I started the The Chic Fashionista.com back in 2008. Initially I intended for it to be a place where I could gather everything I knew and learned about fashion, but it has grown to be so much more – an online fashion resource where women could find everything they want and need to improve their style while maintaining a chic and classy look.

Many people think that 25 is a young age for an image consultant. I do agree that having lived longer provides a wider time span for trial & error with fashion, and not least an interesting development of personal style.

However, I hope that this website can show you that having passion and drive for something you love can be of tremendous value to others 🙂

What Fashion is for Me

At 13 I already knew how to spend my money wisely on clothes (but I was far from perfect!) My friends would often compliment me on my outfits and latest purchases. What I wore was far from expensive, but I knew (for the most part) what looked good on me and channeled that into effective sifting through clothing racks without having to spend a fortune.

There were some people who told me that I was superficial and impractical for having such a “materialistic” interest. I admit that I have a soft spot for pretty and beautiful things, but that’s not the only reason why fashion excites me.

Fashion was a way to escape. In the same way some folks enjoy a glass of red wine, read boat magazines or collect figurines.

And most importantly, fashion for me, was and still is an art form of self-expression that adds color to the seriousness of what most people make out of life. It’s like this fuel, that once you milked it, a passion and positivity started rubbing off on all areas of my life.

Dream of becoming a Fashion Editor

I can remember myself at an age 14 surfing the net searching for fashion inspiration when I stumbled upon About.com’s fashion section (this was way back in the early 2000’s) and soaking up on their their fashion tips and printing out every page.

I remember thinking that their fashion advice was helpful and practical, but I felt it lacked depth and a friendly voice. So I imagined myself being the editor and webmaster of the site, playfully thinking up of ideas on how I would improve the content 🙂

Childhood Dream Becomes Reality

Fast forward to the summer 2008. I had some experience selling e-books online in the past but it wasn’t until a few years later I realized the huge potential of the Internet.

With my passion for fashion, I decided to create a website where I could collect all of the fashion & style knowledge I had acquired since I was a very young teen, after countless years of shopping, reading fashion books and putting together outfits.

I already knew how to create websites (thanks to studying IT & Communications for a year). I loved every bit of the process of establishing the website – from designing the layout to editing images, and also writing the content.

So on September 23rd 2008, The Chic Fashionista.com was born. I started the site with a few articles on color and body shape analysis, and continued to cover topics based on my reader’s requests. A few visitors a day steadily grew to several thousands (Edit: Close to 10’000 uniques per day. January, 2013). To put my skills into practice I also started doing consultations with friends.

Becoming an Image Consultant

In 2010 I decided to get formal training in image consultancy and color analysis to build on my skills.

Seeing the potential through my site’s hundreds of thousands of hits and the demand for affordable style makeover my readers were requesting from me, I just KNEW that I was meant to be a helping hand in their quest to improve their style!