Elsie Kassis, Blogger at www.diaryofafashionmuse.blogspot.com

Tell us about your wordsmith career path so far: I have been writing for as long as I can remember. As a child I kept journals which I kept going right through my early high school years. After that, when it came apparent that a career within the fashion industry was my ideal path, those journals simply evolved into scrapbooks. During my years of studying fashion design and then production, along with sketching and sewing for classes, I continued to write in my spare time at home. Those scrapbooks became my world. I filled them with various forms of inspiration from magazine cut outs, to quotes, to drawings, to article and story ideas and so forth. After years of studying and working within the fashion industry, I finally decided that writing about fashion was my real love and Diary Of A Fashion Muse was born.   

You’ve gone from being a fashion student to establishing a widely-read fashion blog that has now been nominated for ‘Best Fashion Blog’ at the Australian Fashion Awards. Does it feel like you’re heading in an entire different direction in terms of career? Absolutely. I started Diary Of A Fashion Muse due to my complete and utter obsession with all things fashion and my love of writing in general. It was an opportunity to see the ideas and thoughts in my head come to life. Almost like an online ‘scrapbook’ if you may. I started out wanting to be a fashion designer and along the way, it evolved into becoming a fashion commentator of sorts and I couldn’t be happier. Being nominated by my Industry peers for Best Fashion Blog when Diary Of A Fashion Muse is still less than a year old has certainly made me one happy little blogger!

What appeals to you about blogging, and how often do you post and why? Diary Of A Fashion Muse is a Fashion Industry Blog which covers all the latest collections from around the Globe, designer information, store openings, celebrity and model style, current trends and how to wear them, Industry news, the latest Advertising Campaigns, what is hot right this minute plus personal anecdotes of the trials and tribulations of fashion and shopping from myself, my friends and my readers. Diary Of A Fashion Muse is for the Fashion Obsessed as well as the Fashion L-Plater. 
I like to constantly inform my readers of the happenings within this Industry whilst giving them some personal information about my life as well and I love how I am able to do this instantly. I love the immediacy of blogging. How as soon as I get an idea about anything at all I can communicate it with the world in an instant and I think (and hope) that is what my readers like about it too, that they are constantly informed and ‘clued’ in. Due to this I happily post several times a day.

What is a typical day in the life of A Fashion Muse? It truly varies. Some days I will have meetings or interviews to attend, other days I am holed up at home typing away on the blog or for various other websites. If I have a full day at home I get up, shower and dress (as if I am physically leaving for work) and walk the 5 or so metres to where my PC is situated (a long and tedious commute clearly) where I will check and reply to my emails. I then reply to any messages I have received both on facebook and twitter and then go on to reply and approve any comments that have been left on my blog. If I have any assignments I need to complete or get started on I concentrate on those first and once they have been completed, I begin researching my next blog post. If I do have a meeting scheduled, I then obviously would take more care in regards to my outfit selection, do my hair and make up and grab my very cute LV Agenda and head out the door, stopping along the way to grab various newspapers and magazines to devour and to check my post box. I take breaks throughout the day to clear my head and regroup where I take my dog Harley for a walk, meet friends for lunch and go window shopping (it’s research, honestly).

Are you writing freelance for any other fashion publications, or do you prefer to concentrate solely on your blog for the mean time? I do contribute to other websites so when I am not blogging on Diary Of A Fashion Muse, I am pitching ideas or working on articles for them as well as pitching ideas for other publications  (ahh, such is the life of the freelancer!)

Most bloggers find that, at least ininitially, it’s very hard to get writing read by a large audience. What do you think has helped AFM succeed? Shameless promotion usually helps! Seriously though, I find that by posting relevant links on networking sites such as Twitter or Facebook helps spread the word however I have also realised that word of mouth seems to be working in my favour with Diary Of A Fashion Muse. The power of the Internet is truly amazing as I constantly receive emails from various readers informing me that they stumbled across the blog by accident. It has really has just grown on it’s own.

How did the idea for your blog come about? I had been wanting to start a blog for such a long time for me to really just share my love for all things fashion with other like minded people. It was Christmas Day 2008, I was at home aimlessly surfing the Net and just thought ‘Why not?’ and so I did. It really was the perfect step for someone like me who loves fashion and loves to write so by fusing these two areas together, I found that having my own blog was the perfect platform to successfully communicate both my interests to a wider audience.

What were some of the difficulties you first encountered when trying to establish an audience, build up the site, find your niche etc? I knew from the beginning that Diary Of A Fashion Muse would be for anybody interested in the fashion world, whether or not they were already in the industry, trying to break in or just had pure love for it. I also knew that the blog needed to be filled not just with industry news and information but it also had to have a personal slant to it as I found that when I shared any personal experiences, my readers tended to respond positively as they could identify with my anecdotes themselves. I have been extremely lucky in the sense that I never really encountered any difficulties when I established Diary Of A Fashion Muse as due to the various contacts I had within the industry, getting the blog out there was never a major issue for me.

Did you consult any mentors or guides to make the process a little easier? Not particularly. From the moment I decided on setting up Diary Of A Fashion Muse, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it so I just kind of went with what was in my head I guess!

Niche fashion and beauty blogs have really taken off in the past couple of years. Why do you think this is so and does that make you continue to strive hard to ensure AFM always has a point of difference? I think it is due to the aforementioned immediacy of it. With the popularity of the Internet, people are able to visit any website to get the information they crave constantly and in an instant and I also think it is because readers can really relate to the bloggers themselves and to what the blog is really all about. I know that before I started, I would read other blogs religiously and think to myself that I could possibly do something along those lines as well. I think Diary Of A Fashion Muse is fairly unique in that it is professional yet not intimidating. It really is just me in a nutshell as I share the things that I love in a way that is fun and enjoyable. I am approachable and have such a love for what I write that I believe (and hope) it comes across on screen.

How do you work with your blog? Are your postings inspired by press releases and industry news, your own sense of style and shopping patterns, or do you rely on the questions asked by your readers to write up your bits and pieces? A mixture of all of the above. My posts cover industry news, the latest collections, information on designers and the new advertising campaigns. There is also quite a strong focus on both model and celebrity style as well as personal photographs of my own style and anecdotes from my own various experiences. Readers will also quite often email me queries on particular subjects that they would like to know about and I happily oblige.

How do you think the layout, pictures and colour scheme of the blog enhance the overall writing experience? People respond well to images which is why I tend to use a whole range of photographs and illustrations throughout. I try to keep the layout fairly simple and straightforward as I prefer to keep the focus on the actual content of my posts.

Do you have a goals list that the Wordsmith Lane readers can have a sneak peak at? I don’t tend to plan too far ahead to be honest however at this stage I really would like Diary Of A Fashion Muse to keep expanding and to continue to reach the fellow fashion obsessed all over the world. Establishing my blog has really opened many doors for me and if anything I would like that to continue!

Give us one good reason why we should follow your blog. As I mentioned before, Diary Of A Fashion Muse is really for everybody, from the fashion obsessed to the fashion newbie. Come here to learn about the industry and to get to know what I am all about.

What advice would you offer to aspiring bloggers, freelancers and wordsmiths who want to follow a similar career path? My advice for bloggers is fairly simple: know what industry you want to write about, find your target market and just write. If it is truly a passion for you, it will come fairly easily. For freelancers, you will need to pinpoint exactly which area of the media you aspire to be involved with. You need to know that particular publication inside and out when pitching your ideas to them. For everybody who wants to write one way or another, you will need to become a vicarious reader if you are not already. Read everything from newspapers to magazines to press releases to newsletters. You need to be like a sponge and soak up all sorts of information from all areas of life in order to be a successful writer.

 Ten in the Hot Seat:

1.    Describe yourself in one word: Curious

2.    Biggest accomplishment to date: Being nominated in the 2009 2threads Australian Fashion Awards for Best Fashion Blog

3.    You wish you wrote: The Alchemist. Such a simple, beautiful tale that has changed the lives of so many across the Globe.

4.    Can’t leave home without: My purse, which is simply an extension of my body (albeit a stylish one).

5.    One thing you are currently writing: A piece about ‘Store Stalking’ – when you constantly visit the same store to lovingly stare at or repeatedly try on a particular item that for what ever reason you just can not bring yourself to purchase. This is what I call ‘Store Stalking’ and we are all guilty of it!

6.    First thing you wrote: An Illustrated children’s novel I was working on at home and which I gave to my 8th grade English teacher to mark!

7.    Addicted to reading: everything and anything. My tastes are endless.

8.    Top spot on your goals list: To expand Diary Of A Fashion Muse into an ‘interactive’ website.

9.    If you were a character in a novel, you’d be: Jo March in Little Women.

10.  The best thing about being a wordsmith: Being able to communicate in various mediums when you have a love for the written word is priceless.

TO VOTE FOR DIARY OF A FASHION MUSE IN THE  ‘BEST FASHION BLOG’ CATEGORY OF THE 2THREADS AUSTRALIAN FASHION AWARDS, CLICK HERE: http://www.2threads.com/fashionawards/vote#u

Tags: 2 Threads, Diary of A Fashion Muse, fashion