Fashionista and Ballerina :: Candice

Candice is one of our contest winners at Mode Republic! Let’s learn more about her.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I'm Candice, a life & style blogger who loves a pretty dress and a bit of sunshine. I'm studying communications, and am working on writing a book for teen girls. A few other things to know about me: I absolutely love tea, I've studied classical ballet for 12 years and I enjoy public speaking.



How did you become interested in fashion?
From a young age I always enjoyed dressing up in glamorous evening gowns. My grandma would buy tons of them at thrift stores and alter them to fit me, so I could twirl around the house and put on shows for my family. I've always enjoyed putting together outfits, and to me, fashion is really an art form. It's a creative expression through textures and fabrics, showcasing a little of who you are to the world.



What inspired you to start your own blog?
A few of my friends had blogs and encouraged me to start one since I loved writing. At that time, I wasn't doing much writing since I was studying Business, so it became a creative outlet for me.



What are your dreams and aspirations?
Travel is something I really enjoy, so I plan to do a lot of that in the future. I'd also like to speak to teens across the country about the importance of living a life of significance, and publish the book I'm working on.



How would you describe your style? What’s your favorite look at this moment?
I would describe my style as a mix of feminine, classic and fun. It has evolved over time, and I'm happy to say I'm far more daring with my choices now then I used to be!

My favorite look at the moment is anything mint or floral. I can't get enough of these beautiful spring trends!



Where do you get your fashion inspirations?
I get a lot of fashion inspiration from reading style blogs and fashion magazines. To be honest, I can find inspiration for an outfit from just about anything. I'll see a texture, blend of colors or bold pieces I like and try to incorporate that into an outfit. It's important to me to find pieces that really fit and flatter; I love to feel good in my clothes!



Where do you shop? What are your favorite brands?
I like to mix high and low pieces so I frequent a variety of places. Forever 21, Lilly Pulitzer, Zara, H&M, J.Crew, thrift stores, T.J.Maxx, Ann Taylor Loft and Marshall's are all places I enjoy. As far as brands, I'm not really particular; however, I am still hoping to find a perfect pair of Christian Louboutins. Perhaps that will be my next splurge!



Congratulations again to Candice for winning the Mode Republic contest! Stay tuned for more fashion inspirations from Candice!

Fashionista from San Diego :: Jade Elise

Jade Elise is one of our contest winners at Mode Republic! Let’s learn more about her.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I'm from San Diego where I still live today. I'm a student and as of now, I'm undeclared...still trying to decide what I want to do!



How did you become interested in fashion?
I found some fashion blogs, in particular parkandcube.com and fashiontoast.com and from there the obsession began.



What inspired you to start your own blog?
Other fashion blogs in general. I enjoyed reading them so much that I decided to make my own. I made quite a few starting back a few years ago but wasn't satisfied with them. I kept deleting them and finally settled with these-days.com for some reason.



What are your dreams and aspirations?
I have many hobbies that I would love to master. Probably too many, but I would be happy if I could master my knitting, sewing, and piano skills.



How would you describe your style? What’s your favorite look at this moment?
This is the question I dread because I always give such a common answer! It truly does change often. Sometimes I want to be more preppy whereas other days I want to be more edgy.



Where do you get your fashion inspirations?
I read a lot of blogs but I'm trying to find other ways to find inspiration. Photography and fashion magazines are good inspiration, but I try and just wear things that I like or that I'm comfortable in.



Where do you shop? What are your favorite brands?
I love to shop from ASOS and Forever 21. I like Forever 21 for the obvious reason that it is affordable but what I love about ASOS is that I can find a wide variety of different styles and brands. I feel that I can also find pieces on there that aren't just 'trends'. I love to look at J. Crew also.



Congratulations again to Jade for winning the Mode Republic contest! Stay tuned for more fashion inspirations from Jade!

Fashionista from Minneapolis :: Ruby Girl

Ruby Girl is one of our contest winners at Mode Republic! Let’s learn more about her.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I'm Lindsey and I run a fashion blog out of Minneapolis. A few things you really must know about me. I believe the show Funniest Home Videos to be hysterical. My hubby has a deviated septum and therefore can never tell if I have bad breath. I most often put my make-up on in the car. And on a more serious note, I studied Child Psychology in undergrad and Social Work in grad school. I'm currently a counselor for Children & Families, and I love my job!



How did you become interested in fashion?
It all started with Audrey Hepburn. She's the one who first opened me up to my own feminine bent in fashion as a kiddo. In the last few years, my style has really started to become more cohesive. I've taken more risks and have gotten a good handle on my own taste.



What inspired you to start your own blog?
Ruby Girl Blog is my much-needed fashion outlet. It was born out of a combination of the excess flexibility I had as a grad student and the long hours my CPA hubby worked last winter. It's turned into a beautiful way to meet interesting people all over the world who share an interest in fashion.



What are your dreams and aspirations?
My faith is very important to me. My prayer for the blog and life in general is reflected in Psalm 4:6, "Let the light of your face shine on us". That through His gracious strength, I can reflect His heart. That as people get to know me, they start to forget about me and start to get curious about this God I adore.



How would you describe your style? What’s your favorite look at this moment?
You could call my style modern romantic. I love urbanizing feminine silhouettes and materials. I've self-titled my aesthetic "ladylike glam", cause I can do that. Yo.



Where do you get your fashion inspirations?
My inspiration comes from streetstyle, editorials, and my trendy readers!



Where do you shop? What are your favorite brands?
All of my looks are thrown together on a surprisingly low budget. As a bargain-shopper, I shop at consignment boutiques, thrift stores, Forever 21, Marshall's/TJMaxx, H&M. I do value integrating higher quality cutting-edge fashion items, and I am more recently discovering online boutiques like Zara, Asos, Lace Affair, Hallelu, and oh heavens, so many more.



Congratulations again to Lindsey for winning the Mode Republic contest! Stay tuned for more fashion inspirations from Lindsey – Ruby Girl!

An Italian Australian :: Maria Gallifuoco

Maria is one of the contest winners at Mode Republic! Let’s learn more about her.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.
My name is Maria and I live in Sydney, Australia (a.k.a The Most Beautiful Place in the World). Strangely, despite a degree in Science and a Psychology major, I began a fashion and street style blog- Fashion Fazer in 2010, and the rest as they say, is history. Now as well as being fortunate enough to run the blog, I'm also the founder an online store, Byrd Holland, that specializes in showcasing up and coming designers and vintage clothing.



How did you become interested in fashion?
I'm Italian, so fashion runs in my veins (only 50%... the other 50% is caffeine). Spending my early childhood in Europe definitely set the foundation for my understanding of colours and textures. Fashion is king in Italy, and the style tends to be very trend oriented and fastidiously co-ordinated. My family and culture taught me to pay special attention to detail, whilst Sydney style taught me how to look effortlessly chic. Sydney fashion excites me everyday, I work and live near Bondi and I get a lot of ideas just from watching the amazingly gorgeous women walk by!



What inspired you to start your own blog?
Fashion Fazer was born from a mixture of curiosity, and a desire to share inspiration with likeminded people. It's definitely been a learning curve, but now there isn't a day that goes by that I don't get an email from either photographers asking for collaborations, brands and designers, or PR companies. But I think what I love most is just the feeling of sharing a passion with like-minded people from all over the globe.



What are your dreams and aspirations?
My store, Byrd Holland, is about to be launched and the concept around it is basically to build a site that's heavily collaborative with bloggers from around the world, getting them involved in a lot of the processes. The vintage clothing on the store has the option to be bought as-is or with customizations such as Peter Pan collars and asymmetrical hemming. My dreams and aspirations are to build up the site, as well as develop the blog and be able to travel the world with it. What more could you ask for when your work is doing something you love? I live and breathe FashionFazer, Byrd Holland and photography, and have even driven 3 hours up the coast of Australia to source a specific vintage item for a customer. I love making people happy.



How would you describe your style? What’s your favorite look at this moment?
I've always found this question difficult. So many other bloggers have clearly defined styles and, maybe to my detriment, I seem to be always evolving and experimenting. I know that there's one thing that definitely drives my style and that's my curves. A lot of the fashion in Australia has that whole nonchalant, 'hanging' beautifully off a tiny body feel to it and it's definitely not something I can do without seeming like shapeless (or pregnant). Therefore, I get a lot of my tips from watching women such as Monica Bellucci, Sophia Loren, Beyonce, and Kim Kardashian. A look I seem to be experimenting a bit with lately is short hem lines with a soft, flowy jacket or cape over it. And random colour combinations like coral with electric blue or red with pink.



Where do you get your fashion inspirations?
My inspiration is more a result of moods and personal experience than the usual sources like magazines. I know that sounds a little new-age, but in the sense that I get into random moods and will be inexplicably attracted to the colours or fabrics, for example green, not only in fashion but in photography, interior design, and where I choose to spend my time (i.e. nature etc.). Sometimes I feel a little rebellious and I wear clothes that enhance that, sometimes I feel feminine and I do the same, so on and so forth. I've always valued humility so it's taken me a fair amount to accept that loving fashion as an expression of your creativity is not synonymous with vanity. Delicately choosing an outfit and being inspired by fashion does not detract from a person's intelligence, despite the stereotypes, I guess breaking down this preconceived notion has allowed me to be more sensitive to inspiration in life. Bloggers are pretty inspirational as well; at this year’s fashion week in Australia, I had the pleasure of meeting and dining with Mandy Shadforth who owns Oracle Fox. She's incredibly inspirational just because she's SO nice, has killer style and seems to radiate this creative, happy energy. I really look up to her.



Where do you shop? What are your favorite brands?
Where do I shop? Can I be bias and say Byrd Holland...? I am a huge fan of online shops, vintage clothing and DIY's. I'm a researcher by nature so I like shopping online and taking my time to meticulously plan my purchases whilst also avoiding getting harassed by overzealous shop assistants. Some brands that will always be in my wardrobe are Camilla and Marc, UNIF, Alexander Wang, and Alice McCall. I am a huge fan of Lover but haven't managed to add it to my collection yet!



Congratulations again to Maria for winning the Mode Republic Contest! Stay tuned for more fashion inspirations from Maria!

The Italian and New Yorker Influence :: Claudia Paola

Claudia is the contest winner at Mode Republic! Let’s learn more about her.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I was born in New York City, and I grew up living between Rome, Italy and NYC. I still live straddling the Atlantic, splitting my time equally between the two cities. I was always more artistically inclined (I loved to draw, act, and I played classical piano for about 10 years), but I was the type that focused most of my attention on the academic responsibilities of school. In college, I studied Middle Eastern Studies and the Arabic Language for 6 years and I got my Masters Degree in Near Eastern Studies. I love languages so much, and Arabic is so beautiful! I really love the culture and the people, and I think growing up bilingual (Italian-English) helped me a lot. For a while there, I thought I would continue in an academic direction, but after I graduated, my parents encouraged me to take some time off to explore other things and return to my artsy hobbies, and it's then that I got into blogging full-time; I'm now looking forward to getting back into my music, too!



How did you become interested in fashion?
Well, being from Rome and New York, two very fashion-oriented cities, I couldn't help but be attracted to it. Fashion was always a fun distraction for me, but I really became "officially" interested when I went to college. I attended NYU, and though my studies were not related to the fashion world, just walking around the campus was like looking at a live fashion show. Greenwich Village is so full of unique street style, and everyone is so expressive and creative with their clothes that I really became obsessed with studying people's individual flair and trying to spot the latest trends. It was then I started to read fashion blogs and magazines like NYLON, and to browse fashion sites, which drove me to try and find an identity for myself through my clothes. It's like an inner urge, and putting the outfits together and wearing them is such a release.



What inspired you to start your own blog?
My mom had been encouraging me for a few years to start my own blog. She had started reading food blogs, and seeing as I loved fashion, she thought it would be a great outlet for me to start my own blog. At the time, I was too entrenched in my studies, but I got my feet wet toward the end of grad school when my really good friend started a nail blog (we'd taken to browsing nail reviews as a way to distract ourselves while writing out thesis- my friend decided we might as well start writing our own nail polish reviews, too). The summer I graduated, with my studies behind me and my future ahead of me, I figured I might as well take my mom up on her suggestion and start "Molto Fashion". Once I started blogging, I loved it so much, I couldn't stop.



What are your dreams and aspirations?
To continue along a path where I feel inspired and can keep doing what makes me happiest, while meeting really great people along the way.



How would you describe your style? What’s your favorite look at this moment?
I always have a hard time labeling, but my favorite inspiration is Victorian/Art Nouveau, the bohemian gypsy 1970s, and the gothic/grunge 1990s. So if I had to describe it, I'd say: if you crossed Daria with Wednesday Adams with Stevie Nicks, I'd pop up.

My favorite look at the moment is "Watch out for the weirdos, girls." I am in love with the tones (cream and black are my favorite combo), and I was so pleased that their intensity came through in the photos. Plus, I was trying to capture some 90's vibes, especially with the crochet-knit top. I thought I'd top it off with a title that could add to the mood of the post, a quote from one of my all-time favorite movies, "The Craft," a time-capsule of all good things '90s, especially the fashion. I'm always looking to revisit those days!



Where do you get your fashion inspirations?
I get most of my fashion inspiration from people on the street; it's like a living Tumblr blog in real time. I also am really inspired by my surroundings: flowers, architecture, antique items lying around my house, and just New York and Rome in general. I'm beginning to realize how influential my environment and upbringing have been to me, and how it's helped me to cultivate an eye for certain details and to visualize things a certain way. Hopefully I convey what I see and how I see it on my blog.



Where do you shop? What are your favorite brands?
Most of my clothes are from Urban Outfitters (I love that store; I could buy out the whole thing! And plus, they always have great sales, and I'm a big fan of shopping sales.) I also shop a lot at H&M, Anthropologie, and Free People, as well as online vintage shops (mainly on Etsy). But my number one style trick is to shop in my own closet (as well as my dad's closet, my mom's closet, my grandmother's closet…) After all, what's old is always new again.



Congratulations again to Claudia for winning the Mode Republic Contest! Stay tuned for more fashion inspirations from Claudia!

Fashionista from Poland :: Mesmerize

Memerize is one of our trendsetters at Mode Republic! Let’s learn more about her.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.
My name is Kate. I’m 24 years old blogger from Poland. I have been married for 2 years. I studied pedagogy and actually working in an insurance company.



How did you become interested in fashion?
I think I became interested in fashion because a lot of the people around me are fashion lovers!

About 2 years ago my close friend (also Kate) showed me fashion blogs. Looking at those wonderful girls from around the world I decided to became one of them.



What inspired you to start your own blog?
I want to do something creative, to express my thoughts and opinions about fashion. So I started a blog - simply for fun.




What are your dreams and aspirations?
I love paiting so I always wanted to study art. But I also love clothes so in future it will be wonderful to open my own clothes shop.



How would you describe your style? What’s your favorite look at this moment?
My style is very simple. I feel very good in basic and minimalism. I love simple, uncomplicated combinations. So I select clothes in similar colors – black, white, grey, beige, burgundy, navy blue, khaki. Sometimes I use one thing as a strong accent – mostly it’s a bag.



Where do you get your fashion inspirations?
I get my inspirations mostly from blogs like: Victoria Törnegren, Moderosa, Afterdrk, This chick got style. I also read fashions magazines : In style, Glamour.



Where do you shop? What are your favorite brands?
My favorite brands are:
Zara – especially shoes, bags and coats,
H&M - everything,
Asos – dresses and cluths



Congratulations again to Mesmerize for becoming the trendsetter! Stay tuned for more fashion inspirations from Mesmerize!

Fashionistas from Indonesia :: Kekeangela

Kekeangela is one of our trendsetters at Mode Republic! Let’s learn more about her.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I'm 18 years old fashion lovers from Indonesia. Currently, stay in Singapore to study fashion marketing & management in Raffles Design Ins. I'm interested in fashion since I was in high school and fashion is my passion since that.



How did you become interested in fashion?
I loved to watch movies that related fashion and read fashion magazines since I was in high school. I became more interested in fashion since I know there's a lot fashion bloggers and suddenly, I always read their blog.



What inspired you to start your own blog?
Mostly from fashion bloggers. I never think I will have my own fashion blog too but, because of them I try to make my own blog, that's why K. Angelique is created. I love to share others about my styles and what I wear most of the days.



What are your dreams and aspirations?
I wanted to open my own boutique since I was in high school and it is still the same until now. My parents very support me but I need to wait until I finish my study.



How would you describe your style? What’s your favorite look at this moment?
My style is about random and actually based on my mood. But, mostly is vintage, edgy, feminine, quirky, and casual. Usually, I love to wear anything as long as it suits me.



Where do you get your fashion inspirations?
Fashion magazines, fashion movies, streets and fashion bloggers. But, sometimes it comes from my mind, also I can mix and match my own clothes.



Where do you shop? What are your favorite brands?
Unbranded boutiques. It is because they provide pretty clothes and cheaper. Another brands is Forever21.



Congratulations again to Kekeangela for becoming the trendsetter! Stay tuned for more fashion inspirations from Kekeangela!