Hi there, I always love finding new blogs to follow through your blog. It is a great way to discover people with unique styles. I was wondering how you pick the people to highlight on your blog? Thank you

Asked by
personality-captures-the-heart

Hi! Thank you so much for sending me this question, it’s one that I’ve been getting a lot recently…

I started this blog as a way to showcase unseen artistic talent in New York City, which is where I’ve grown up for the past nine years. However since The Style Line’s inception, my vision and of course my reader’s needs and wants have changed. I decided to include international profiling in hopes that would inspire a much bigger amount of people, as opposed to only featuring New Yorkers - I didn’t and still don’t want people to think that New York City has to be the end result.

However, since the blog has grown I’ve become a little more stringent in terms of who I choose to publish, I pretty much base it on this criteria:

Personal Style: Does their personal style stand out? Is it consistent? Does it reflect bits of their personality? If I like an individual’s style, I’ll reach out to them and it’s very interesting to see their responses to my questions and how they correlate with how the person dresses.
Social Media: If the person has a blog, website, etc. I check it out as well to see a bit of their voice and content and what they are up to aside from fashion. I’ve interviewed some really great people in the past who are doing some amazing things in totally unrelated fields but still utilize fashion as an outlet for expression. It also helps if the person actively uses Twitter or Facebook, as I can directly @tweet them or include them when I publish an interview - It’s a win win as they can promote The Style Line with their feature too. Everyone gets exposure!
Location: I try to be as diverse as I possibly can when featuring individuals because that honestly is what makes it interesting. I find it just as appealing interviewing someone from a small town in lets say Ireland as I would interviewing someone from Paris or London. I think it’s great that even if someone’s city doesn’t really engage in fashion or trends, that they are still able to create their own.
Image Quality: Womp, now here’s where it gets a little technical. I used to be an advocate of showcasing a person with great style that doesn’t necessarily have the best camera or image quality, but for the sake of my own blog, I need it to look consistent. Therefore if someone’s photos are too blurry or highly-edited it’s difficult… I’ve become very fervent on the idea of less is more.

And in terms of the “A Closer Look” segment that I do, where I focus on designers, illustrators, photographers, etc. I happen upon them, or I reach out to these individuals based here in New York so I can actually meet with them and see a bit of their process - It’s really rewarding.

I hope this answered your question a bit more, and I really hope none of what I said turned you off! My goal is definitely not to exclude people from being a part of this site, but it’s gotten to the point where I have people emailing me asking to be featured and it’s so hard to say yes to everyone based on the time factor, content I need to push, etc. I’ve just learned to showcase the most amazing people to keep this blog fresh and inspirational. I do it all for you guys and it makes me so incredibly happy to receive such kind feedback!

But if you, yourself want to be featured or have any other questions please feel free to shoot me an email at rachelschwartzmann@yahoo.com. I would be happy to speak with you.

Thanks so much! xo