In this nine day series, we interview the bloggers behind some of the most influential blogs in Philadelphia. Today, we meet Jordyn Nicole Shaffer of Jordyn's Fashion Formula.
FP: Why did you begin your blog?
JNS: I began Jordyn's Fashion Formula a year ago this month. So last February. I started it because I felt like I wanted to really show my knowledge of pop culture, music and film through the lens of street style. How we absorb all this information, entertainment and media and how it ultimately materializes through the material things that we wear.
I also started my blog because it is an amazing way to connect and network with people. That is why we are here together right now, right?
FP: So it is mostly a fashion blog.
JNS: It started out as a street style blog. But my goal was and continues to be to ask other people about their formulas. Street style blogs can be just me, me, me, me. At the end of the day, I am a journalist so I care about what your outfit and what your outfit says about you. Even how your formula manifests itself in your apartment or home. How your design aesthetic may be different from your outfit to what your bedroom looks like. You formula may be different. I have started to go into people's personal spaces to really get a personal touch on their fashion formula.
FP: When did you become interested in fashion?
JNS: It started in middle school when everyone was trying to figure out who they are and what their identity is. What do I stand for and what do I represent? I always felt like I was too mature for my own well being. My peers were off caring about other things and I was very bookish. And than that bookish-ness made me interested in fashion. I started to absorb fashion in Teen Vogue. I use to collect them and stack them in periodical order. To get back to the Formula, I became obsessed about fashion through film. My Dad's girlfriend told me to watch Breakfast at Tiffany's. I know it's so cliche. But the 60's and Audrey and her aesthetic made me realize how nostalgic I am.
FP: What films lately have you been into?
JNS: I love everything with Wes Anderson. So Moonrise Kingdom. I was Margot Tenenbaum for Halloween. It's beyond just the outfits. It is the whole aesthetic. Other films? I really liked Midnight in Paris. That showcased another time period. Any kind of Italian film. I studied abroad in Rome so just to see like La Dolce Vita, to see the Italian aristocrats and how they dressed. I love to see how their fashion was so effortless and sophisticated.
FP: What is your favorite thing about Philly?
JNS: That it is a underdog but it really isn't an underdog. That everyone wants to connect with each other.
FP: How do you connect with people?
JNS: At first it's really awkward to put yourself out there. You may have all these fears of, "Maybe they will think I'm weird." But, the more I kept on doing that, the more natural it felt and the more friends I meet. Now when I go to places to meet new people, I see familiar faces. It took those three or four times to go to an event and tap someone on the shoulder and say, "Hi. Lets talk." Put yourself out there and it's a domino effect from there.
FP: How often do you blog?
JNS: I try to do once a week because I believe in quality over quantity. Because I am a writer in my real life, I don't want to half ass anything. So I want to make sure I go home and have clear a mind. I don't want to do it just to do it.
What’s your favorite thing about Philly in one word?
Community.
FP: Do you think there is an entrepreneur in you with this blog and that is why you started?
JNS: I think that Philly has so many taste-makers and we always read about them in highly popular local publications But how often do we get to go into their personal space or their home.? The entrepreneur in me would want to see if there opportunity where business and those taste-makers overlap.
