[Photo by JM3 Creative]
As a fashion expert, I frequently create original editorial style guides, fashion trend-focused articles, shopping guides (featuring product roundups with affiliate links), and Designer Spotlights for Inspirations & Celebrations.
My knowledge and background include:
- Modeling & On-Camera Presenting
- Fashion Writing
- Fashion Shoot Styling
- Interviewing Designers & Stylists
- Fashion Video Production
- Shopping & Style Advice
- Photography & Editing
- Consulting for Fashion Industry Businesses
Fashion Industry Background
My background in fashion started with my first job as a sales associate at the Georgiou women’s boutique on Ocean Avenue in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. In my 20’s I was represented as a model/actress by San Francisco Top Talent; during that time, I walked in a few Bay Area and Monterey Peninsula runway shows, and was featured in print ads, commercial brochures, etc..
After launching I&C in 2011, I became a regular contributing writer (for 4+ years) for The Los Angeles Fashion Magazine and Carmel Magazine (as the lead writer for the “StyleCarmel” 6-page quarterly fashion editorial section). To gain further experience, I attended each of the fashion shoots (for Carmel Magazine) and learned from the pros on set more about styling, modeling, and photography.
In 2013, I co-produced and appeared in (as a Style Expert) a 10-part Style How-To Video Series for eHow.com (which was featured on their website and YouTube channel, reaching 500k+ subscribers).
Over the years, I’ve had several fashion-related articles published by The Huffington Post and have been quoted in the press regarding style advice (ex. Shape.com, Reader’s Digest, InStyle, Shoe Retailing Today Magazine, etc.).
In 2016, I was invited to be a panelist speaker at San Francisco Fashion Week on a “Fashion Bloggers Panel” along with two popular San Francisco style bloggers. During the panel, I shared my experience and advice with the audience (on how to become a fashion blogger).
In 2018, I was invited to speak on an “Influencer Panel” at the Style Collective Conference in NYC, which included other popular personal style bloggers like Brittany Sjogren of Loverly Grey, amongst others. During the event, I gave practical, straight-talk advice to the audience (many of whom were aspiring fashion bloggers) about how to become successful in this business.
In September 2018, I started covering designers and shows at New York Fashion Week, and continue to work on coverage of new collections and runway shows. I have since been invited to other NYFW, PFW, MFW, and Miami Swim Week shows.
In 2017, I received the honor of being a Semi-Finalist in the Harper’s Bazaar “Fabulous at Every Age” Contest.
In December 2018, I appeared on the cover of Key Magazine Monterey Peninsula, on behalf of a local fashion retailer partner (details below). In 2019, the same photo was used as a full-page ad in Pebble Beach Magazine.
Partnership Type: Fashion & Style Guides
Brand Partner: Augustina’s Designer Boutique & Monterey Peninsula Luxury Realty Agencies
Since Fall 2018, I started regularly partnering with one of the most popular designer boutiques in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California – Augustina’s Designer Boutique.
Over the series of several months, I created regular style guides featuring designer apparel, accessories, and jewelry sold by the retailer. The primary purpose of the partnership was to raise the digital profile of the retailer while generating considerable exposure on social media for them.
Each of the themed style guides was photographed at multi-million dollar luxury homes on the Monterey Peninsula, that I arranged via realty agencies who represented the listed properties. This enabled us to have access to unique and glamorous backdrops for photography, in addition to having private access to each home while shooting.
Aside from sharing the content on I&C and its related social channels, the retailer (and realtors) reposted our original content to their respective social channels. In addition to which, the retailer used one of my fashion photos as a full-page ad in Pebble Beach Magazine (Winter 2019 issue) and as the cover image for Key Magazine Monterey Peninsula (December 2018 issue).
Brands featured in the style guides included Oscar de la Renta, Jimmy Choo, La Petite Robe di Chiara Boni, Edie Parker, Michael Kors Collection, Giuseppe Zanotti, Aquazzura, Temperley London, Jonathan Simkhai, Fabiana Filippi, amongst others.
To view these posts, click links below:
- Style Guide: How To Wear Monochromatic Neutrals
- Style Guide: How To Style Faux-Leather Pants
- Style Guide: What To Wear To a Gala Event
- Style Guide: What To Wear To a Holiday Wedding
- Style Guide: How To Wear a Jumpsuit for Evening Events
- Style Guide: What To Wear To An Elegant Christmas Dinner
- Style Guide: Cozy & Chic Outfit for Entertaining at Home
- Style Guide: The #GirlBoss Guide to Smart & Stylish Work Outfits
- Style Guide: What To Wear To An Art Gallery Party
- Style Guide: How To Look Glamorous on a Ski Trip
- Style Guide: What To Wear for Valentine’s Day
Article Type: Fashion & Style Guides
Brands: Amazon Fashion & La Playa Hotel
As a commissionable Amazon Fashion partner, I regularly create Fashion & Style guides for I&C featuring contemporary womenswear and accessories sold by the e-commerce site. In Spring 2019, I collaborated with La Playa hotel in Carmel-by-the-Sea to create a series of 3 original style guides featuring Amazon Fashion products.
The series of shoppable posts (which included product photos and links) shared my style tips on what to wear for various occasions (from food & wine festivals to Spring vacations) while highlighting this historic landmark hotel on the Monterey Peninsula. The style guides also introduced I&C readers to Prime Wardrobe, which allows them to try-on styles at home for 7-days prior to making a purchasing commitment.
Brands featured in these style guides included ASTR The Label, Sam Edelman, Paige Denim, and others.
To view these posts, click links below:
Article Type: Designer Spotlight
Brand: Marco Bicego
To introduce I&C readers to renowned jewelry designer, Marco Bicego, I interviewed the designer for a Designer Spotlight segment. In addition to sharing my original photography of the collections, the interview included background on the designer, his inspiration for the line, and an explanation about the materials used and processes implemented to create these hand-crafted pieces. The article also included shoppable photos and links. To view the post, visit this page.
Partnership Type: Fashion Segment on KION 5/46 News
Brand Partner: Pebble Beach Resorts
Prior to the 2019 U.S. Open Golf Tournament in Pebble Beach, I collaborated with Pebble Beach Resorts as a style expert by styling 3 golf tournament-appropriate outfits (pulled from the Polo Ralph Lauren collection in their 35,000 sqft. merchandise pavilion) as part of my televised interview and appearance on KION 5/46 News Channel.
The segment aired the week that the tournament started, during the channel’s Live segment, sharing my style advice on what to wear to the tournament. In addition to the tv coverage, I also created a style guide for I&C sharing photos of me wearing different golf-appropriate outfits for various golf tournaments, including the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and The Masters.
To view the television coverage, visit this page.
To see the style guide on I&C, visit this page.
Partnership Type: Fashion Promotion
Brand Sponsor: Northridge Shopping Mall
I was hired to partner with Northridge Shopping Mall in Salinas, California to promote upcoming fashion and beauty trends for Fall & Winter. As part of the sponsored “Back To School” focused campaign, I created an original blog post and accompanying social media promotions to encourage my audience to learn more about fashion and beauty trends, while learning about the brands that are sold by various retailers (like Macy’s and Ulta) at the shopping mall. To learn more, visit this page.
Article Type: Designer Spotlight
Brand: J’Amy Tarr
To introduce I&C readers to Bay Area-based women’s outerwear designer, J’Amy Tarr, I visited the designer at her Mill Valley studio and interviewed her for a Designer Spotlight segment. In addition to sharing my original photography of the collection and the designer at work, the interview included considerable background on the designer, her inspiration for the line, and a further explanation about the materials used and processes implemented to create these timeless pieces. To view the post, visit this page.
Article Type: Shopping Guides
Brand: Julie Vos
After meeting popular jewelry designer Julie Vos at Fashion Blogger Conference in Beverly Hills several years ago, I fell in love with her line of glamorous pieces. Since then, I featured the designer and her collections in a few shopping guides, which now rank high on Google search results (attracting regular shoppers of the brand).
One of the posts featured me modeling the jewelry (pictured above); whereas the other posts featured the brand’s product photographs only. As a result of these articles, I&C has driven appx. $20k in sales to their e-commerce site (which is estimated based on affiliate commissions). To see examples of these shopping guides, visit this page.
Partnership Type: Athletic Shoe Promotion
Brand Sponsor: Reebok
I was hired to partner with Reebok to promote the Reebok Fast Flexweave athletic shoes for men and women. As part of this athletic campaign, I created an original blog post and accompanying social media promotions to show my audience how these shoes naturally fit into our active lifestyles – whether we’re hitting the trails with our puppy or heading to the gym for a workout. To learn more, visit this page.
Article Type: Fashion Show Coverage
Brands: Multiple Designers
I was invited to cover multiple fashion brands’ Spring/Summer 2019 collections at New York Fashion Week in September 2018 (inc. show invites by Sally Lapointe, Ozlana, Kirsten Ley, jessture, XY, and others). For many of the shows I covered, I was seated in the front row – giving me unparalleled access to capturing photos and videos.
As this was my first NYFW attendance, I covered a range of both established and up-and-coming designers from around the world. Due to limited time in NYC, shows attended included Custo Barcelona (featured above), Carlton Jones, Afffair (pictured below), Ruby Fang, Nonie, Oxford Fashion Studio, Global Fashion Collective, and more.
All the NYFW shows I attended were broadcasted on my Instagram & Facebook stories. With the intention of providing a curated overview for my readers, only a handful of designers were published on my website and promoted via my main social feeds.
My coverage included live social media posts (posted during the events, including photos & videos) for all brands, and then 2 follow-up articles published on I&C within 2-4 weeks after NYFW (including my original photography) and promoted via all social channels, featuring select brands.
Each of the articles focused on a style theme (ex. “evening wear”) and highlighted multiple designers with a further explanation about their brand and link to their site. I also included my interviews with show attendees (such as Miss USA 2018, fashion bloggers, and industry insiders) regarding their thoughts about the collections shown.
To learn more, click the links below:
Partnership Type: Event Hosting & Promotion
Brand Partner: Cynthia Rowley
The store manager for the Cynthia Rowley boutique in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California asked me to collaborate with them by hosting a holiday party at their store.
This encompassed event planning (inc. securing food & wine and gift bag sponsors, coordinating branded event decorations, and coming up with the event theme & details) + event promotions (including graphic design work to create the invitation and digital materials, drafting & sending out a press release, and posting on my blog/social channels).
As a result, 40 local attendees (inc. beauty & fashion experts, fitness, hospitality and real estate industry professionals, and socialites) came to the event, shopped during the evening, and also shared photos on their social channels. The event was a way to raise the brand’s visibility amongst locals in my area and to introduce prospective customers to the brand, leading to both in-store and online sales. The event got additional coverage by the Monterey County Weekly.
The store manager (Jonathan Damon) wrote the following testimonial after working together.
“Christina Pollack (Inspirations and Celebrations) was amazing to work with. She is a hard-working visionary that is very fun to work with and she knows her stuff. From the very beginning, she was focused and had a timeline on when things needed to be completed by to ensure we both could be present and available for what we worked so hard to plan. I seriously learned a lot from her and definitely took in all of the knowledge she was giving me. She is very experienced in her field and loves what she does and that is the best person to work with because the passion bleeds through everything she does. She is such an amazing person I can’t thank her enough because there are not many people in the world like her she is a rare gem. You can trust me on that I’ve been in customer service my whole life she’s one of the few I’ve had pleasure in working with.”
Article Type: Fashion Show & Event Coverage
Brands: Multiple Designers
For my 2nd season covering NYFW, I was invited to cover multiple fashion brands’ Spring/Summer 2020 collections at New York Fashion Week in September 2019 (inc. show invites by Badgley Mischka, Chiara Boni La Petite Robe, Kyle & Shahida, Cynthia Rowley, Augusto Manzanares, and Fashion Palette).
Here are a few highlights from SS20 NYFW:
- E! News invited me to their exclusive invite-only E! Fashion Week Photo Studio Experience at Spring Studios. They featured my interactive modeling GIF on their website and sent a private car to my hotel to pick me up.
- During my time touring NYFW Headquarters, I met Glamour’s Editor-in-Chief, Samantha Barry. We discussed her new role as EIC, how the publication has changed since going digital, and ways they are empowering women. She re-posted a photo of us together on her NYFW Sep19 Highlight on her Instagram account.
- I was seated front row (next to Fern Mallis and Paris Hilton) at RHOBH’s Kyle Richards’ brand launch runway show at Pier 59 Studios. The Kyle & Shahida brand (and one of the cast members of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills who walked in the show) re-shared my content on their Instagram accounts.
- Badgley Mischka dressed me for their SS20 show at Spring Studios, which was an honor, as they have been one of my favorite sophisticated womenswear brands for years. Their show was also attended by Bazaar’s Fashion Editor Avril Graham, supermodels and actors, and other notable industry insiders.
- I was invited backstage at the Fashion Palette show to cover beauty trends and to watch the show.
Collaboration Type: Instagram Live Q&A Session with @Fashinnovation.NYC
As part of their 2020 Worldwide Talks (a 2-day digital global summit hosted on April 20-21, 2020 which featured panel discussions with Diane von Furstenberg, Kenneth Cole, Imran Amed, and other fashion leaders), Fashinnovation invited me to participate in an IG LIVE with them. During our live Q&A session, we discussed the below topics pertaining to the fashion industry. To view a recording of the live chat, click here.
- The global shifts happening in fashion due to the pandemic crisis
- How the sustainability movement is affecting production decisions and the supply chain
- Which #fashinnovation2020 panel speakers have been inspiring me and why
- How fashion influencers play a role in influencing consumers and the responsibility influencers have (both in this sensitive time and beyond)
- Where the fashion industry is heading and how innovative technology can help to revolutionize how brands and retailers sell products online
- How we (as consumers) can influence the fashion world through our consumption & buying decisions
For more case studies and partnership examples, please contact info@inspirationsandcelebrations.net.
