Last September 12 was probably one of the best days of my Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week – thanks to Chictopia! It was the day of the Chictopia.10 Conference and Juicy Couture After Party and it was definitely one of the most memorable days of my New York trip! And I kid you not! It was truly an awesome event – having to learn so much more about fashion blogging, meeting the fashionable people of Chictopia and – I won’t deny it – getting loads of freebies!
I admit, the day didn’t start too well for me. It was raining early morning and my eyes – puffy and looked so tired! WHAAAA!!! Fashion disaster I tell yah! I didn’t even get to style my hair coz I was running late. Good thing when I checked in at the Union Square Ballroom where the Chictopia.10 Conference was being held, the event hasn’t started yet. They were serving coffee and tea before the discussions started. I was overwhelmed with the beautiful and fashionable ladies and gents out there. I am so lucky to be part of the Chictopia community and lucky to be there in New York, attending fashion shows in the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, and attending the Chictopia.10 Social Media Conference and Juicy Couture after-party. I’m having the time of my life. I know some of the fashion bloggers out there have been doing this for quite some time, but please bear with me since it was my first time. LOL!
Panel 1: “THE NEW TRENDSETTERS: WHO SETS THE TRENDS?”
The lovely Kristine Kirong, Chictopia Editor, played moderator in all of the panel discussions and I tell you she handled all the discussions very well. Panel 1 consisted of Cate Corcoran – Technology Editor of Women’s Wear Daily; Kristin Burrows – President of KEDS; Catherine Everett – fellow Chictopia Contributing Editor and blogger from Silhouette Girl. My fave panelist was Cate T. Corcoran of WWD. She really knows a lot about her industry and understands fashionistas, trends and social media or basically what’s happening in the fashion world! She had a lot of interesting things to share.
Panel 2: “VISIBILITY IN THE ONLINE WORLD”
Panel 2 consisted of EJ Samson of Teen Vogue; Liz Cherkasova of Late Afternoon; Dave Cook of The Find; and Robin Creen, KMart Chief Marketing Officer. Highlights of this discussion:
“Be authentic and true to who you are.”
“Blogging doesn’t stop after you’ve published your post. You have to advertise it through social media to gain traffic, e.g. twitter, fb, chictopia, etc.”
“Stay relevant and influential and people will follow you.”
“You are your brand!”
Panel 3: “SEARCH VS. SOCIAL MEDIA: WHAT DRIVES TRAFFIC?”
The panelists were Francesca Helina, Product Marketing of Twitter; Dina Fierro, Executive Director of Fashion & Beauty, Attention; Vanessa Hong – blogger, The Haute Pursuit; and Albert Chen, Account Strategist from Google. I particularly love Vanessa Hong, she knows her stuff very well. There’s not a lot of fashion bloggers who know about SEO and such. And I quote her, “You want people to like you and follow you.”
Panel 4: “EFFECT OF TECHNOLOGY: HAS THE INDUSTRY BECOME MORE INCLUSIVE?”
Panelists for this segment were Susan Kroger, Founder & Chief Creative Officer of Modcloth; Dino-Ray Ramos, Contributing Editor of San Francisco Chronicle; Helen Zhu, CEO of Chictopia; and Jasmine Hwang, blogger of Transient Withdrawal. My fave panelists for this segment: Dino-Ray Ramos – super witty and great sense of humor, plus Jasmine Hwang – real nice and friendly blogger that I got to meet there.
After the four panel discussions, we took a break before the Designer Showcase. Alyssa, Triskaidekaphobia and C/Fan showed their collections.
Alyssa Bird
Alyssa Nicole is a self taught emerging designer from San Francisco, CA. At 12 years old, Alyssa taught herself how to sew. Alyssa began her clothing line at the age of 16 and continues to design and produce new collections every season. She hand makes each and every garment from her collections to custom prom dresses and bridal gowns.
Triskaidekaphobia (fear of the number 13)
Jewelry designed by Christina Rodriguez and Tiffany Gong. The line is inspired by transforming seemingly dark moments into transcendental experiences. The collection is currently sold at Revolve Clothing, Seven New York, and Kabiri. Check their blog at Six Six Sick.
C/Fan
It’s a Chicago-based label launched in 2008 by designer Christina Fan. It began as a collection of winter coats and basic t-shirts and has since evolved to include Saville Row inspired suiting, diaphanous dresses and separates.
The Chictopia.10 Conference ended there, but there was an after-party hosted by Juicy Couture in the evening and I will share all about it in my next post! Stay tuned!
Photo 1: Above – me, Annie of Time Enough for Drums, and Jazzy of Transient Withdrawal. Below – a group pic of my table at the conference.
Photo 2: Designer Showcase.
Photo 3: Above – Helen Zhu, CEO of Chictopia. Below – break time.
Photo 4: Above – Chictopia10 booklet. Below – freebies at the Style Sip lounge.
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xoxo,
Cris
