Fashioning Februray: Evolving Influence - A Q&A with Founder Jennine Jacob

You know an activity is here to stay when suddenly there are loads of events about it springing up all over the place. Over the last couple of years we have seen the emergence of blogging conferences such as BlogHer. Blogging While Brown and Blog World Expo. This Thursday Evolving Influence - a fashion blogging conference kicks off in New York covering topics such as the business of blogging, working with brands and the issues surrounding blog content. The event is in its third season and is now hosted by New York Fashion Week. I remember watching the first ever Evolving Influence this time last year and it was all everyone was talking about (well fashion bloggers anyway); the event was an instant hit and was totally over subscribed. So it is really inspiring to see it go from a one day independent blogging event to a two day one that is supported by one of the biggest fashion weeks in the word. Evolving Influence was set up by Jennine Jacob as a way of bringing the blogging community together and share best practice. An avid fashion blogger, Jennine is also the founder of Independent Fashion Bloggers (IFB) which is a portal that creates a community for fashion bloggers to share anything from their experiences to technical advice. The lovely Jennine took time to answer a few questions which I was so grateful for as she is a pretty busy lady.

What made you decide to set up Evolving Influence?
IFB started doing events at New York Fashion Week and London Fashion Week in February of 2009 called Dress Up. While it was a lot of fun to meet everyone, there was something missing, Dress Up didn't have the educational component that made IFB what it is. So we had an idea to do a few panels before Dress Up and the first time, we filled the venue, there was a line around the block and people were so excited to be there. The energy was infectiously delightful, as we bloggers made it clear we're hungry to learn. It was then it became clear that two hours weren't enough to talk about everything., so I expanded it to a day.

What criterias do you use in choosing the speakers?

That's a very good question. At first I wanted to get the top of the top bloggers in the industry, and that's been really great, but at the same time bloggers are really tired of hearing about the same five people. This time I've tried to get a good mix of the up and coming and the established. Finding people who have something to say, who have energy and savvy. It's a bit difficult, because some of the most famous bloggers do well on screen but in real life, they're shy, while some of the more dynamic people in real life don't have as established a blog. Even then, it's finding the dynamic people who really want to share their experience. It's a challenge to find the right combination. Strangely enough, I get very wary about people who volunteer to speak. Not really sure what that is about, if it's a personal preference or not.  But I prefer to let the community do the talking for the potential speakers.

What should we expect from Evolving Influence February 2011 and are there any plans to bring it abroad like say London?

We are honored  Milk Studios has invited us to host our conference right there. It's the first time a major Fashion Week venue has invited bloggers in, this is a huge step towards legitimization of the fashion blogging industry. We're not only hoping to get in to see the shows, we're part of the show, and that's huge. There are some exciting people on the panel. It is a great mix of bloggers and people from the established industry, and a special pair designers. Stay tuned! My goal this year is to bring Evolving Influence to the UK. IFB gets more traffic from London than any other city (even New York) and I want to make sure our community has an opportunity to get together. I've been working on building contacts and getting everything together, so hopefully that goal becomes a reality.

Evolving Influence takes place in New York on Thursday 10th to Friday 11th February.

For more information and to book tickets go to the website. If like myself you cannot make it down to the event you can watch it online here.

Image by Saga Sig

Welcome to Fashioning February

I launched this series last year and it proved to be so popular that I decided to bring it back again. Fashioning February is an editorial celebration of fashion focusing on New York Fashion Week and London Fashion Week which takes place during next month. It will be rammed full of features, interviews and profiles on the fashion industry and fashion bloggers. Tomorrow we will kick with Blogger of the Month which will feature Sasha Wilkins from Liberty London Girl, there will also be a video interview with Amelia Gregory, founder of Amelia"s magazine which took place at the launch of her new book and also each week a blogger will be discussing her favourite fashion decade. You would have to be under a rock not to have come across the saga involving Jennine Jacobs regarding her blog, The Coveted. She took time out to talk to me about her other baby, the superb Evolving Influence Fashion Blogger Conference which takes place next week. As well as the usual My Space feature I will be talking about the pending Teen Vogue reality show and just why is that magazines reality shows are so popular.

I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow and let the start of Fashioning February begin.

Giveaway
In order to celebrate the launch of Fashioning February I am giving away books by the following fashionistas.

A copy of Style Diaries by Simone Werle which takes a look at fashion bloggers and their style
A copy of Style by Lauren Conrad where she talks about the secret to looking fabulous.
A copy of The Truth About Diamonds by Nicole Ritchie which is her debut novel.

To enter the competition all you need to do is drop me an email at ondolady@gmail.com and put the name of the book you want in the subject line. The competition will close on Monday 28th February at 12am GMT time.

The Ethics of Ondo Lady

One of the things that came out of the Evolving Influence IFB Conference was the ethics that are employed by bloggers worldwide. When I started this blog in 2007 the idea was to produce an online portfolio of my writing work so I could have something to refer people to. During that time blogging was just something people did in their spare time and even though a few bloggers were getting small bits of media coverage it was nothing compared to the way it is now. Today the whole world is looking at bloggers to see what they do next. London Fashion Trends is a blog that covers pop culture in the form of books, films, TV. music. fashion and magazines. How I work is that if I see something that I like the souind of and I think it fits into the remit of my blog I will send an email to the relative PR asking for a review copy. If I get it, great buit if I don't no problem, I will simply head over to amazon to buy it. No matter whether the item is purchased or gifted to me I will write exactly what I think of the product. If it is rubbish I will say so and why I think it rubbish and vice versa if it is great. Some bloggers choose not to review a product if they have had a bad experience because they do not feel the need to be negative. Well that is their decision and I respect that but that is not how I operate; if I have a bad expereince with a product then I will say so. In terms of advertising, apart from a partnership with Glam (which I am ditching very soon) there are no adverts on my blog. This is because this is an area that I need to work on in order to find the right deal for me. However, I do not do sponsored posts or sell hyperlinks simply because I feel it cheapens the blog and puts my impartiality at risk. The one thing I will be changing coming forward is mentioning when an item has been suppied to me by a PR so my readers know where they stand. I like to think that I operate with the utmost integrity as most bloggers do however if you feel I haven't been then please feel free to drop me an email. Well that is all from me folks on The Ethics of Ondo Lady.