Sydney Fashion Blogger has every girl’s dream job. From enviable designer dresses to accessories and lust-worthy handbags, her Instagram account is jam-packed with gorgeous shots. Make no mistake, Sydney Fashion Blogger is a businesswoman – the stunningly beautiful blogger has over 500,000 Instagram followers and is at the top of every exclusive guest list, and is an independent trailblazer of the digital age.
Rescu. Editor and Founder Bahar Etminan sat down with Sydney Fashion Blogger (her real name is Antoinette Marie Koulas), to find out how she went from fashion lover to fashion icon and all her tips for making it to the top of your game.
Watch our full Sydney Fashion Blogger interview here:
RESCU: Take us on the journey from your ‘aha’ moment when you thought, I’d like to try my hand at this blogging thing, to where you are today, one of the most successful and internationally recognised fashion bloggers.
Sydney Fashion Blogger: I’d have to say I was sitting at my desk, I was working in advertising as an account manager, working for a really big advertising agency, and just sitting there going through different kinds of blogs, magazines, looking online and just getting inspired by all the images.
Every day I used to send my manager a photo and we used to call it ‘inspiration of the day’. We used to sit there and drool over all these photos and one day I just thought, ‘you know what, I’m just going to put this in a blog. So I started posting and posting and all of a sudden people started enjoying and liking my photos, and commenting, and I felt like I was kind of inspiring people. So I kept doing it, and kept growing and growing, and then I just remember one day, we were at the Cannes Film Festival and I was sitting there going ‘oh my god, how did I go to my office to this festival, on a red carpet.’
I owe that to all the fans, and to all the people watching, and that was a pinnacle moment, just sitting there going ‘wow.’
RESCU: I think one of the things that makes people a fan of yours is that you’re the every girl dream. You yourself, and you’re always willing to put yourself out there, but you’re not so removed from reality that what you’re doing is unattainable. Do you wake up and have an idea in your head for what you will post?
Sydney Fashion Blogger: I take every day as it comes, with whatever I’m doing I try and dress up and feel confident in myself. If it’s cold or if it’s hot, I’ll just dress for that occasion. It may be that if I’m at an event, or if I’m just visiting my parents, I kind of just love playing dress ups and just trying new things and exploring fashion.
I get inspired by everything around me. Whether it’s celebrities, or it’s the everyday people, where you’re just sitting in a café in Bondi and you people watch and you get inspired by the way people dress. Or the little old lady with her beautiful pashmina on – I get inspired by all types of things.
RESCU: Do you have a favourite season for fashion?
Sydney Fashion Blogger: I love summer; I think summer is my favourite. But then, towards the end of summer I sometimes think, ‘I can’t wait for that cold beginning of winter, when you can just try something different.’
I love looking at overseas fashion and seeing what they’re doing, getting inspired by all the fashion. A really good friend of mine, Lee Oliveira, he takes the most amazing shots and I’m always there watching fashion weeks and getting inspired by the shots he takes. He’s got such a good eye for detail. I watch those street style photographers because that’s where the fashion starts, with the people on the streets.
RESCU: One of the things that I often hear about you is that you elevate the ordinary to the extraordinary and you inspire people. Does that come with a lot of responsibility?
Sydney Fashion Blogger: I try not to worry what anyone thinks and if I truly love something, I wear it, despite what everyone’s going to think or what anyone’s going to say. But sometimes when you do have a responsibility, and especially to the younger audience, you want to make sure that you’re not crossing any lines in a bad way, and just being respectful.
RESCU: Do you have any collaborations that have been a dream come true?
Sydney Fashion Blogger: I love getting sent those new collections from new designers that are young and fresh and just finishing their final year studying. Sometimes I just get chills, I go through their look books and just think ‘wow’ – they’re just so creative and they haven’t hit that commercial market so they’re so experimental with their designs. I love picking out clothing and wearing something new from those young designers.
I’ve had a few big celebrities ring these designers and want their dresses which is amazing for them, and I’ve just seen them in tears, and just not knowing what to do. I’ll say ‘just get on the plane, just deliver it yourself!’
RESCU: What are your tips for people who want to follow their dream, or follow their passion?
Sydney Fashion Blogger: I think a really important thing for a lot of people wanting to get into fashion, or who want a career change, is to do work experience. No matter what it is – say you want to get into fashion, just do what ever it takes.
If you are assisting a photographer, or assisting a designer, or even just cleaning up at the end of a shoot, I think that’s so important, because it’s all about just knowing how things work in the industry and meeting people and talking to people.
Learning from someone is free, you don’t have to pay. The most important thing is that work experience, you cannot buy that.
RESCU: To me, and to a lot of our fans, you are the epitome of modern glamour, but what does modern glamour mean to you?
Sydney Fashion Blogger: The biggest thing is to be confident. You can wear whatever you want but if you’re not confident the clothes are going to wear you. You want that confidence, you want to rock something and be confident that you look good. That’s all that matters, as long as you feel as though you love what you’re wearing and you love the way you look, it doesn’t matter what anyone says. If you love it, nothing can replace that feeling. You’ve just got to own it and be yourself, it’s all about confidence.
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