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Fashion Friday Interview: Gina Pell of Splendora
- Author: Vivianne Lapointe
- Posted on: Friday November 13, 2009 at 4:00 PM
- Filed under: exclusive, gina pell, splendora, fashion blogs
You know the phrase the apple rarely falls far from the tree? In the instance of fashion, this seems increasingly true. In print, Anna Wintour is almost as iconic as her legendary magazine, Vogue. The same is true in the digital world, where the web wizards of our favorite fashion blogs are as intriguing as the feisty editorial that they maintain (like some that we featured some fav blogs here.) Since JT.com is interested in all thing digital and all things fashion, we decided to talk one-on-one with the top icons of digital fashion to get the inside scoop of their industry.
Our first interviewee?
Gina Pell, the female powerhouse and fashion guru behind Splendora Style and Culture Radar. As Splendora launched in 1999, Gina is unabashedly one of the first fashion bloggers - and as she estimates Splendora averages over two millions views a month, it's still going strong.
For all of you aspiring fashionistas out there, take notes:
INTERVIEW WITH GINA PELL, SPLENDORA.COM:
Photo credit: Jessica Stout Photography
JT.com: What first inspired you to start Splendora back in 1999?
Gina Pell: I started Splendora because women were always asking where I bought my clothes and accessories, or for advice on where to get decent beauty treatments. This was long before the days of Style.com and 2 million fashion blogs. I basically designed and coded the first prototype and had the benefit of being surrounded by the web's earliest entrepreneurs - most of my friends were on the founding teams of AOL, Yahoo, Google. Everyone I knew back then was an online entrepreneur, and many of them still are.
JT.com: When did you first realize you were making a (digital) impression on people or fashion?
GP: When we had our first in person event in 2001, which we advertised solely through our email list (and charged for!) Over 1000 women turned up.
JT.com: How many views do you get a month now? And how many people do you have contributing to the site?
GP: We get 2.5 millions of impressions to our site per month and we work with a group of roughly a dozen freelancers at any given time.
JT.com: How do you feel fashion blogs changed or evolved since you first launched?
GP: I think some fashion blogs have gotten savvier as a result of better access to events. My London editor actually got a seat at the Burberry fashion show - unheard of in years past. She was sitting next to the Sartorialist editor.
JT.com: Any big trends or changes you've noticed - content-wise or design-wise?
GP: At Splendora we decided to streamline and simplify. I noticed that others are starting to do the same.
JT.com: Who is a fashion icon or figure you've been increasingly impressed with recently and why?
GP: It sounds trite but Lady Gaga is surprising me. Last year, we ran a poll Lady Gaga: Genius or Jive and most people voted Jive. The results were 52% in fact. But since then she has really shown that she is not only a phenomenal musician but that her fashion antics are actually more performance art. She's a lot more avant garde than I expected and she takes risks that don't seem as calculated as let's say Madonna. (We featured Lady Gaga's newest video HERE.)
JT.com: What do you think of the new rule that bloggers must disclose what they receive for free?
GP: I think it makes sense and it's something that we do at Splendora. The more bloggers can understand the ethics of separation between editorial and advertising the better. Besides readers are smart they can smell "pay for play" a mile away.
JT.com: If you were robbed of everything designer that you own save one article of clothing - what would you choose it to be?
GP: While I love fashion and sparkly, soft, beautiful things I've learned not to become attached to material objects. I used to have a heartbreaking collection of vintage jewels that were stolen from my house in 2004. I was sad for about ten minutes before I realized I was lucky that nobody harmed me or the people I love to get to my jewelry. I would much rather have everything taken away than to have me or anyone I love traumatized by violence. Sorry for the heavy answer but at the end of the day I just don't care about things I can replace.
JT.com: What's your best tip to people on how to be fashionable while still surviving the recession?
GP: I've tried to take my attention away from shopping and focus more on caring for myself and others - paying attention to my beauty rest, taking my vitamins, spending time with friends, looking into ways I can help people who have less...
During the heyday of Sex In The City, women went through a crazy overspending era and I'm glad to see those days are over. Women's brains can handle more than the lastest shopping info which is why our Splendora Style & Culture Radar covers topics that range from architecture to pop culture and everything in between.
Interview conducted by Vivianne LaPointe
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