Entrepreneurs with really cute shoes: Lucky FABB September 2011

This post is the second of three about Lucky Magazine‘s 2nd Fashion and Beauty Blogger Conference, held on September 7th. The day was so jam packed, I need a few posts to talk about it!

“Entrepreneurs with really cute shoes.” Scott Galloway, professor of marketing at New York University and founder of L2.

According to Scott, that’s what the 200+ bloggers who attended Lucky Magazine’s Fashion and Beauty Blogger Conference were.

He’s right.

Last week, I was lucky enough (again!) to go to Lucky Magazine’s Fashion and Beauty Blogger Conference, held on the eve of New York Fashion Week. Having been to Lucky FABB in February, I had a feeling of how the day would go down, but I was still blown away by the whole day. The event, as a whole, just exploded. There were more bloggers in attendance, more brands involved, and more information to take it. Just to give you an idea, at the first Lucky FABB, there were three “suites” (sponsored by different brands) to explore in between panels. This time, there were 13!!! We definitely didn’t have enough time to see everything- I even skipped the last panel to try and get everything in- so I’d really like to see Lucky work on that for next time. Maybe one less panel and use the extra time to network, explore the brands, make new connections.

There were so many influencers in the fashion and beauty industry present: high level creative and marketing executives from White House Black Market, Express, Club Monaco, and Birchbox; bloggers from The Man Repeller, TheGlamouri.com, and The Covetuer; high end fashion designers, and more. Even Kim, Kourtney, and Khloe Kardashian Odom made an appearance!

There were three themes that wove themselves throughout the entire conference, starting first with Diane von Furstenberg’s incredible keynote talk:

Authenticity
Diane spent most of her talk explaining to us how she believes that “the most important thing in life, in love, is authenticity.” Bloggers need to be authentic by staying true to who they are and standing for what they believe in.

Passion
Rachel Roy spoke most about this, with one of the best quotes from the day: “you won’t be successful without passion.” Seriously, 17 people retweeted that quote after me. She advised us to chose careers that we are passionate about, because work shouldn’t be work or “just” a job, it should be a lifestyle. If you’re not passionate about your job, then it will be work.

Kelly Framel, founder of TheGlamourai.com, blogs about what she’s passionate about and works with brands she believes in. To Kelly, that forms a more natural relationship if you start working with a brand. Makes perfect sense to me!

Truth
Adam Rich, cofounder and editor in chief of Thrillist, said it best: “your audience must trust you.” Put up honest content, form honest relationships, and you’ll be successful.

It was a wonderful, inspiring, exhausting day that I would trade for anything else. Congrats to Caroline Waxler and the rest of the Lucky Magazine team for putting together a fabulous day!

Below are some pictures from the day. Check out more on Facebook!

Lucky Magazine’s editor in chief Brandon Holley kicking things off.

Building Your Brand in 2011 panel: (a very pregnant) Rebecca Minkoff, Rachel Roy, Coca Rocha, Essie Weingarten, Scott Lipps, Jen Ford (moderator)

The Kardashian sisters said their grandmothers inspire their fashion. I thought that was so cute!

Rodger Berman, Rachel Zoe’s hubby and president of Rachel Zoe, Inc.!

Me and the lovely Meghan of Meg’s Mumbo.

The scene at cocktail hour. Jam packed! Ellie Goulding serenaded during the happy hour. I love her!