Poppy Dinsey of What I Wore Today turned ‘selfies’ into an artform, documenting every outfit that she wore for a year in her blog. The blog grew into an international phenomenon and Dinsey is now travelling the world as a fashion commentator and business manager.
Dinsey was in Australia to launch the new $300 million Highpoint Shopping Centre in Melbourne. We caught up with her to ask about life as ‘queen of the selfie’ and how to make it as a blogger.
RESCU: You’ve done the impossible and turned selfies into a full-blown fashion blogging career, can you tell us how you made the transition from fashion-lover to blogger?
Poppy Dinsey: I guess by not doing it intentionally – I had a full time job in tech doing other things and then I set up my blog on the side. It just grew naturally. I saw the business opportunity and grew it into a fashion site.
I’ve started a new blog this year poppyd.com so I can blog again, I had to start it because I didn’t have a chance to blog anymore and it’s what I love doing. That’s the downside of a blog that grows quickly, it becomes a business and then you have less and less time to actually do the blogging.
In terms of advice, you have to find a niche – mines always been based on my writing rather than pictures. That’s what is was for me.
RESCU: What is the most exciting part of running an international fashion community?
Poppy Dinsey: The opportunity to discover places, brands and styles that you would never come across in the streets where you live, it makes the world seem really small and accessible. I’ve been lucky enough to travel a lot thanks to WIWT.com and I’m in Australia purely because of it. I love meeting people from other places and cultures.
RESCU: Do you have any advice for people looking to become professional bloggers?
Poppy Dinsey: Be prepared to spend a huge amount of time dedicated to your blog, make sure it’s on a subject your massively passionate about. When you’re at the end of a 20 hour day writing and you’re at the end of your tether, you need to love it.
Do something slightly different or better to make it stand out from the rest.
You need to have a thick skin, the internet is somewhere people can comment and you will be scrutinised so you need to be able to deal with that.
Have patience – it takes years for something to grow into a professional blogging career. A lot of bloggers write to me disheartened after 3 months, I’ve blogged since 1999 – it’s not a new thing that has just happened overnight. If you stick at it and you’re good at it it will pay off.
RESCU: What’s in store for the future of What I Wore Today?
Poppy Dinsey: It would be great to raise the profile of WIWT.com with our male users, British guys can feel awkward about sharing what they’re wearing but it’s growing. Men are getting much more into what they’re are wearing.
The dream is to get the site to become part of what people do each day, just as you would check in or tweet what you’re eating for lunch, people will upload what they’re wearing each morning to the site.
Also I’d like to keep growing the site internationally, the UK is still very much our biggest market.
RESCU: You’re in Australia for the launch of the new Highpoint fashion precinct, what would you say are the key trends we should be looking out for this Autumn?
Poppy Dinsey: I can’t wait to get to Highpoint to check out all of the new retailers – they are actually running a promotion called ‘Poppy’s Pick’ where I’ve identified four key trends for the upcoming season – Sports Luxe, Metallics, Dark Romance and Oxblood.
Sports Luxe is huge – at home we saw a huge spike after the London Olympics and it’s still really big – wedged trainers are all over the high street. Also, metallics, leather and lace and monochrome dressing. Also, the 90s grungy trend – the Heartbreak High look – grungier denim and plaid shirts tied around waists.
