Scrolling through 21 year old Jessica Bialkowski’s blog (or looking at her flickr, for that matter) is like entering a dream world where everything is light and sunny, sparkly and sprinkled with a sort of ethereal cuteness. What stands out for me is her photography. Though her site is more personal diary than self-proclaimed “fashion blog,” there is still an emphasis on fashion and clothing. In Jessica’s photos, she captures clothing on its own, out of context, as well as in complete outfits she wears day-to-day.

What did you dress like in elementary school and how has your wardrobe changed since then?
I’m pretty sure back in primary school I just wore jeans (I think flares were cool back then, right?) and plain tops and that kind of thing. I don’t even really remember it that much because fashion wasn’t a huge focus for me, but obviously I have changed since then! For a large part of my teenage years I pretty much exclusively wore black jeans and band t-shirts, but since then my style has evolved to incorporate a lot of different things that I’m interested in (though I still wear band t-shirts occasionally) and I think it’s still changing and evolving now.

You seem to have a liking for bows, lace, and other little details in clothing now.
I think I always tend to gravitate towards clothing with a little extra detail, or if I’m wearing something plain I will add accessories to spice it up. I really feel like the details are what make or break the outfit and it’s where someone’s personal style really comes through. Floral dresses are a dime a dozen, but if it’s got a pretty lace collar or you match a cute belt and shoes with it, then you’ve created a look instead of just wearing a dress, y’know? Small details here and there make a big difference to an outfit and the overall impression that it gives people, so I always try to include a little something special whenever I get dressed.

What do you think contributes to shaping your style?
I think everything contributes to it. You can find inspiration anywhere - online, in the street, in the media, through music, books, or movies. I think generally my style is influenced by all of these things and by whatever happens to cross my path, but at the end of the day it’s my personal taste that brings individual elements together, and I am the one who shapes what I see into something that truly represents who I am.

We’re so used to seeing bloggers who only write about their outfits and clothing, and it can remove their personal styles from the contexts of their lives. How did you decide to incorporate a personal diary with a style blog?
For me it was more of a question of incorporating fashion into my personal journal because I have always used LiveJournal, so it was more about writing before it was about fashion. Even now I think my journal is still more life-orientated than fashion, but since the way I look and present myself is an important and fun part of my life, naturally it has become more prominent in my journal. At the moment I’m only working part time, but the industry that I want to get into career-wise (the management side of the music industry) tends to be pretty open-minded when it comes to style, so I don’t feel like that would hinder me too much.

You love op-shops (or thrift stores) and buy a lot of second-hand things. What do you like about buying used and vintage items?
There are several things I love about buying second hand items compared to new. Firstly, it’s the thrill of the hunt. You can walk into any chain shop and know exactly what you’re going to see, but when you go to an op-shop you can find just about anything - clothes, shoes, books, records, jewellery, perfume bottles, cute little ornaments, anything. It’s always a surprise and sometimes you walk away empty handed, but sometimes you find a real gem and to me that is much more rewarding than going to your local shopping centre. Secondly, I love that whatever you find is more or less going to be unique. There is probably more than one of it in existence, but chances are you will be the only person you know who has it and you can show your sense of style by picking out something that’s different to what everyone else is wearing. I also love that especially with the older items you find, there is a sense of history behind them and you never know what they have seen in their lifetimes. Op-shopping is also one of the only ways you can track down vintage fashion, even if most of it has to be hemmed! I also love the idea of recyling clothing instead of just buying new ones and throwing everything away - that’s quite important to me given the state of the environment and the impact that factories and large-scale manufacturing have on it. And of course, I love that op-shops are so much cheaper than regular shops. This is the first year of my life that I haven’t been a student, so money has always been tight with me and it goes a lot further when you’re spending it in op-shops!

Jessica’s Top Ten Style Influences (in no particular order)
1. Taylor Momsen: I’m talking about her current style here; there are certain outfits where I think she’s gone wrong, but on the whole I really love her look and how strong it is for someone so young.
2. Carrie: She seems like a really sweet girl and we have a lot of things in common, particularly when it comes to our taste in fashion.
3. Alexa Chung: A cliche response, maybe, but nonetheless justifed.
4. Alix: She is always so elegant and sophisticated.
5. Louise: Very sweet and girly but often with a bit of a dark twist that I love.
6. Blair Waldorf: Again, cliche, but utterly adorable.
7. The TV show Skins: Particularly Effy, Cassie (though there was always something a little off about her), and Emily.
8. The movie Grease: Ever since I was little I have loved the clothing in this movie, and whenever we went to the video shop I always wanted to re-rent it and watch it over and over. Not only do I love the girls’ clothing, but Danny Zuko is a BABE and I’m still in the process of convincing my boyfriend to try greaser hair.
9. Classic film stars who reflected the style of their time, i.e. Audrey Hepburn, Brigitte Bardot, Marilyn Monroe, Anna Karina, etc. I’ve grouped them together because I can’t pick a specific one.
10. Vintage Pin-ups: I just love the femininity of seamed stockings and garter belts.

- Stephanie Fereiro

Chances are, if you have even a passing interest in industry fashion, Tavi needs no introduction. Since starting her articulate fashion blog Style Rookie in April 2008, the now fourteen year old has become something of a celebrity both online and off. Case in point: when she wrote about her visit to the WORN Offices last month, I got no less than five e-mails from people I hadn’t spoken to in years saying some variation of “OH MY GOD CONGRATS FOR GETTING MENTIONED ON THE STYLE ROOKIE!” (for the record, friends of mine from middle school, we wrote about it here first).

Tavi was in town for Toronto’s Idea City, at which she spoke about the need for a Sassy-esque teen magazine for the new generation. We had a chance to talk to her about about the state of fashion today.

Is there a difference between fashion and style? If so, what is it?
There definitely is, but I’m not sure how to pinpoint it. I think style has a much clearer definition than fashion, which is such a broad term… I think the difference that is the most clear to me is that style gives more opportunities to be subversive while fashion usually entails rules. If you’re stylish, you’re creative and original, and if you’re fashionable, you know how to look attractive and uncontroversial.

When evaluating a fashion collection, do you think the aesthetics or the context of the clothes are more important?
I think about this a lot. I’m really not sure. I think it’s very difficult to project ideas through clothing, and I like that designers are creative with their sets and music and hair and makeup. It makes it more fun, plus fashion is very much about presentation. And, even if a designer chose not to use these elements at all, they would still be making a statement, I think? So I guess that when I look at a collection, I use the theatrical elements to help me interpret the designer’s message, but I interpret the strength of the actual collection by looking at how well the clothes can stand on their own without being dependent on the set and music and all that.

Has your opinion on any fashion labels changed after meeting the designers and learning more about the ideas that go into their lines?
Yes. Seeing Kate Mulleavy talk about her dresses (which I was seeing in real life for the first time, which is quite an experience) and about all the work and inspiration that goes into them put Rodarte even higher up on my favorite designers list.

I love Prada and Comme des Garcons forever, but learning that there was more of a team and less Miuccia Prada and Rei Kawakubo doing the designing was a bit disheartening. I suppose it was ignorant of me to imagine them sketching in a dark room with a single lightbulb alone at night, but still.

What level (if any) of responsibility and accountability do you think the fashion industry should have in presenting a diverse image of beauty? Do you think it’s important? Why? Where do you see opportunities for change (if you think change is needed)?
Oh man, hefty issue. It all goes back to the Charles Barkley quotation about being a role model… on one hand, I don’t think artistic vision should be compromised, but on the other, these images have influence whether those behind them want them to or not. Change is certainly needed but I’m not sure how to go about that. Something is definitely to be said for the way blogs and the Internet could help this movement.

What role do you think magazines have in fashion?
They have become more sacred now in the age of the Internet. Now you know that what you’re getting in the magazine you’re buying is really good, because it made print and didn’t go on their website. They’re part of the conversation in a way they weren’t before… I think magazines now play the role of inspiring as opposed to acting like guides, since it’s more convenient for everyone if trend reports and all that remain online. There is a need in magazines for timelessness, now that fashion moves even quicker than usual because of the Internet. The role they play is to give the readers the best of the best of the best; what is special enough to print. I think there’s also something to be said for the way print is becoming an increasingly more intimate thing… I know that my favorite magazines that I buy in print and cherish deserve tangibility either because they’re so beautiful and inspiring and high-quality or because I relate to them and that’s more special to hold in your hands. Olivier Zahm just complained about how bloggers don’t allow editors to have points of view, and this isn’t true — editors just need to strengthen theirs (I am certainly not saying all editors in general, I mean the ones who are getting nervous). When it comes to bloggers vs. editors, it’s the best content that will be the most successful. But really, I don’t think there needs to be any winners. Different people like different things and have different taste, and I think there can be something for everyone. Let’s all just coexist together. Man, I’m such a hippie!

interview by Anna Fitzpatrick
photography courtesy of thestylerookie.com

Gemma Correll is a UK based illustrator and creator of What I Wore Today (Drawings) - a favourite website of many a Wornette. Here, we chat with Gemma about outfit illustrations, zine making and tie-dyed leggings.

How did you dress in high school?
Well, at school itself I didn’t have a lot of choice, since we had to wear a uniform. But outside of school, I was into the “indie” style of tight band T-shirts and flared jeans- although I did also go through a hippy phase (tie-dyed leggings!) which I’d rather forget.

What is a typical workday like for you?
Well, it kind of builds up slowly. I am not a morning person, so I start the day checking my e-mails and guzzling coffee. After that, I run errands, walk my dog, go to the post office… After lunch, I’m ready to work. I’ll usually work from 2pm until 1am, with breaks for food, coffee and pug cuddles.

Shoes I Want / Good Hair

Were there any specific inspirations behind creating What I Wore Today?
I really enjoy looking at things like Lookbook and all of the Flickr groups where people post photos of their outfits, but I’m not so much into posting photos of myself online. So it made sense to draw myself in my outfits instead. It’s a good exercise in regular drawing more than a real desire to show people what I’m wearing (since I don’t have a particularly huge wardrobe or maverick fashion sense).

What do you believe to be unique to fashion illustrations that can’t necessarily be conveyed with an outfit photograph?
I think it’s to do with the style and the sense of self that comes through in a drawing. Photographs can get a little homogeneous whereas drawings show more of the person who drew it, whether they are an “artist” or not.

How do you decide which of your own outfits to draw? What makes an outfit illustration-worthy?
It’s actually more about how much time I have to draw. But I try to avoid drawing the same thing twice so it’s partly about that too. Also, if I have a new (to me anyway, since I buy my clothes mostly from charity shops) outfit I’m more likely to be excited about drawing and posting it.

You’ve also created a few zines – what is your favourite thing about zine-making?
I love zines because they don’t have a specific agenda. There might be a theme or a set size, but I draw them for fun rather than for work, which means I free up my drawing style and I’m more likely to experiment with techniques or media. Sometimes, I just have a lot of ideas that I want to get down onto paper, somehow and somewhere, and a zine is a great way to do this.

Gemma’s Top 10 Zine Makers
Mel Stringer
Craig Atkinson / Café Royal
Pacolli (Patricia Colli)
Ward Zwart
Will Bryant
Lizz Lunney
Kate Bingaman-Burt
Deth P Sun
Pikaland
Tom Gauld

- Hailey Siracky

Hayley Hughes is awesome. She’s a stylist, a street-style photographer, the creative director for Melbourne Street Fashion, and a fashion blogger - well, a fashion everywoman. Needless to say, her blog, Fashion Hayley, has been a long favourite at the WORN office.

What did you dress like in high school?
I was a little crazy in high school. It was 1998 and I was a “grunger”. My fave outfit was: red flares from an op shop (thrift store in USA English), a purple tie dyed slip dress from a market, pink fairy wings, blue hair, nose piercing, fake lip piercing which eventually became real, assortment of bindis on my face and lots of glitter make-up. Oh, and I carried an Elmo doll around who also wore fairy wings.

Have you always worn what you love, or has that come with age?
With me its always been about wearing what I love. Even as a kid when my parents wanted me to wear jeans and a t-shirt I would throw a tantrum because I wanted to wear a dress. My mum eventually just let me go and experiment with fashion however I saw fit. She tells me how my grandparents would call her up and ask mum to please dress me in something more respectable. She never did and I was able to leave the house in all manners of intensely stupid garb, but it was fun.

From reading your blog, I get the impression that you have a pretty profound love for Japan. Where did that come from?
My love of Japan all started when I bought my first copy of Fruits magazine in 2000. I was still at high school and I became obsessed with the crazy looks on the kids of Harajuku and I started to take my own street fashion photographs. I finally went over to Japan on a holiday in 2004 and absolutly fell in love with the country, vowing to move there as soon as I could. In 2006 that dream came true and I moved to Tokyo to teach English and get to know the fashion scene. I ended up becoming best friends with a girl from that very first issue of Fruits magazine I bought without realising it until I got back to Australia and looked through the old mag.

What differences and similiarities do you see in how people dress in Tokyo and Melbourne?
The biggest difference would be the amount of designer clothes. Melbourne just doesn’t have the access to a lot of it, and people are more inclined to wear op shop finds then spend that much money on clothes. Sure that is changing, Melbourne is getting more and more shops that import, say, Comme Des Garçons, but it just isn’t as prevalent as it is in Japan. In Toyko people also wear head to toe the same designer, say, all Vivienne Westwood, but that would never happen here as people prefer to mix and match pieces to make the look their own, whereas in Japan wearing the designer’s full vision is seen as something to strive for.

You have such a varied career - you’re a stylist, the creative director for Melbourne Street Fashion, and have your own personal style blog. What does a typical day in your life look like? How do you juggle so many different jobs?
The truth is it is getting harder and harder to do everything that I am asked to do. Right now I’m working on 7 different projects which require daily work, and I have a few shoots in the works too. I literally wake up and work from 9 a.m. to 2 a.m., often forgetting to even eat in this time because I’m just so busy. A typical day would see me wake up and check my e-mail accounts (I have 3) where I will find at least 50 e-mails, get through all of them within maybe 2 hours, depending on what they are. Then I will either edit photos for a few hours or head out to take some street photos. If there is a shoot on I will also be searching stores and showrooms doing sourcing. I will come home at about 5 p.m. and make my styling phone calls, e-mails, and again edit photos. I try to fit in a blog post and work on my new City Chic blog and styling work for a few hours. Somehow it will be 2 a.m. in no time and I will have to just go to bed to start it all again the next day.

Can you tell us about your styling work? How did you break into the industry?
My styling work has come about only in the last year. It all began when I decided to apply for a styling course and did a test shoot for my portfolio. I posted it on my blog and it gathered a fair bit of attention. By the time the course started I had worked on a few shoots and was getting more and more busy. By the time 2nd semester came around I found I had to give up one or the other, my styling work or my University Degree. I choose [to keep] my styling work and have been working on it full time ever since. I do not know why I have been so lucky for everything to work out as it has, but I know my blog has definetly helped me get this far.

What has been the most exciting or interesting project you have worked on?
The most exciting would have to be assiting on the Who magazine shoot with Miranda Kerr, Megan Gale and Ruby Rose. It was and still is the biggest shoot I have worked on. It was interesting to see how a large scale shoot like that works. I’m not there yet in my own career to do such big shoots, so that is why assisting is such a good idea for someone like me, you just learn so much.

What challenges, if any, do you face as a plus-sized girl working in the fashion industry? How have you overcome them?
I feel that people in the fashion industry look down on me, but I don’t let it get to me. I work hard at what I do and my work should speak for itself. What I look like should have no place in the equation, but unfortunatly it does. I do know that is has held me back for sure, but it has also opened up other doors for me which I am excited about, such as my new role at City Chic. Fashionable clothing for all sizes is something I am passionate about and City Chic has seen that and my creative vision and have taken me on board as a stylist and blogger. The role is ever growing and changing, it sure is going to be an interesting ride for me and them.

It is a trend right now for magazines to replace their typical models with plus-sized models. What do you think of this trend? Do you think it will last?
I think it’s just that another trend or fad. I do think its a good thing, but personally I think it should have happened a long time ago. I think it would be much more interesting if magazines always included everyone, skinny, plus-size, Asian, African, short, tall. There shouldn’t be a fuss made - it should just happen. I guess that’s why people are turning to blogs now, because they do represent all types of people. It will be interesting to see what happenes next with magazines as they try to get their readers back.

Fashion Haley’s top 10 Australian designers

Romance Was Born: Their Harajuku aesthetic just speaks to me.

Alhpa60: Their clean lines, minimal design but with an edge - be it a digital print or an asymetric hem - is just so Melbourne that I have to love them.

Limedrop: The cloud print. What can I say, everyone is obessing over it, and rightly so. Limedrop have really found their niche this season.

Arnsdorf: Celebrated by Garance Dore on her Australian visit, this local label is going places and not only because Jade Arnott, the designer, has moved to New York. Soft, peachy colours and classic tailoring with a difference makes Arnsdorf stand out.

Josh Goot: What’s not to love with his awesome digital print dresses.

Tina Kalivas: Having recently worked her hand at costume design for the Japanese film Goemon, Kalivas’s current collection has that perfect mix of ethnicity and modernity.

Reiss Radvanyi: Simple yet effective design loved by the Melbourne crowd.

Gorman: Should probably be in my top 3 as Gorman is a brand I go to when I have money to spend. The clothing looks amazing on me and I love the use of colour and most importantly the use of organice materials.

Kirrily Johnston: Kirrily’s work is on a whole other level, especially ever since she introduced a menswear line. I love the tribal, nomadic vibe of the current season and the use of knits and soft buttery leathers in interesting ways.

Trimapee: Trimapee are another local Melbourne brand that deliver every season, plus they throw the best parties. The current collection is Japanese inspired and of course that appeals to me a lot!

- Stephanie Fereiro