Top industry leaders and tastemakers in fashion headed out to The State of Style Summit at the 92YTribeca this past Thursday, October 11.
Hosted by StyleCaster, the event brought together inspirational figures from Elle’s Creative Director Joe Zee to the face behind DKNY PR GIRL Aliza Licht in hopes of “unlocking the market, communication and design potential of new media to democratize style”.
This day-long event offered a plethora of advice but personality seemed to be the overarching theme of this year’s panels. “Personality plus YOU IN EVERYTHING U DO #stateofstyle” Mary Alice Stephenson, the style influencer behind the covers of Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and Marie Claire, and more, tweeted during the 2nd State of Style Summit.
Your voice is the most important tool you have to make your brand known and launch yourself into the public sphere. It is imperative to always remain true to yourself. Aliza Licht, the voice behind popular Twitter personality @DKNY advises: “Trust your tone and your instincts, if you don’t want to read it, then your audience would probably not want to either”.
The summit explained that brands and bloggers who have a point of view are the ones who will make it. After his “Muses and Media Moguls” panel Joe Zee told StyleCaster: “You know what I love [when it comes to] bloggers? I like the ones that are just stream-of-consciousness – where sometimes you’re thinking, “Did you mean to write that?” Those are the ones I love … It’s so raw and unfiltered.”
Use blogging and social media platforms such as Twitter to share your personality with the public. “Cut through the clutter.” Many bloggers discuss the same topics but the really good ones set themselves apart with a point of view. At the summit Lucky Magazine Editor-in-Chief, Brandon Holley claimed: “bloggers or magazines that don’t have an opinion, that try to be everything to everyone – that will go away”. So find your niche and roll with it – don’t try to cover every single spectrum. “Readers are savvy. If you write something inauthentic they won’t return.” Authenticity is key and you need to make sure you are being yourself at all times. The value is in the authenticity.
To get to the next level you need to “break through the noise” and “make it real”. As Joe Zee said: “ Joe Zee told StyleCaster: “Stream of consciousness will always win out because that’s really about personality. The look is the look, but that’s a two-dimensional thing. The minute you have a voice behind the look, that’s when people connect to you on an emotional level. And that’s going to take you so much further.” So remember – personality is key.
