ve found myself drawn to things like this white crackled leather bowler bag at Rice and Beans Vintage…

Seeing all this white done well gives me a desire to do away with all the winter black and gray – or at least use white to add contrast to darker outfits through accessories and wardrobe staples.  I’ll be adding large ropes of white or ivory pearls to everything.  I want white, dangly crystal earrings to complement little black blazers, and big white sandals to stomp around town in.  In my fashionable day-dreams, I would love to rock white cigarette pants with a loose, darker-colored top.

Are you embracing the white-trend this spring?  How are you wearing it?

Edited by Fajr of StylishThought.com

With so much going on in the world, the Japan earthquake, the upheaval in Libya, the aftermath of John Galliano’s actions and the social phenomenon that is Charlie Sheen, it’s great to see the fashion blogging community talking about the issues and bringing a little light with the fancy of fashion! Included in this week’s amazing links: Shopping to Aid Japan Relief, an outfit post for Charlie Sheen, exploring the new neon trend and behind the scenes of how Hermes scarves are made!

Links à la Mode: March 24th

• Arash Mazinai- Bling Bang: Exploring the Blood Diamond Trade
• Cheap & Chic Living- For Japan with Love
• Dress with Courage- Do you dress older or younger than you really are?
• Fashion Evolution- Ups and Downs in my Fashion History
• Fumiko Kawa- Two Patterns of Minimalism
• FOTW- When did Fashion become porn?
• Juliette Maxwell- How to Take Runway Pictures
• La Rouge- How to Live in Two Places at Once
• Missemmamm- An Ode to Charlie Sheen
• Miss Viki- Chat with Russian Art Illustrator Lena Ker
• My Heart Blogged- Blogs from the Heart: Citizen Rosebud
• Obsessive Coolness- Should Talent be Boycotted in Favor of Morality?
• Snappy and Snazzy- Rules of Flattery
• Style Bizarre- Beware of what you Wear
• Sugar Coated Style- Cherry Blossoms in the Breeze
• Tres Awesome- Hermes Festival of Craft
• Try It On Me- The Bright Stuff~ A neon color palette brings back memories of 1990′s fashion and fun!
• The Button Owl- DIY Fishtail Braid Tutorial
• The View from 5 ft 2- Aldo x Julian Louie x Spring/Summer
• Stylish Thought- 5 Fanciful Frocks for a Swinging Spring

SPONSOR:

Shopbop Sale: Jen Kao, Maison Scotch, Free People, Tibi, Jil Sander, Herve Leger, Tory Burch, & Alexander Wang

Don’t shop? The words roll around in my head.  Don’t shop?  Isn’t that what fashion and style bloggers do?

I had stopped checking all the sample sales, I turned a blind eye walking past the H&M when I was laid off – but it was an upcoming ladies tea… and the curve of a wedge heel, and the urge to shop was there.

It’s not that I need to buy, I told myself, I just like looking at stuff.  The cut of a hem, the drape of a satin, the alluring sparkle of sequinned tanks.  And besides, what harm can browsing do?  Except, I saw this dress that was a gorgeous sateen cotton and I had to try it on.  And that was the trap.

“I’ll just try this on… it probably won’t fit.”

It didn’t.  The dress was too small to get over even my narrow shoulders and because I mourned the ill-fitting cut of the dress, the entire experience gave me pause.  I can’t afford to just browse and shop.  It’s true that I have great reason to browse – I can surf through a collection in person and write about it later.  But it was the realization that I went into this store, consciously ready to consume.  Unwittingly ready to buy had that little dress fit (and had it been oh… $10 cheaper – but even $10 is easy to rationalize) and I didn’t realize that until I was majorly bummed that it didn’t fit.  I had a guilty second where I thought to myself, “I should NOT be here…”

Stepping outside the store gave me a breath of fresh air and I rationalized that I’d been emotionally shopping – I went in because I was bored and killing time.  I haven’t felt the ego-blow of being laid off (because ex-employer was sort of a dick), but there is a sense of mania when I ask, “What am I going to do with myself now!??!”  I’d rationalized my purpose for going in (“Oh I can just browse to kill time…”), but I hadn’t realized that I went in with the wrong mindset.  At that same time, if I had seen something truly unique and special, that would seamlessly integrate right into my closet… shouldn’t I buy it?

I need to be aware of the underlying mental reasons for wanting to “just browse” – and if I had cash-in-hand the situation would have been much different.  If you’re going to browse – just browse – without having the money in your pocket to purchase, do so with an editorial eye.  Had I gone in, in the right frame of mind, telling myself “I’m going in because I want to note the construction of this line, or the new trends and fabrics”, I probably wouldn’t have put myself in potential debt danger (wait, how was I going to pay for this dress if I didn’t have the money on me?  OH right!  Credit!).    Had I gone in with the actual money right in my hand, I would have been justified to try and buy.

I don’t think the solution to not frivolously throwing money out is to not shop.  It’s a source of wardrobe inspiration, and often it’s a source of blog inspiration.  Hell, we probably all spend at least half an hour browsing through sales on the internet while we’re looking for post-fodder.  I think the solution to that mindless consumption is to be mindful of why you’re shopping, and what you’re feeling while you’re doing it.  And to think I almost rationalized an ill-fitting dress just to satiate my feelings!  I think for me, it will be about having that money right in my hand and available when I actually want to shop to consume.  And to realize when there is an underlying emotion as I’m out surfing the racks.  Don’t shop to kill time, but do it with a sense of purpose – whether that’s to write about the experience, or to actually purchase something.  Know your purpose, be mindful of your triggers.  Shop, but know why you’re there.

Mindless consumption is a pretty serious and prevalent problem – especially when you’re on a limited budget.  How do you stay mindful while browsing?

So it’s probably no surprise that instead of pre-planned content, I’m resorting to an outfit post.  I’m reading through Style Statement, and one question it asks is: “What is working in your wardrobe right now; What are some pieces you really love, and why?”

For me it’s the recent collection of long, slinky, lounging-arond skirts.  I’ve been all over the long skirt trend since… um… I don’t know – 1997?  I have the crazy couch-print vintage skirt, I have a cool hippie skirt my mom made out of a pair of jeans (I suspect this will come back around… and in much better ways) and I recently read in the March copy of Elle that longer, swishy, 70′s style skirts are back with a madness you wouldn’t believe.  I’m all about long skirts.

I keep finding these beauties at ASOS – long, printed, in the $13-20 range.  And I keep pairing them with oversized comfortable sweaters (what few are left in my collection) to lounge around in.  This outfit is no exception.

EDIT: I’m such a space case!  I forgot to post…..

What I Wore:

• Silk Tape Sweater – Banana Republic
• Bleach print tube skirt – Motel
• Black kneehigh socks – Sockdreams
• Black Dr. Martens Darcie boots
• Turban – Patricia Field Online
• Gray beater tank – J Crew
• Tiffany’s heart necklace
• Bird skull necklace - InstantVintage on Etsy

Another thing I’m kinda loving – turbans.  Goodbye bad hair days!  Other things that work in my wardrobe:  Knee high socks, Dr Martens boots (walkability!), tights, berets, little jackets, big scarves (wow is it still winter?), cute jumper dresses from Deco Modiste, wide leg 70′s style jeans, grandpa trousers (though my woolies will be too heavy for Spring/Summer), giant and funky old lady jewels, little hats, fun headbands…

Style Statement also asks you to think about what isn’t working in your closet anymore.  For me it’s shrunken sweaters (curses!) and the fact that this outfit is… a little boring.  C’mon – let’s get real.  I’m a little over this whole blackblackblack trend that I’m going through right now.  I can see the blooms starting to pop on the trees and I want bright pink, and turquoise and something that combats the crazy gray, rainy spring days we’re having.

Other things that don’t work: denim-all-the-time, stuff that doesn’t fit right, worn out items, blackblackblack… I’m grasping at straws here because I spend so much time getting rid of stuff that doesn’t fit right or look right. I don’t feel like all the pieces I have go together and that’s not working for me right now.  I need to go through and find the unifying theme.  I need to find those central pieces and work everything else around them.  I have a lot of special pieces – I need to tie that whimsy together as a means to a meaningful end.

How about you?  What’s working for you in your closet?  Tell me, tell me!

Psychedelic - Img via GalaDarling

I was flipping through titles at the book store the other day and something caught my eye.  In Entre Nous, the author Deborah Ollivier insists that French women have more “je ne sais quoi” than American women.

American women ask themselves, “How do I remake me/my wardrobe/my life…”

French women who possess that “je ne sais quoi“, ask themselves, “How do I make me/my wardrobe/my life more me?”

See what I did there?

Apparently, Parisian women are so much more intriguing and mysteriously seductive because they know who they are, without a doubt.  They work on building that character instead of pretending to be a different character.  They use that to their advantage, creating a world based around themselves; as a metaphor, “cultivating their inner garden”.   Let this strike a chord with you for a second.

Apparently, Parisian women continually work to refine themselves, not to change themselves, or to become something different like the rest of us spend so much time doing.  Ladies, don’t deny that sometimes we sit around, all starry-eyed, wishing we could be the next Mary-Kate, when instead we should be cultivating ourselves and refining our style to reflect exactly what it is that draws us to that image.

Know thyself.  Discover thyself.

These words ring out from every self-help and style book on the planet.  Yet we spend all our time and efforts trying to be different.  We try to be  unique, cool, interesting.  It’s cool to be special.  Individualism is the norm.  Maybe it’s not about trying to be a certain ideal of cool, but instead embracing that inner individual, that wonderful weird that we try to bury to be this and/or that.

Like the garden metaphor, the authors of Style Statement suggest we spend too much time “out there” (p45) – not working on what feels right, what feels like us, and what feels authentic.  We try too hard to be special, unique and ultimately cool.  We stray away from our “inner homes” wanting so badly to be more stylish, prettier, wanting to have more friends and be more of an influencer.  We invent these crutches to escape our inner home, confused by the mixed messages about who we are and who we should be.  When we’re confused about who we are, we latch onto ideals of beauty, weight, purchasing power that have nothing to do with, and little to no bearing on who we truly are, inside.

Style Statement’s authors simply say, “Style is an expression of personal truth – never without meaning” (p76).

I confess, I did pick up both books, because realizing I haven’t put that “je ne sais quoi” into words is like realizing I haven’t been serious about cultivating my inner-self.  I want to know how to make my life more “me”.  I don’t think I’ll learn it from a book per sé, but I feel like I’ll have an interesting perspective to start building my life, my way.

Today I’m spending a little bit of time meditating on that personal truth.  What is that overall theme that defines me, guides my life, draws me towards deco-inspired prints, futuristic shoes and crazy fur hats?  It’s not something that I’ve really thought of – even though I’ve spent time coming up with a style direction for the new year.  I’ve never stopped to think about the unifying “me-ness” of every thing I do, so I know exactly what part of me to cultivate.

Have any of you tried their method?  What did you think?