Three fashion bloggers share their experiences with the business behind the job
By Mariah Siddiqui
Allysha Yung, Toronto-based fashion blogger, wakes up at 9 a.m., fixes herself a smoothie or tea, and starts her work for the day. She will check her emails and respond to them, shoot her content around 10:30 a.m. and then it’s time for lunch. After lunch, she’ll edit some of the images from her shoot, answer some more emails, send invoices and follow ups and work on her clients social media platforms as a part of her side business. Then, she moves on to dinner while constantly brainstorming more ideas for her platform.
After a productive day, she allows herself a break from the busy blogger life and sets her alarm for 9 a.m. the next day. Sounds busy, right? It’s just a day in the life of a fashion blogger.
Titled after her name, Yung established her fashion and beauty blog around 2014. Her hobby and passion turned into something she could eventually call her main job. She is a full-time fashion blogger and consults and manages other people’s social media as a side business.
“Ever since a young age, I’ve always had a love for fashion. My mother would love to dress me up and pick out my outfits when I was younger,” said Yung. “That was just something that we did, it was like a ritual.”
Photo: Allysha Yung via Instagram
In high school, she worked in fashion retail and started blogging and sharing her style on Instagram.
Yung also acknowledges that working for yourself can have its own challenges. “There is never an end, whether that be brainstorming ideas, creating content for all social media platforms, or finding new clients,” she said.
Yung thinks it’s definitely important to give yourself a break and take time to sit back, take a deep breath and relax. She has a schedule that helps her organize her time and with the job she has, when things pop up, she adjusts along the way.
Blogging and managing others social media platforms is the main source of her income. She also earns money through sponsorships and brand deals. With a blogging platform, it is common for many brands to reach out to someone through social media to work with them, but not all brands are legitimate and trustworthy.
“A lot of sponsorships reach out to me by email, [offering] compensation in exchange for posting,” said Yung. “For me personally, I’m selective with the brands I work with as I want to make sure they are aligned with my brand.”
Photo: Allysha Yung via Instagram
Toronto-based fashion blogger, Emily Kaitlyn, feels the same way. A pro tip she stands by: work with the brands that address you by name in their email. She also thinks there’s a huge misconception of bloggers posting ads just for money.
“Majority of people including myself, we usually don’t just post an ad out there to post an ad. It doesn’t make you look better or worse, it’s nice to be recognized by a brand with a product that you like and think your audience will like as well,” said Kaitlyn. “A lot of work does go into creating a post, I don’t think a lot of people see that. You have to brainstorm the idea and then create it.”
Often times, it’s frustrating for her when brands offer her 25 per cent off of their products, but ask her to post them on her social media, market it and get her followers to follow their page with no compensation, only a discount.
“That’s not how this works and there’s a lot that goes into it. If I genuinely like your product I’ll buy it and do that,” she said. “I never do an ad or get paid to do something I don’t want to talk about or don’t genuinely enjoy. If things are gifted to me, I always give my full, honest opinion or just don’t talk about it.”
Photo: Emily Kaitlyn via Instagram
Kaitlyn has been blogging since 2018 and uses her marketing skills from another job to constantly grow and evolve her brand. She does not blog full-time yet, although she would love to in the future, and holds several jobs while managing her Youtube, Instagram, her own social media business, and her fashion and lifestyle blog, titled “EmmyKBlogs”.
Throughout her blogging career, she has grown and learned a lot along the way. When Kaitlyn first began to blog, she noticed buying staple wardrobe pieces and practicing minimalism when shopping has saved her quite a bit of money.
“Seeing my finances from when I first started blogging, I’ve seen a huge difference on how much I was spending then, versus now on clothing,” she explained. When she first started out, she fell into the pressure of doing what everyone else was doing, but that can turn out to be a slippery slope to an overflowing closet and an extremely long receipt.
“I found that I was spending a lot of money, which was definitely a challenge. Falling into the Zara and H&M hauls, and wanting to have what was working for each season,” she said. “I started finding that it was a bit too much financially and space wise, but then a year ago, I transitioned into what I usually wear, which is basic and minimal.”
She realized that she could build a staple wardrobe and wear the same pieces in a variety of ways. Her style matured with her as she picked up tips and tricks from the industry.
Photo: Emily Kaitlyn via Instagram
As a Canadian blogger, Kaitlyn’s biggest challenge might not be much of a surprise.
“[It’s] definitely the weather. In the winter time, it’s hard to shoot outside as you’re freezing your butt off trying to get that street style shot,” she said with a laugh. She’s also noticed that many other countries have a larger variety of clothing stores and here in Canada, she usually has to order online to get what she wants. There are also many more opportunities to work with larger brands that are based elsewhere. At events, people have assumed she was American at first glance and are often surprised that her blog is Canadian-based.
Shivani Rana, American-Desi fashion blogger, owner of her own clothing brand and influencer coach, has her own hot take on the fashion and blogging industry. She’s noticed that the industry has become more saturated, but she doesn’t necessarily see that as a bad thing.
“When it comes to fashion, most people have different styles and the fashion industry is willing to let everyone in,” said Rana. “The dilution is just allowing people to express themselves through fashion, which is a great thing.”
Photo: Shivani Rana via Instagram
Rana is a big advocate for diversity, inclusivity and representation and recognizing that these things are important and needed.
“Social media has created a voice for everyone and has helped brands realize that every body type and every colour is beautiful,” she said.
Against those that claim that being an Instagram blogger or model is not a job, Rana argues that a lot of time and effort goes into being a full-time blogger.
“The amount of work, planning and effort that goes into it is unfathomable. It takes aspects of business, psychology and entrepreneurship to convert sales for other brands,” she explained.
In response to money concerns, with a little laugh she said, “I know for a fact that the paycheck is not bad.”
Rana started blogging seriously almost two years ago. She explained, “Once I had received my first sponsorship, I started taking blogging seriously. Since then, it’s just been a continuous effort to be better and for constant growth … Even though I am not as big as most bloggers, I consider myself lucky to be able to live out this blogger life.”
Photo: Shivani Rana via Instagram
When asked about which clothing item they’d wear every day for the rest of their life, each blogger stopped in their tracks. If Shivani Rana had to pick, she’d be rocking a pair of mom jeans.
“Mom jeans are so versatile and I’d have no issue never removing them. I love me a good pair of mom jeans,” she said.
Emily Kaitlyn would have to go with a black turtleneck. “It’s one piece of clothing I wear every day basically, I live in a black turtleneck,” she said. “It’s the easiest day-to-day piece.”
Allysha Yung chose a different path. “One piece? Only one? I want to say sweats, because I think that is something that I realistically wear the most and am most comfortable in. I realized you can actually style it in numerous ways without making it look sloppy,” she said.
Yung stands strong in her stance that fashion blogging isn’t something that every single person will like or understand, but she is just sharing what she loves on her platform.
“Not everyone is going to like it, but it is a niche demographic and audience that you are really trying to target,” she said. “If you are passionate and genuinely love what you do, there is no problem at all. It’s a great way to express yourself and your creativity.”