As promised, I wanted to share the back story as to how I was selected as one of Chico’s Holiday Style Experts and how this new position of mine landed me in their current Holiday 2016 catalogue, as well as highlighted on their blog.
So as a blogger/influencer, you hope to gain followers such as YOU, dear readers. You also hope to catch the eye of designers, manufacturers, agencies and brands. I am astutely aware of the companies and brands that are following my blog, however I had no idea that Chico’s was ~ until I received an email from them in early August of this year. It turns out that not only were they following … they wanted to TALK!
After a few phone calls and numerous emails, I found myself flying to New York City (again, back in August) for two jam-packed fabulous days because I was invited to the party!!! … also known as the Holiday catalogue.
This is how it all went down:
I woke up the next day in downtown Manhattan and hunted down the building where my outfit fittings were going to take place. I was the first Style Expert to arrive and was warmly welcomed by all of the Chico’s design, marketing and print team. Everyone was so nice and really made me feel comfortable.
The team had already pulled outfits for me and the outfits, along with my name and numerous images of me from my blog, were hanging on a rolling rack. They had also gathered a fine selection of shoes.
Heaven.
Now, I would have snapped all kinds of pictures of the clothing … but none of the items were available for sale yet and the outfits were considered somewhat “top secret”.
It was right around this time when the other Style Experts arrived. The first two were fellow influencers, Kim Mitchell Stokes and Danielle Rollins. I would have been excited just to hang out with these two fab ladies but then Chico’s model, An Hayward, (who is so stunningly beautiful your jaw drops) walked in the door, along with Maye Musk. YES!!! THE Maye Musk. #FreakOutMoment
The fittings took quite some time and consisted of about 20-30 people standing around you, assessing your outfit and deciding whether or not you should really wear that top with those pants, etc. One thing that really surprised me about this process was that Chico’s would ask me questions like: “What do YOU think, Jamie?” or “How would YOU wear this, Jamie?” … It was pretty fantastic that my opinion was being taken into consideration.
Although I had had a mani/pedi before leaving for New York, the team thought my nails should be red, so off I went to a salon.
I literally walked 5-6 downtown Manhattan blocks back to my hotel wearing these. Not one person seemed to care. #GottaLoveNewYork
The next day was the actual photo shoot and I woke up feeling like I was coming down with a cold AND I had a slight hint of an eye infection. Ugghh, this was so not good. I had to pull myself up by the bootstraps and did a lot of “Get it together, Jamie” self-talk as I walked to the shoot.
I was met by the most fabulous group of makeup artists and hair stylists would made me look glam and stuck with me the entire day. They gave me more of a “no makeup makeup” look and I did sneak a bathroom selfie of it. Shhhh … tell no one.
We were actually allowed to post glimpses of what we were wearing … they just didn’t want us to let the entire Holiday collection out of the bag.
And just like everything Chico’s does ~ the shoot was pure perfection. We were in most beautiful penthouse, surrounded by the most beautiful packages and holiday decor and noshed on the most beautiful and yummy foods. This was, after all, the Holiday catalogue.
.
My favorite picture and my favorite outfit is this one. … Sure hope Santa is reading this.
[ wearing this jacket, these jeggings, this necklace and these earrings ]
When can we do the next one? 😄