Arena Centar blogger challenge!

As some of you already know, I am participating in Arena Centar fashion blogger challengetogether with 7 more lady bloggers, challenge will start on April, 18th and last until mid June. As part of the project introduction, all participants did the short interview to create their bloggers ID’s, here is mine in English.

 Since many of you saw the link to this challenge and said “English please” J Bellow you can see all of the info about this contest.

Organizers are Arena Centar - currently most comprehensive shopping mall in Croatia which partnered with Krpa.hr awarded fashion portal (idea originator) which focuses not only on sharing latest fashion news but also on supporting young fashion talents so prospective models, fashion designers, makeup artists etc. from the region are invited to open their profile & virtual window and have their work featured on Krpa.hr.  

Arena Centar fashion blogger challenge is basically a shopping challenge where 8 participating fashion bloggers are split in pairs two by two, each pair shops on a different weekend, one at the time, on a limited budget, in Arena Centar and is followed by Krpa.hr camera crew during this 1 hour time shopping spree on a given theme (for example. business look, casual look etc.) in participating stores.

Each bloggers clothing selection is finally evaluated by 3 member jury where one member of the jury are online voters who will be able to vote on Krpa.hr Blogger challenge minisite for duration of this contest.

Final 4 contestants will continue to compete in shopping challenges until mid June when we will have the winner.

First episode will air on Krpa.hrportal on April 18^th @ 20:30pm. I am going first as an ice-breaker! J

Hold your fingers crossed for me please!

I wish....

Since I was a child, I knew what I wanted. 

I was not good in planning how to get to it as I can't keep my focus on one thing for a long time, but I always mutlitask. Most of the times I would improvise and I do most things last minute (which I would like to change) but I always know exactly what I want and I achieve it sooner or later.

My family used to call my plans and drawings “rich imagination” or “dreaming” but recent discovery of my “map of life” which I drew when I was 14 and theatrically and romantically burned a bit at the ends to make it look more vintage.

Finding this forgotten map in my room surprised my family quite a bit, every single point of this map was very precisely completed, from my life and studies in US, my basketball career, my choice of a certain type of men for boyfriends (tall menJ ), career focus on fashion and working in big company afterwards.

So…I decided to use this post as my "grown up map", as there is obviously some truth in the fact that you accomplish things easier when you put them down in writing (I am the living proof as it seems :)).

Just to explain...I am not making a to do list here…God knows I have to many of those. I am meerly writing this as an inspiration board and as a draft of my plans for the next couple of holiday days ahead with an overal guidelines for what I would like next year to look like for me. I hope you will to find it inspirational or at least calming :)

I wish…

....for a stress free,work free Christmas dinner with my family.

“Other things may change us, but we start and end with family.”

 Anthony Brandt

...I wish to spend more time and give more of my undivided attention to my attention craving and human childlike acting dog Papi…

“My little dog - a heartbeat at my feet.“

Edith Wharton

I wish to continue to grow and learn doing the job I love every day, exploring my interests in fashion through my blog & my column while learning to be more patient and open with people and slowing down a bit now and then…just to be at peace for a while and clear my thoughts here and there...

“It is only when we silent the blaring sounds of our daily existence that we can finally hear the whispers of truth that life reveals to us, as it stands knocking on the doorsteps of our hearts.”

K.T. Jong

I wish everything goes well and we welcome the first baby in our family in about 8 months from now (no its not me but I like the suitcase)...

“A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten,

and the future worth living for…”

I wish to have a great relaxing fashion crisis free first New Years evening with no special expectations with my boyfriend.

"We will open the book.  Its pages are blank.

We are going to put words on them ourselves.

The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day."

Edith Lovejoy Pierce

I wish no one would ask me again why do I do it or if it’s hard…cause they just don’t understand…yes I am sure, yes I like it and I choose it to do it my way...

“Missing someone gets easier everyday because even though you are one day further from the last time you saw them, you are one day closer to the next time you will.”

Blogging 101 – 5 lessons by Yvan Rodic the Facehunter

This year at 16^th Dreft Fashion Week Zagreb I was fortunate enough to be a host of my fabulous and always fun to be around friend Yvan Rodic the Facehunter. 

Last year when we met during Milan’s fashion week I told him about Dreft Fashion Week Zagreb and young and developing blogger scene in Croatia and we decided to organize a blogger intro lecture and book signing as part of Dreft Fashion Week Zagreb activities where Yvan could share his inspirations, his personal experience and his view of what blogging is all about. Yvan’s visit and his blogger lecture I thought came at the right time for young and aspiring Croatian bloggers to get the basics from someone who made his hobby into a profession.

Croatian blogger scene is still very young and there are no professional bloggers but it is growing daily. Most of the current Croatian fashion bloggers are photo bloggers who take pictures of themselves or their friends in captivatingly styled outfits and about 90% of them write in Croatian and are women. Croatian blog which I most frequently visit a street style blog Croator.net.

YVAN’S STORY

Yvan blogger story has started in 2005. when he got a quit simple camera as a Christmas gift, at a time he was working as a copywriter in advertising agency. In 2006, he started his blog on Blogspot.com and was contributing at the coolhunter.com with his street style photos. In 2006. The street style became a phenomenon. Yvan got his first big opportunity in late 2006. When he was paid by GQ online to take photos for them on various fashion events. 


In 2008. Yvan has started The Facehunter web TV show, while in August 2009. Inspired by colorfulness during his travel and seeing various cultures Yvan started a new blog  - visual diary: www.yvanrodic.com . This blog is more personal and it contains inspirational imagery from Yvan’s travels – cities, people, festivals, scenery etc.  
In March 2010. Yvan has issued a book called Facehunter which includes more than 300 inspirational street style photographs from his fashion travels. 


Bellow I highlighted a number of most interesting points from Yvan’s lecture.

Lesson #1: IF YOUR MAIN GOAL IS TO BECOME RICH, DON’T START BLOGGING.

Lesson#2: BLOG(GER) AS A BRAND

I liked the way Yvan described growth and development of his blog and expending his area of interest, going from just taking photos as a hobby to making it into a paid, full time, life long journey including: working on 2 blogs, issuing a book, organizing photo exhibitions, doing a web TV show, speaking at conferences and collaborating with well known fashion brands. 
Talking about living a dream and doing what you love to do! J

               

                                                   Photos by Matija Habljak (dalje.hr)

Yvan on bloggers impact on fashion industry: “Fashion used to be a dictature and now it is a democratic game.”

Lesson#3: HOW TO EARN MONEY?

There are obviously numerous ways a blogger can earn income by placing various ads on his/hers site. Some of the most popular/obvious ones are:adNetworks (GlamMedia, Indie Click and BlogAds), affiliate sales – you recommend a product from the site, someone buys it and you get a pre-set percentage for recommending it (Google Adsense, Shopzilla, Amazon  Associates, Commission Junction etc), collaborations - with clothing, accessories and/or beauty brands (ex. Rumy & Forever 21, Scott Schuman and Burberry and Facehunter & Armani).

Lesson#4: DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EDITORIAL AND COMMERCIAL

While talking to Yvan before the blogger conference I have mentioned that this is the area which would be good to clarify to start up bloggers. My primary concern was transparency with what bloggers declare to their readers as a paid commercial work and what as an actual editorial creative work. So, editorial is work/post/shoot you are not doing as ordered by a third party and for which you are not being paid while commercial or advertorial work is something you got offered to do by a third party and you are getting some sort of compensation for it – not always money.

Rightfully so, Yvan said that as a blogger, you are in position to be your own editor, web designer, journalist and agent so all these “departments” in one person may interfere and indeed we all know there are a corrupted bloggers as there are people in any other profession.

Lesson#5: GETTING AN AGENT

Although the specialty of being an agent to a blogger is still undeveloped, there is a first specialized agency for this kind of work DBA www.thedigitalbrandarchitects.com . Yvan mentioned that he does not uses their services but he does have an agent whose job is to get him commercial, paid jobs.

I thank Yvan for being our guest and I encourage those who haven’t already to check out his work on: www.facehunter.com  and www.yvanrodic.com . Follow Yvan on Facebook & Twitter!

Hvala Yvane! J

CONTACT

La Passion pour la Fashion does not take money for writing regular blog posts, each sponsored post will be stated as such and it must fall under category topics of my blog.

Opinions stated on this blog are my private ones and in no ways reflect the opinion of the company I work for - Procter and Gamble. Original materials contained on La Passion pour la Fashion are proprietary and should not be used without La Passion pour la Fashion consent.

For advertising and other cooperation inquiries within categories covered in this blog please email me at: katarina@lapassionpourlafashion.com.

Opportunities to work with online and print media as freelance contributor, providing expertise or quotes, or as part of a feature story are always appreciated, for such inquiries please select one of the bellow listed contact options according to request urgency.

Katarina Štimac

Founder & editor
Email: katarina@lapassionpourlafashion.com

www.lapassionpourlafashion.com

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ABOUT

I am a passionate fashionista writing lines of life, lyrics of passion and lines of passion for fashion.  Fashion is indeed very important and influential part of my personal aesthetics. All of the categories I cover in this blog are luxuriously illustrated and viewed from personal à la mode point of view shared in a way I would share it with my girlfriends over a cup of skinny peppermint mocha.

MISSION 

To share my growing up life and love lessons, my commentary to current fashion trends, developing local fashion industry and business of fashion all through the eyes of a true fashionista.

LINES OF LIFE  are posts which reflect emotions and life lessons I learned and  went through in different stages of my life, these are the lessons of growing up which based on your feedback many can relate to and find comfort in.

LYRICS OF PASSION are the impulsive, spear of the moment lyrics that come to me randomly when I am in love.

LINESOF PASSION FOR FASHION are posts related to current fashion trends which I recommend to follow, fashion events reviews and commentaries from business side of fashion with a special focus on Croatian fashion industry and eco-friendly fashion.

INTERVIEWS are quick interviews I did with young and talented fashion designers, editors and business people from fashion world with intention to get better picture of what is happening in backstage of fashion industry.

I SPY is the collection of my travel diaries and reviews of various fabulous places I recommend you to visit worldwide.

URBAN GENTLEMAN  is the collection of posts which refer to current trends in menswear but also talk about male-female relationships from female point of view.

I hope you will enjoy reading and commenting my posts as much as I enjoy writing and sharing them with you lovelies. 

Love,

Katarina Štimac, La Kat

Founder & editor

Email:katarina@lapassionpourlafashion.com

www.lapassionpourlafashion.com

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