Aimee Song - Capture Your Style: Transform Your Instagram Photos, Showcase Your Life, and Build the Ultimate Platform

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FOREWORD

BY

DIANE VON FURSTENBERG

As one of the fashion industrys most influential bloggers, Aimee Song is living her American Dream. With one perfectly curated Instagram photo at a time, she has become a symbol of todays successful, stylish young woman.

When I first embarked on my design career, I was eager to connect with American women and traveled from city to city to find out what they really wanted. I tied wrap dresses in fitting rooms all over the country and listened to their hopes, fears, and desires. I have always cherished that dialogue and intimacyit informed my work and kept me connected to my core audience.

Instagram is a fascinating way to communicate because it is about intimacy, of course, but it is also all about immediacy. In real time, you can express yourself to the world, from the places you go to the print you are wearing. Within seconds, I can learn how many people like a dress I designed, or dont like it, or would prefer it in purple. It can become rather addicting.

No one understands or has been able to tap into that addictive quality quite like Aimee Song.

As a leading influencer on Instagram, Aimee has mastered the art of documenting daily life. She has incredible charm and a sharp eye, and is able to capture emotions by elevating images and showcasing her chic personal style. And luckily for us, shes sharing her know-how with great insight and generosity.

Most important, Aimee understands that authenticity and transparency are the order of the day. I can relate to her desire to create a real dialogue with her followers, creating a community and connecting in ways I never thought possible through social media.

Instagram has captured the hearts of millennials (and just about everyone else). It has become a visual diary for a generation, allowing users to share photographs of the people, places, thingsand clothes!they love most with the people who most want to see them. When Aimee first told me about this book, I thought it was incredibly timely. There are so many aspects to Instagram, from composing beautiful photos to boosting your business, and she has finally written a guide to the platform that addresses everything that goes into a successful feed (and brand!). The book is equally interesting to anyone who wants to understand how millennials think and see the world, and Im so impressed by Aimees candor and honesty about the process.

Today, I still make time to drop by the dressing room, but I also find social media a great way to communicate with women. Instagram and other platforms have made it possible to have the most intimate of exchangeswith just the click of a button.

The most important thing, in Instagram and in life, is to know who you are and stay true to that. And Aimees guide is a wonderful place to start.

INTRODUCTION

When I was seven, I read an article about kids my age writing letters to kids who lived in places I could only dream about from my bedroom. The ability to connect with different cultures and learn about someone elses daily life from thousands of miles away seemed like the coolest thing in the world, and soon I was corresponding with new friends as far away as Australia and Indonesia.

The love and drive for human connectionsomething so prevalent in social mediahas always stayed with me.

It was with me in middle school, when I was bullied and I turned to a Korean social media network called Cyworld, where I was able to connect with people who shared my hobbies and interests, even though I spent a lot of time feeling really alone at school.

It was with me in high school, when I was turned away from the cheerleading squad and a chorus group, but I found thousands of people on Xangaone of the earliest blogging platformswho also liked to share funny memes, photos, and stories about how they sometimes felt alone, too.

Despite my love of early social media sites and exploring how they were used to foster connections, I never actually planned on becoming a bloggerlet alone named as one of the most influential bloggers by the same fashion magazines that have always inspired me. But in 2006, after my family ran into some financial problems, I put my dreams of attending interior design school in San Francisco on hold so I could get a job and help my parents make ends meet.

A kitchen-and-bath design firm near my house was looking for a receptionist, so I took the job and found I had time to peruse the Internet during downtime. I researched blogs, interior designers, artists, and other creatives who continue to stir me to this day. After work, Id continue my studies and sit in the corner of the bookstore until it closed, soaking up all I could in interiors magazines and art and design books. I would have taken them home had I not been saving every cent for school.

My dedication and love of the subject paid off when my boss moved me off the reception desk and let me work with clients. Soon I was actually helping people design their kitchens and bathrooms and, eventually, the rest of their houses, too. I was sketching architectural drawings, choosing finishes, and, most important, connecting with our clients and helping interpret their tastes into a home they loved. It made me feel so good to make other people so happy through design. And after three years of working my butt off, I finally saved enough to go to design school in San Francisco, just as Id dreamed.

While I was attending school in 2008and still very much active on Xanga and, then, MySpaceI decided to start my own interior design blog. I loved doing it, and my followers and the people I followed seemed to truly enjoy the pictures of the mid-century modern and layered Hollywood Regency rooms I would post.

Until I tried something a little different: my first outfit post. It was yellow and blurry and something I would never post now. But for whatever reason, it got a response. A good response. And it was fun. Although I didnt realize it at the time, my fashion and lifestyle website, Song of Style, was officially born.

Design posts became less frequent as outfit posts became my obsession. I remember the first time a brand reached out to me to send me clothing. I was shocked. Send? As in, for free? Where do I sign up? It was a pair of jeans that I would have bought in two seconds, so I couldnt wait to wear and share. The more I posted, the more my following started to increase, and the more brands started emailing me. My life didnt really change right away (except for the amazing swag), but, little did I know, a new app was in development that was going to revolutionize the way Id share my style with the world.

When Instagram launched and I joined alongside my fellow style bloggers, my picture-taking habit vaulted to an entirely new level. I could do a few daily, showcasing details of what I was wearing, as well as other tiny but beautiful moments throughout the day (from a Sunday-brunch feast to my sister and I laughing during an impromptu photo shoot at home to the details of a gorgeous handbag I couldnt wait to wear out on the town). It became a mini docu-journal of my life, a creative outlet that made me really happy to work on.