SXSW talky talk: Trust me, I'm an expert.

A couple months ago, I about fell out of my chair when I got an email from SXSW asking me to speak on fashion blogging. In a way, I felt like an impostor. Me speak on fashion blogging? Don't they know that Jane and Judy live here in Texas? Or that Kelly comes back home every SXSW? Or that Kendi is just up the road in Kerrville? There are many other fashion bloggers with much bigger audiences, but I was honored to be asked and jumped at the chance.

By no means do I think I am the end all expert voice on fashion blogging. In fact, I don't even consider Adored Austin a fashion blog (I call it a "personal, self-style and local lifestyle blog"). I don't make a ton of money from doing my blog and I don't know if the way I do things should be the way that everyone should do things. But, nonetheless, I did just helm the Texas Style Council Conference, and I do work closely with a lot of brands and shops and have insight on how brands and bloggers can work together effectively. Plus I really like public speaking, even if I'm not a rock star at it, yet.

A quote of mine was tweeted and retweeted, so I thought I'd share it with you so you could get an idea of how my discussion went down:

Audience question: What do you do if you are approached by a company to push a product that you don't particularly like?
My answer: I wouldn't. I can't. My readers would call me out on it. For instance, I could never wear...
[and this is where I stalled. I was trying to think of something I wouldn't wear... fur? No. I wear fur. Leather? No. I wear leather...]
-- uh, I would never wear a coat made of cheeseburgers. No wait! That sounds awesome!"

For the record I would wear a cheeseburger coat. Longtime readers know that I love me some cheeseburgers!

Alas, I did not wear a cheeseburger coat. Instead, I kept is classy in a maxi:



date: 14 March 11 | occasion: SXSW presentation
dress: Lulu*s | belt: Buffalo Exchange | sandals: Savers | bag: Epiphanie

I was excited that Turi and Natasha from ModCloth, Andrew from Portable.tv, Caroline from Lucky Magazine, and Naomi from Teen Vogue were in attendance. The room was almost full, and everyone looked really great and added a lot to the discussion. I could get used to this speaking thing.

In other news, I should consider finding a cheeseburger sponsor for Adored Austin...