IFB Recap & The Leopard Coat You've Been Waiting For

Vahni moderated "The Business of Blogging" panel with Gucci's Caitlin NiChathain, Post Fashionism's Tony Wang, Halogen's Gregory Shove, Refinery29's Piera Gelardi, Altamira: Models of Duty's Craig Arend and Keiko Lynn's Keiko Groves.

I'm back from the IFB Evolving Influence Conference and have finally had time to unpack and process it all. What can I say? It was wonderful. There I was at New York Fashion Week, at Milk Studios even, surrounded by inspiring creative talents who just happened to be some of the most fashionable people I'd ever come across.


While I struggled just to plan outfits in time for my Bolt Bus departure, somehow Lynzy of Sparkling Footsteps had it together enough to plan a conference pre-party at the Ace Hotel. After scarfing down some sushi and sake with blogger pals, I headed over to the Ace with Lani of Mon Petit Chou Chou and met up with Marissa of Taste & Style Files, Vahni of Grit & Glamour and Lee of Lee Oliveira (who has the most adorable Brazilian/Aussie accent). If my Internet friends become friends in real life, does that make me less of a nerd?

Thursday morning found me hobbling four crosstown blocks to Milk Studios in four-inch heels after failing to hail a cab. Maybe it was all the Fashion Week adrenaline keeping the pain at bay, or maybe the fabulous people watching opprotunities in that room had me distracted, but I didn't even feel it.

A blogger being measured for free Levi Curve ID jeans. Apparently, I'm a "Demi Curve." Boyfriend was disappointed to hear I'm not a "Sassy Curve."

Aldo previewed an awesome new collection of designer collabs. These bad boys are by Julian Louie. More to come on this.

Boston bloggers represent: Me, Kinsey Michaels, Amy of Punky Style and Amy of Stylish Year

Content-wise, I was impressed with my first IFB conference experience, though utterly exhausted by the end with the thought of all I need to do to improve my blog. Monetization has been on my mind for quite some time, and two of the sessions were particularly helpful in this regard: The Business of Blogging and Working with Brands Gracefully, the second of which featured another blogger who shies away from personal style posts, Sasha Wilkins of Liberty London Girl.

I found Sasha's perspective particularly relevant (she would say "germaine"), as so much discussion of fashion blogging seems to center around the clout of personal style bloggers. According to Sasha and the other panelists, seperating your personal image from your blog is not an inherent roadblock in working with brands. Well, that's a relief, because I do not plan on jumping in front of the camera any time soon.

And despite how uncomfortable I am in front of the camera and how much I dislike my appearance in the photo below, I promised I would show you my grandma's leopard coat from the '30s, so here it is...

 [photo by Kinsey Michaels courtesy Boston Bloggers]

I paired the coat with a leather paneled skirt from Pinkyotto, a cropped All Saints sweater over a black tank, and some black patent Stella McCartney booties I found at a sample sale a couple years ago. The bag is a vintage Bottega Veneta that also belonged to my Grammy. Yeah, she gets the award for most stylish grandma ever.

Great story about this coat: Grammy and her twin sister got matching Somali leopard coats for their high school graduation in the late '30s. Now my cousin and I have them and are planning to traipse around Manhattan in them looking utterly ridiculous and trying to avoid PETA's wrath.

Anyways, hope to see all you bloggers at the next IFBCon!

The Proenza Schouler boys gave the key-note address. Excuse the crap photo; I was star stuck.