Category: Fashion and lifestyle

First Interview

Background: Molli Botnick, 21, Fashion Merchandising Major and a sales associate at Cheeky Peach downtown. 

Me: Hey Molli, I’m just going to ask you some questions about your involvement in Fashion and Cheeky Peach. What’s your fashion background and what are you up to now?

Molli: Umm so my parents own jeewelry stores in atlanta so I grew up in retail. When I was 4 my mom was a buyer for a store called nose for clothes.

Me: How do you spell that?

Molli: Nose, like the body part, and then clothes. They’ve closed now it was really sad. But my mom was a fashion merchandising major at Alabama. Fashion merchandising just seemed like the only thing that makes sense. I started spending a lot in college so my parents made me get a job.

Me: I feel that

Molli: So then I started at Cheeky Peach. I started as an intern and worked my butt off and got promoted to sales associate. Then in December I got promoted to key holder.

Me: Wow, I didn’t know that

Molli: Yea it has been an experience. But it has given me a place to call home and be around people who love clothes as much as I do.

Me: So has your passion or vision changed at all?

Molli: Well I wanted to own a boutique after college but now that brick and mortor stores are going out of business I have thought about moving to New York and working in the fashion department for magazines or something like that.

Me: That’s so different, what other goals do you have.

Molli: I would love to have a Birkin one day.. I will have a Birken. But seriously working under Katie, the owner of Cheeky Peach, has been so inspiring. She stresses how much she wants everyone to learn and thats what I have done. I was so sad to leave for the summer!

Me: how does working at cheeky peach and being a major how does that make you look at the Athens fashion culture.

Molli: Well Katie is friends with so many people, literally the housewives of Oconnee County, so I see people come in and spend thousands of dollars and it really pulls me out

Me: Move somewhere outside of Athens. Like a second location?

Molli: Yea, that is what seems like the logical choice. But Cheeky really does make you fall in love with Athens, we partner with Terrapin and Creature Comforts and Yourpie, and it makes you love everything about Athens. Sorry I ramble. But you get to see a lot more of Athens. Katie’s friends that come in are the VI Peaches (she laughs). There is just so much Athens pride in the store. 

Me: That’s funny, I like that.

Molli: Yea she wants it to be Athens. A really clean and trendy Athens. Sorry, I talk a lot.

Me: No, it’s fine this is all interesting. So do you see yourself working at another place like Cheeky Peach in the future?

Molli: I love retail. I’m a retail nerd. I need the experience. The class that we took last year, getting the right vibe and feeling in the store is so important to me. It’s kind of like people who like books who love the feeling or smell of a good book. I love that feeling of a store. When I see people downtown who stop me and say that I helped them or dressed them it makes me happy. I wouldn’t want to do corporate, but I definitely love retail.

Me: Thanks for letting me interview you today! I really appreciate it. 
Molli: Of course, hope all of my answers made sense.

 

Delish Vertical

Fashion and Lifestyle — Cline

I haven’t known for long what might be classified as a ‘vertical’ but it turns out that I’ve been following one for quite some time. I’m incredibly interested in the food arena of “lifestyle”. Though I know how to dress myself somewhat professionally, I certainly feel far more comfortable aligning myself with the culinary portion of this beat. In my free time, I often spend far too much time watching ‘Tasty’ videos on Facebook or exploring Delish.com.

Delish.com is very similar to the Facebook page Tasty, in that they specialize in putting out sped-up cooking videos. Who has time to sit and watch an entire cooking show just to learn how to make one dish? No one. That’s the entire point behind these one to three minute videos. Anything from boozie slushies to bruschetta pasta to four ingredient chocolate truffles can be found in accelerated video format.

These videos are paired with lively music and beautifully clear resolution to put forth an aesthetically pleasing final product for their website.

These recipe videos, though my favorite part of Delish, are not all the vertical has to offer. They keep up with weight loss stories, create entertaining listicles about kitchen renovations, and even have a category devoted entirely to the professional food industry.

It’s safe to say that Delish.com is a good example of not only a well done vertical, but a delicious one!

Vogue, Atlanta Magazine, and More

Fashion and Lifestyle

By Shelby Jarrett

I’ve been examining a few resources for inspiration on the fashion and lifestyle beat. The first of these is the charming and gracious Liz Best, who in fact began the master’s program at Grady at the same time that Sandra and I did, but decided to withdraw when she began getting crazy-awesome offers to do fashion styling for the likes of Coke and Atlanta Magazine (I mean, wouldn’t you?). Her Atlanta-based blog contains compilations of her favorite looks as well as her own photos of explorations in cities such as Los Angeles, New York, and Portland. Her blog can be found here, and she was gracious enough to give me a few pointers over the phone as well.

One of these recommendations was to further investigate Vogue, not just skim it in the doctor’s office or at Barnes and Noble. In addition to all the pretty, pretty pictures, Vogue has some excellent pieces on travel, beauty/health, and what we might call “feminine interest” pieces such as this one exploring how Jennifer Lawrence became the highest-paid female actress in Hollywood. While most of these pieces are beyond the scope of what I could do in a semester, they are excellent examples in terms of format and story ideas.

Lastly, to help perhaps put a local(ish) flair on my pieces, Liz was kind enough to recommend that I check out Atlanta Magazine, which features many articles similar in feel to Vogue (new designers, new trends, etc.), but with a distinctly Atlantan twist–one example is an article on the Atlanta-based app Color, which helps women of color locate expert haircare to meet their specific needs.

Through these and other resources, I hope to ground myself in fashion and lifestyle and come up with story ideas that are relevant to Georgia readers.

Where I’m At

Fashion and Lifestyle

By Shelby Jarrett

As a former history major and second-year master’s student, my experience with journalistic writing in general is limited. I am told on a regular basis that my writing still comes across as “academic” rather than journalistic, which illustrates how much I still have to learn (though I’m working on it all the time).

This lack of experience, however, is precisely the reason I was interested in the fashion and lifestyle beat. I’ve not had much opportunity to write on these subjects in the past, but many of my interests fall within the category of fashion and lifestyle–travel, food, interior decor, local culture, and yes, fashion (though most of you probably won’t believe that as I am usually in workout gear in class. My only opportunity to go to the gym on Tuesday/Thursday happens right before this class. I’m sorry.).

Additionally, many of the magazines I peruse in my spare time fall under this category. I enjoy Food and Wine, the occasional Vogue, and numerous garden and home decor magazines. I may not have much experience with magazine writing or even journalistic writing in general, but I am hopeful that my genuine interest in this subject area will mean that this semester is both profitable and enjoyable (and by “profitable” I think I really mean “prolific,” because does anyone go into journalism for the money? I think not.).

Cheeky Peach

The store Cheeky Peach, located in Downtown Athens, has made a complete transformation over the past couple of years. Starting out as a tiny boutique on a side street 2 years ago, the popular store recently opened its renovated location on Clayton St. Growing from a store known about by few to a mega-retailer with an awesome online presence, I have seen Cheeky Peach grow as my time at UGA has progressed. Cheeky Peach falls under fashion and lifestyle because the store has done an incredible job of capturing and presenting the trends of Athens while creating a lifestyle through their collections. From semi-formal dresses to throw pillows, the store has been transformed and dominates the Downtown boutique scene.

Cheeky Peach has a blog on their website that is updated a few times a month. The topics covered deal with their inventory as well as interesting topics that their target customers would enjoy reading. The retailer also posts on Instagram multiple times a day, some of which include giveaways or contests that customers can participate in. By using a multimedia approach, Cheeky Peach displays how their products fit into the Athens’ lifestyle.

https://shopcheekypeach.com/

Where I’m At

I have always enjoyed shopping and expressing my own personal style through clothes, jewelry and makeup. Downtown Athens has been one of the greatest aspects of attending UGA because of the diverse retailers that call those streets home. Besides the Athens’ boutiques, I also shop at department stores and online retailers that do not have locations near campus. Not only do I enjoy shopping and creating my own fashion, but being exposed to the many different people that live in Athens has been an eye-opening and exciting experience over the past 3 years. No matter how many people seem to be wearing the same type of outfits downtown and in class, there are always a wide array of diverse styles seen on campus on any given day.

When it comes to lifestyle, I have read women’s lifestyle magazines, such as Cosmopolitan, Self and Shape for many years, and the writing in those magazines is what originally inspired me to be a magazine journalism major. Being a staff member on one of those publications has always been a goal, or more of a ‘dream job,’ since I can remember. I do not have much experience with this type of writing, and I am happy to have the opportunity to practice and hopefully have some quality writing samples by the end of the semester.