Whether you love or hate them, bloggers are on the rise. As we here at Brig can testify, writing is a powerful tool in the art of self expression.
You can write about anything that interests or inspires you, and in todays age of social media and online platforms, even put it out there to share with the rest of the world.
Blogging is open to anyone and everyone and what better time to start than now. You always have the possibility for a fresh start, a new year ahead, so why not discover a new passion?
Coming to you from the lovely Scandinavian country of Denmark (totally not a biased opinion) is 23-year-old success-story fashion blogger Laura Tønder, with her blog Couturekulten.
Laura’s blog started as a secret little project with a close friend in 2009 and has present day managed to mass a few thousand avid readers as well as almost 15 thousand Instagram followers. Having always had a passion for fashion and love for photography, Laura longed to one day be able to look at her own photos and have even just one of them considered the work of a real fashion blogger.
She’s definitely made it, not only as an established blogger, but even scored her dream job, currently working as a design assistant at high fashion label Munthe. With a degree in Fashion Design from Margrethe Skolen in Copenhagen, she was slowly but surely working her way towards the position, but because of her already prominent image in the fashion community one person led to another, and only five days later the job was hers.
Creating this online portfolio didn’t come easy. With hours on hours of hard work through planning, editing, and shooting, it could often feel like it wasn’t paying off, especially not the bills.
But asked of her proudest moment or accomplishment, Laura told me that what she’s proudest of is the feeling she gets looking through her blog, seeing all the progress it possesses and knowing that she’s created something strong.
After an incredibly interesting conversation with a girl who has already experienced so much, I’m here to reveal the top tips she has for other aspiring bloggers:
1. Choose a name that inspires you
The name Couturekulten easily translates to “the couture cult” and was a product of some magazine cutouts and a bit of imagination.
Laura laughed as she said that 16-year-old her had originally been drawn to the likes of names with “star” and “fashion” in them, names she’d been convinced were cool because they were what everyone else was using.
Instead she went with something a bit more peculiar, and to her surprise it became a bit of a trademark, a name that grew with her as she developed her signature style and fan following.
2. Find others who share and can support your interests – a public, already established platform
The odds that very many people will somehow randomly stumble upon your private blog are quite slim.
In order to have a blog grow and blossom, it’s important to sprinkle some seeds where others can help care for them, giving them light, love, and water.
For Laura this platform was a type of “look-book” called StyleGallery for the Danish magazine Costume. This forum allowed bloggers to post pictures of their outfits in a trusted community, giving them some exposure and feedback, and the ability to find others with similar interests.
3. Give some likes, and share some love
Everything will feel so much less intimidating the day you realise that you aren’t the only person nervous, new and just starting out.
Spread some love, tell someone when you admire them, and chances that it’ll come back around are significantly increased.
4. Don’t be fooled
Laura states that one thing she always hears from followers is how photogenic she is, and to that she just says, don’t be fooled.
In order to get five photos that she likes, she’s taken maybe 500. It’s all composed of the right editing, aesthetic, style, angles, and even just having a photographer you feel comfortable around is essential in creating these “naturally photogenic” pictures.
5. Don’t feel pressured to hop on the trend train
Even though being a part of a blogger’s network was a huge stepping stone in Laura’s Couturekulten success, an even bigger factor was when after two years of collaboration, she decided to break off on her own, and trust that the following she’d built would continue to support her.
She had a distinct vision for the future of her blog and wanted to stay true to it.
She was determined to be seen as the fierce fashion individual she is and not a cliché follower in the suddenly popular categories of food and lifestyle in which she felt she had no knowledge to offer.
6. Be brave
This answer was actually the result of asking what fashion trend she wished people were more into. She responded that she wished people wouldn’t say that there are things they wouldn’t dare to wear, or that they wouldn’t be able to pull them off as well as she or someone else does.
“Of course you can”, she urged, “I’m not a better wearer than you are, that doesn’t exist”. “Be more daring with what you want, try the trend, buy those shoes; just be brave.”
But if you aren’t feeling brave enough just yet, and writing is still something you’re interested in, contact us here at Brig and we’d be more than happy to welcome another person to our journalistic team.
To see more of Laura’s stunning work you can visit her blog at, couturekulten.dk, or her Instagram account also under the name Couturekulten.
