3 Instagrammers Worth Following During NYFW

I am pretty sure New York Fashion Week exists to remind how much I wish I worked in fashion (and to get angry at my 16-year-old self for not following through on pursuing that dream). Not to reveal next season's trends and inspirations to the industry or give buyers a clue on what to stock their shelves with or to spur hundreds of fashionistas to hit the streets with the hopes of being captured by style photographers. Nope, NYFW is all about me. ;)

Image via Hillary Kerr's Instagram feed

This has all been exaggerated in the last year by my discovery of personal style blogs (yes, yes, I was hilariously late in the game) and Instagram. I love getting up-to-the-minute coverage on what is happening at Lincoln Center and beyond, but I feel like my feed has been clogged with some (not so) humble brags about how cool and important bloggers are in getting to attend the shows. I think I would share their excitement, too, but as a far-far away spectator, I want to get a sense of what is actually happening at the shows and what awesome looks we can expect for spring.

Luckily, there are a few Instagrammers out there who understand my pain and are dishing up some awesome insights from the tents. (Again, this is all about me.) And they are:

The Glamourai—I love her Instagram account for the same reason I love her blog. She has serious fashion industry and styling knowledge! She understands the little details that go into making an outfit look complete and timeless, and isn't focused on just piling on the latest trends Similarly, she Instagrams (that's a verb now, right? Just the way Facebook became a verb like seven years ago, yes?) amazing pictures with commentary that actually shows she understands the designer's perspective and where it fits in the greater fashion landscape. Not just "OMG OMG OMG I love this FRONT ROW OMG!" but things like this photo from Rebecca Taylor's show that remarks the look is "1980-meets-lady today."

Birchbox—Half the fun of Fashion Week is seeing the makeup looks designers are picking to best complement their collections. Birchbox, the amazing beauty products discovery platform, is sticking to what it knows and covering NYFW from this perspective on their Instagram. Earlier this weekend they were following around the fabulous Bobbi Brown as she created soft pastel and matte looks on the models at Tibi (seriously, how pretty is this?!?!).

Hillary Kerr—As the editorial director of Who What Wear, she's keeping her feed very much about what's coming down the runway, with an occasional personal outfit pic peppered in there. The main WhoWhatWear feed is equally informative. I spy white leather, metallics, denim mixed in with both of those, blacks, geometric prints, lots of sneakers, and a bevy of jackets. Can we just skip fall/winter, please?

What do you think? Am I taking the humble brags too personally? Or do you agree? Are there any other Instagram accounts you are turning to for quality, thoughtful NYFW coverage?

Snapshot of #StyleMeJuly

Hellooooo. I thought I'd give you a quick preview of what I've been up to with #StyleMeJuly (this month's rendition of the awesome style photo prompts put on by Hilary Rushford; more info here). Some of these outfits make it over to the blog, but others live inside Instagram. Here are some of the ones I had the most fun with this month.

Day 6 "Channeling Audrey"

[Top: Crossroads Trading Co. (last seen here)]

Oh how I would love to wear Audrey's signature black Givenchy dress, or the more casual pearls-polo-scarf-skirt seen here. I had to make do with what was in my closet, so I pulled out a 60's-era vintage blouse with the neck scarf already built in (talk about efficiency!).

Day 10 "Retro Moment"

[Shorts: Banana Republic outlet (last seen here); Pink Oxford: Gap, swapped; Sweater: Forever 21; Shoes: Sperry]

Retro might call to mind bell bottoms and a giant afro, or a super short, geometric print mod dress, but I went a different route with this one. I had recently seen pictures of Jackie O on a boat looking oh so preppy, and I wanted to channel that. The loose seersucker Bermuda shorts, striped sweater layered over Oxford shirt, and boat shoes did the trick for me.

Day 11 "Dots and Circles"

[Scarf: H&M; Shirt: Old Navy]

Why stop at one polka dot pattern? I know I just confessed being fed up with crazy pattern and color mixing, but dots get a special dispensation. I love the vibrant blue of the scarf, and the fact that the shirt is so comfortable and soft it feels like I'm wearing pajamas.

Hope you join in on the fun for the rest of this month! Spamming your friends' Instagram feeds with wardrobe pictures feels less and less awkward over time, I swear.

I've Gone Dark

Not my hair, just on this blog! Sorry! It pains me to post so few outfit pics this week, so here's my quick hello.

I was traveling for work, wearing things like this (to a really awesome conference in New York City). Please excuse the blurry hotel mirror pics. I normally hate these but I like the outfit I came up with and wanted to share.

[H&M dress from three years ago, J.Crew outlet cardigan previously seen here, H&M polka dot scarf seen here,  J.Crew necklace seen in my last post, and shoes cut off in picture, but last seen here] 

And I've been participating in #StyleMeMay on Instagram. The month-long challenge is the brainchild of Hilary Rushford of Dean Street Society and the new VPL show on HelloStyle's YouTube channel. She's created a month's worth of daily inspirations for outfits (see below). Anyone who wants can follow the prompts to direct their outfit, snap a pic and post via Instagram or Twitter tagged #stylememay. Participate as often or as sporadically as you'd like!

It's great for bloggers like me who have fallen off their regular routine, but still want to remain connected. Here's what I've been up to:

Day 1: makes me want to twirl. This was the twirliest of outfits I had packed in my travel bag, and was inspired by The Wonder Girl's musings on dresses over pants. 

Day 2: bright happy color. A Forever21 hot pink open knit sweater bought on sale. Layered over a peach Oxford for even MORE color. 

Day 3: jazz up your hands. Rings from Forever21 and Old Navy. Posed over a favorite floral scarf. Hands photograph odd, don't they?

I hope to be back with more outfit goodness next week, but expect to see some layers and shivering, as it's crazy cold in Boston now. April showers bring more May showers and chilliness, I guess!

And in the meantime, you can see more of my #StyleMeMay takes on Instagram (ErinGlabby is my user name).