Recap: ♣ St. Louis ♣ Fashion Week

Having just started at Alive Magazine at the beginning of October, I plunged right into the heart of STL arts & culture as PR intern for St. Louis Fashion Week from October 9th-18th. The magazine is the co-sponsor of the biannual Saint Louis Fashion Week, so I was swamped daily. Alive is a lifestyle media publication for emerging urban professionals in the STL area. It covers everything from local food to the arts to fashion to the burgeoning startup scene in STL. As a PR/Marketing intern, I worked directly with the press during #STLFW, assisting Alive's Marketing Director in coordinating the flow during the shows, driving bloggers & VIP guests throughout the week, & acting as PR backup. It was a lot of work, but I'm glad to say it was an incredible experience & an insider's look into the fashion industry, media production, & event management.  

One insight I gained was a peek into bloggers' impact as media. I will admit, blog aesthetics might feel more redundant in 2014 than they did in 2009, but the power of blogs is HUGE. Blogs are blank canvases carefully curated/written/advertised as media influencers, authorities, and sources of creativity. Alive flew in six "Special Guest" bloggers whose blogs are not only their own earning quotas, but also marketing points for Alive's digital strategy. It's crazy how much of an impact the viral nature of social media had in propelling these bloggers to fame, fortune, & opportunities. The market side of the web is truly fascinating. Anyhow, here are some highlights...

• ·Heavy hitter attendees: Fern Mallis (creator of NYFW), Christine Barberich (R29), Derek Blasberg (Harper's Bazaar editor & STL native) 

• the draanks! Sponsors included SkinnyGirl Wine, Redd's Apple Ale, Pinnacle Vodka, etc. and guess who got to be a "bartender" for the 10/16 After-party? (I just gave out the leftovers for maybe an hour, but SO much fun!) 

As you can see, the venue was absolutely gorgeous! The St. Louis Union Station is an incredible space in beautiful art deco style & a Halloween-esque "light show" in Grand Hall. The perfect location to showcase STL's rich history and to resurrect its "garment industry" legacy.

As I mentioned, I dealt directly with the press (at the Media Table check-in) and (less directly) with the bloggers, who I chauffeured and helped "supervise" their STLFW-sponsored freebie activities. These included a trip to Naturalizer (sponsored by STL's own Brown Shoe Company) with a complimentary pair of shoes; a delectable lunch at The Cheshire; a tour of St. Louis highlighting the Loop (with store discounts & lunch at Salt & Smoke), Forest Park, & the City Museum, sponsored by the CVC; & a complimentary dinner from Hiro Kitchen.     

My favorite part of the week was perhaps the last event, which was coincidentally on my birthday (October 18th!). Held at the Sam Fox School of Design at Washington University, Alive co-sponsored STLFW's Fashion Forum, featuring fashion industry experts (in design, branding, publishing, etc), professors of art, design, & theory, and blogger entrepreneurs. I only saw 2 talks, but I was very impressed. 

 Myself with P. Ryan, my fellow PR intern (& an amazing blogger!) for the week!

 xo ♡ SFB

!!! На здоровье !!!

***Note: This was my 1st blog post & outlines the intentions for Russian Dressing, published on October 27, 2014.***

Welcome to Russian Dressing!

Hа здоровье is the typical Russian toast “to health,” which is the ultimate “wellness” goal I want out of this Образ Жизни  (“lifestyle”) blog.

Some background info-my first foray unto Internet Land was during the  “golden age” of 2006-2007, between the height of Myspace and the rise of Facebook. Maybe it was because I was a youngin' or maybe the Internet truly was a novelty, but surfing the Web felt FUN back then. I spent hours on the Teen Vogue forums, where members shared anonymous outfit posts, advice, and the first seeds of blogs. After years of lurking/Facebooking/Pinning, I have finally joined the blogosphere. I've always been interested in fashion, in food, in lifestyle branding, and in magazines. 

Enter 2014-we're addicted to social media. Normcore is "in" right now for a reason-why would we want "brand names" (the craze of yester-decade) when we exchange our personal brands on social media? What's the difference between a sell-out and a sales(wo)man? To this day I still gravitate to the “anonymous” sites that remind me of the Internet’s freedom and creative capacity that social media once encompassed. Aside from my 9th grade blog-induction with the Teen Vogue Forums, it was actually Reddit that inspired me to take up blogging in 2014. 

We’re at the point in which capitalism has invaded our psyches, defining us by the goods that we buy, the numbers we represent, by the fact that we are human capital. Am I excluded from this? Absolutely not-how can I say I'm not a little materialistic, wasteful, and greedy? I'm American and proud of it. At the same time, I do not want this blog to be defined by what I buy-I want to touch upon the spiritual as much as I need &/or use the material. How and why will elucidate the content of what I produce in the blog.

I intend for the content of this blog to be somewhere in between the content of http://www.reddit.com/r/FoodPorn and http://www.reddit.com/r/shittyfoodporn. A well-curated and -styled Reddit post that is as aesthetically pleasing as it is practical, authentic, and realistic. 

{Vice meets Refinery 29 meets frankie magazine}

 Also, because that middle ground touches upon the elegance, strangeness, extremism, and even the folkloric kitsch and whimsy of my dearest Russia.

The Recipe for Russian Dressing:

• Outfits
• Keto-friendly recipes (sometimes visually appealing, sometimes not so much)
• Health tips (fitness, food, beauty-related)
• Art & design (papercraft, music, nail art, creative ideas, whathaveyou)
• Documentation of my budding career
• Critiques relating to the spiritual, physical, & ideological ordering of society 

Why Russian Dressing, you ask?

The real Cold War-Is that Baskin Robbins in Putin’s mouth?

"Russian Dressing” is a pun for my love of food, fashion, and all things Russian. My obsession with Russia flavors a lot of my life, which I hope this blog captures. I graduated from Wesleyan University in May 2014 with a degree in Russian Studies & International Relations. I had planned on moving to Moscow after graduation, but unfortunately, given Russia's current political situation & antagonism to American business, that fell through.

На здоровье is the central element and background story to this blog because I am using this blog as an inspiration,documentation, & celebration of wellness. As much as it is a resource, the Internet can certainly promote some less than healthy phenomena. In years past it did in fact feed my sickness, plunging me deeper into depression, anxiety, and seclusion. It is not a valid excuse, but I don’t think I was ready to create a blog until now.  

 xo ♡ SFB