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Name of Blog: SecondCityStyle.com
Real Name: Lauren Dimet Waters & Carol Calacci
Start Date: July 2006
Your Life Story in a URL: WhichOneOfUsIsToBlameForThisCrazyIdea.com
Carol and I met and became friends through a business networking group we both belonged to. We bonded over our love of fashion and cars (in that order). We also agreed (three years ago) that Chicago women did not know where to find fashion. That confused us. There were, and still are great stores and boutiques all over the city, not to mention Chicago is one of the largest metropolitan cities in the country. There was really no excuse. So one night (after some wine... OK lots of wine) we came up with this crazy idea to challenge women to step-it up a notch. You know, by NOT wearing Uggs and Crocs in public, burning Mom jeans forever and such. What better way than with an online magazine?
So in September of 2005 we launched SecondCityStyle.com and it was slow going at first, but we gained traction. However, we only publish the e-zine once a week which is written by a staff of contributing writers and we had a lot more to say. Thus the creation of the blog. And the rest as they say is history. Now we have readers contact us from Malaysia, Northwest Canada, Europe and everywhere else. It's amazing.
Our basic mantra is that women after the age of 25 should not care so much about trends and develop their own sense of style. Know what looks good on each of us and run with it. Sure, buy some trends, but in moderation and for the love of all that's fashionable NOT spend all your clothing budget on trends. Save it for designer shoes and bags...our true loves.
Why do you blog? We started the blog as a way to communicate with our magazine readers on a daily basis. Since we update it 5-8 times a day, it has become a bear. A lovable bear.
What topic gets people going on your blog? Celebrity fashion posts. Especially when we do our weekly "WTF She Thinking?" which is a recap of the week of bad celebrity fashion. Other hot topics include our fashion exposes. Like the one we did last summer on a firm in China called Kontera that was ripping-off designer wedding dresses and selling them for under $200. The worst part is that they used the designers' photos on their site. The response was crazy!
What's your favorite local blog that nobody has heard of? I really don't read many other blogs. I don't want anyone to think we copy them so we steer clear except for the ones that our in our collection of fellow Blog Snobbers. However, I am addicted to PerezHilton. Sadly.
What have you learned from blogging? To really create a following it takes a lot of work! Blogging is not for those with no follow-through. We had no idea exactly how much work it was until it was too late. However, we love it as the response from our readers makes it totally worth it!
