What a better way to start the new year than with a little style inspiration. We love our local style highlights because it gives us a chance to connect with local creatives that are not only capturing our eye in the social media world, but influencing those around them. As we've said before, a person's style is constantly evolving, and our culture is constant pulling inspiration from a variety of mediums. Instagram being a HUGE catalyst for that.
Which leads me to this month's style segment - Olivia Brooke. We discovered Olivia on Instagram a few months ago, and instantly wanted to know more about the person behind such a fashion forward feed. Upon first look, we were captivated by her content. Her feed covers everything from style finds, stylized shoots, funny commentary, interior decor, and did we mention she can sing too? We were excited to get her in for a one-on-one interview and get to know her for ourselves.
If you don't already follow her, now is the time. @oliviabrookedesign
Here is a snippet of our interview below. Also see how she styled her favorite pieces from the BEIGE closet.
H: So tell us about yourself!
OB: My name is Olivia Herring, and I'm an interior design student at UCA in Conway.
H: What are your plans after college?
OB: I eventually want to work for myself as an interior designer. But I would like to work for an architecture firm first and do residential design.
H: Do you want to do that out of state or would you rather stay in Arkansas?
OB: No, I would love to get an internship or job outside of Arkansas. I think New York would be really cool obviously just because everyone loves New York. But also Dallas, Chicago, any metropolitan area like that would be really cool.
H: You obviously have great style! Have you always been interested in fashion? And where do you pull your influences from?
OB: Yes I have! As far as my inspiration goes, I follow pretty much only fashion people on Instagram. Also, Pinterest and magazines - I like having inspiration for everything.
H: Do you have a favorite blogger that you pull from?
OB: Courtney Trop from Always Judging.
H: So what is some fashion advice you would give?
OB: Gather inspiration from everywhere - not just what people are telling you to wear. Gather inspiration from music, books, anything that you like; and then just put it all together and wear what you want. What feels the most like you. Don't wear something just because someone is telling you it's cute - wear it because you want to wear it.
H: Totally agree! You say you like thrift shopping - what's been your favorite thrift store find?
OB: I think anything that's very 2000s or 90s - just decade pieces. I like to play around with different trends like that and not just go based off of what is carried in stores. When I go into stores that have the same items over and over again, it either gets overwhelming or boring. But when you go thrift shopping, you never know what you're going to find. And then when you end up finding something that's way less that what it's actually worth - it's such a fun feeling.
H: Your Instagram page is awesome. How do you go about keeping and developing an aesthetic?
OB: I usually just go with what I'm wearing that day or what I'm doing. My sister and I love styling shoots. Ever since we were little kids, we've loved putting together outfits and taking pictures. We love coming up with shoot ideas - even if it's silly. Like the other night she wanted to do my makeup and give me this glitter look, and then we found glitter wrapping paper and draped it over our mirror to make a backdrop. They ended up being really cool! We were up until 4am shooting.
H: I love that you live with your sister - that's so awesome.
OB: Yes! We are best friends. She's 19 - we have the same birthday, but we are a year apart.
H: What's something most people don't know about you?
OB: I have a lot of siblings. I have 4 biological siblings, and then I have 3 adopted siblings. My parents foster, and that's been a big part of my life growing up is having different children in our house. Its been a really fun and cool experience.
H: And we have to ask..how have you perfected the winged eyeliner?
OB: I use either Bare Minerals lash domination ink liner or L'Oreal Lineur intense felt tip liner, but I don't have any special trick. I've just been doing the same eyeliner since high school. It does help to have a felt tip/thicker brush eyeliner! I usually just drag the line out from the corner of my eye, then connect it with the normal eyeliner, and then fill it in.
Olivia's Look
Just Female Potter Turtleneck
Jerome Dreyfuss Pascal Handbag
A.L.C. Mikel Dress
Schutz Tae Mule
