Aspiring Couture: The Swelle Life

The Swelle Life is a beautiful blog composed of all things amazing! I love the photography, the content, and the great referrals she offers. I look to this blog to find things of quality and class! I happen to be a major fan of blog designs, and I am just in love with the design of this one! So this week I am recommending you take a look at The Swelle Life and follow her latest adventures!

So, why not find what she has to say about her blog, the future, and some tips for you new bloggers out there!

The Swelle Life

To start, what is the purpose of your blog? What is it about?

In a nutshell, my blog is a celebration of all things beautiful, as seen in fashion past and present, cities such as Paris, art, photography and design. I also use my blog to support young talent, emerging designers and people who are doing special things that I feel others should know about. My blog is very visual (and can also tend to be wordy) and features a lot

of my own photographs.

What inspired you enough to start blogging?
It was my first trip to Paris, actually! Oddly, I'd begun setting up a blog in 2007 to help promote my shop of accessories that I made, but it wasn't until March of 2008 when I returned from my trip that I felt inspired to actually begin writing. I was so moved by my experience there that I had to share it. And then it became not about promoting my shop but rather developed its own unique momentum.

Your blog is very successful now, but what was it like in the beginning? Did you ever change the content or just stick to what you knew you loved no matter what?

Well, in the beginning it's tough because not many people beyond friends and family (and sometimes not even them!) are reading what you're putting so much effort and heart into creating; no one knows you're there. I would post every three or four days and eventually it became a daily thing as I found so much that I wanted to write about. And still my audience was

quite small, but I began to receive emails from readers who told me they really enjoyed my blog so that encouraged me to keep going. I felt my blog had a unique perspective and if there was just a few people who appreciated it that was enough to continue. As for the content, if you look back to my earlier posts you'll find that my writing style, my 'voice' is pretty much the same - which is a combination of goofy personal stories, analysis, heavy drooling over beautiful details in fashion and photography, humour, and the odd tasteless comment.

What inspires you to write and to continue to write?
As long as I have something to say, and there are beautiful things in the world, I'll be writing about them!

What are your dreams and aspirations of The Swelle Life? And do you have anything exciting in the works that will be coming up soon?
Well, some amazing things have happened so far that I hadn't even dared to dream about when I started! Like being invited to shows at Paris and New York fashion weeks. I'd like to continue with what I'm doing now with The Swelle Life and be able to build up my fashion writing portfolio which ranges from reviews of collections and interviews to publicity for talented designers and see where that takes me. I'd love to write for a good fashion/style/lifestyle magazine. As for what's coming soon I'm just getting back into doing what got me into this in the first place, which is making accessories. I hand felt bags and other things from fine merino wool and cashmere fibres and I'm just finishing a neck piece that I handfelted and embellished with Nottingham lace, silk ribbon and beautiful vintage glass buttons. I hope to find a way to keep up my blog and also re-launch my shop. There has to be a way!

What tip would you give to newer bloggers that maybe you have seen newer bloggers make as a mistake?
I'd say figure out what it is that you really love and why you love it,and present a unique perspective, make your blog something that is different from everything else because it reflects you as an individual. Don't just rehash what's already out there. Have confidence that you have something worth saying!

Also, you have to do it for yourself and have no specific expectations, just write from the heart about what you love and see where it takes you. I think that's the key to success, being pure about it and others will follow. It may take some time to build an audience so be patient, and I'd highly recommend becoming a member of Independent Fashion Bloggers (http://independentfashionbloggers.org/) if you aren't already. The site offers a wealth of valuable information and tools that bloggers at any stage will benefit from.

What are some of your favorite blogs?
There are far too many to mention all of them but as well as reading blogs about fashion - specifically emerging designers (Aspiring Couture and Dreamsequins) and handmade and vintage (Shrimpton Couture blog) - I read many art and design blogs, like Reanna Time
http://reannatime.blogspot.com/ as well as those that delve into curiosities from history and literature, which you can find in my 'Something Different, Something Wonderful category in my left sidebar. And anything about French culture gets me at Bonjour! Visit Paris Parfait
http://parisparfait.typepad.com for the most gorgeous photographs of Paris and wherever else this talented photographer travels!

What couldn't you live without?
Sunlight, love, my husband and daughter.

What do you do when you are not blogging?

I love food, travelling with my family, taking photos, watching something on TV to make me laugh, berating myself for not being more productive, and sleeping!