Friend Friday: Outside Wants In

This week’s FBFF is about outside influences, asking what else influences fashion bloggers other than just other fashion blogs.  It’s hard to really pinpoint what influences me, but maybe these questions can help hone in that answer.  What are your outside influences when it comes to fashion?

What magazines do you subscribe to?

Lucky, People Style Watch, Vogue

Do you watch any fashion TV shows?

I used to watch Project Runway quite religiously and also the first season of The Fashion Show, but I’ve since lost track.  I’ve also  watched a few episodes of The Rachel Zoe Project.  I guess the two shows that I’ve seen more episodes of would be Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and What Not to Wear (both the British and American versions).

Beyond blogs, what websites do you frequent for fashion inspiration?

I frequent a lot of online stores to get inspiration, mostly British sites like ASOS, Topshop and Plumo.  I like looking at online shoe store’s lookbooks, like those of Sole Struck and Jeffrey Campbell.  Since I frequent those sites to buy their clothing, I look to see what they pair their items with and then draw from my own wardrobe.

When I need an inspirational boost because I’ve got a “fashion/wardrobe block”, I just pop in a few of my favorite “Sex and the City” episodes or movies like “The Devil Wears Prada”, “Confessions of a Shopaholic” & “The September Issue” and I’m instantly inspired.

Advertisements play a huge role in forming public opinion about a product or brand… what ads do you like and why?

Coming from a media background, I’m very critical when it comes to advertisements and commercials.  I like clever ads, that aren’t necessarily humorous, but usually end up being pretty funny.  I really enjoy some of the Geico commercials lately (the “Is the pen really mightier than the sword?” and the “Hey woodchucks, quit chuckin’ my wood!” ones are very funny and clever).

I can’t really think of any magazine ads that are attracting my attention right now.  When I’m flipping through a magazine and see a striking ad, I’ll pay attention for the moment.  Then I move on to the actual content of the magazine.  I must say, that I do enjoy the European ads quite a bit.  When I went to Europe, the ads are just so much more bold, in both words and imagery.

Do you own any fashion books?

I only own a couple of books.  I own an older “Chic Simple” book and a Doc Marten book.  I own more paperback and hard cover novels, poetry books and concert/musical programs than anything else.

Fashion Beauty Friend Friday is a Google group for bloggers to converse on a given topic each week. Katy from ModlyChic sends the questions, bloggers post their responses and then add their post to the list of people sharing their thoughts on the subject matter. To get started, check out this great tutorial on Grit & Glamour here.