How the fashion content creator captivates her audience with authenticity, and where she thinks the future of digital influencing is heading.
PHOTOGRAPHED BY GILLES BENSIMON | STYLED BY KATE DAVIDSON HUDSON | WRITTEN BY GABRIELA ULLOA
“It was a disaster. I absolutely hated it… it was nine men and me,” says Camille Charrière of her time working at a hedge fund. Quite a different industry from the one she’s currently dominating.
The now-influential fashion content creator, who had graduated from law school before joining the fund, shares insight with LVR as to how she became the multihyphenate the digital world knows and loves.
Most of the people who do what I do wanted to work at a magazine but couldn’t afford to do so… that was the case for me.
Deciding she was finished with the corridors of high finance, she landed roles at two luxury online retailers. She gave herself a year to test the waters while simultaneously working on a fashion blog, “Camille Over The Rainbow,” during her lunch breaks. Soon after, the blog became her full-time gig. Crediting her time in the corporate world for allowing her to make the transition into fashion, Camille’s career move was one to which many of the “original bloggers” can relate. “Most of the people who do what I do wanted to work at a magazine but couldn’t afford to do so… that was the case for me,” she notes of the very real and ever-present issue plaguing the fashion industry: the woefully low wages. “There was no way I could be at a magazine or intern for a company without getting a proper salary. Plus, I was actually able to earn more through blogging, so I thought that was a more realistic way of building my career.
There was no way I could be at a magazine or intern for a company without getting a proper salary. Plus, I was actually able to earn more through blogging, so I thought that was a more realistic way of building my career.
Given that the year was 2010 and “influencing” had not yet penetrated the social lexicon, it’s quite apparent that Camille has had her finger on the pulse from the very beginning.
“[The blog] was my stepping stone, since I didn’t have a background in fashion,” she notes. A stepping stone that launched the one-to-watch into one of the fashion world’s most noteworthy content creators. Fast-forward more than a decade and 1.2 million followers later, and we’re left wondering what the magic formula was that took the former law student to full-fledged fashion cognoscenti.
I like someone who has that almost ‘rolled out of bed look’… it’s why I think clothes look better after they’ve been worn a lot.
With her effortless French-girl style and keen eye for curation, it’s not difficult to understand the cult following that this undeniable tastemaker has crafted within her community of followers. Looking to the Nineties for her main source of inspiration, Camille’s signature “undone” look is one women everywhere try to emulate. “I like someone who has that almost ‘rolled out of bed look’… it’s why I think clothes look better after they’ve been worn a lot.” But with “influencer” culture leaning in the direction of human ad campaigns, patience levels of consumers everywhere are beginning to waver. “It’s a little bit disturbing the way that everybody expects that whatever you’re wearing will be available to shop… that’s the beauty with vintage,” Camille states of the nature of social media.
It’s a little bit disturbing the way that everybody expects that whatever you’re wearing will be available to shop… that’s the beauty with vintage. I like to think of my Instagram as inspiration, showing people you can be really chic and elegant one day, and the next you’re wearing a crazy short dress… there’s no right or wrong.
“I like to think of my Instagram as inspiration, showing people you can be really chic and elegant one day, and the next you’re wearing a crazy short dress… there’s no right or wrong,” she says of her perfectly uncurated feed.
In an age where individuality seems to be lost between the lines of excessive filler and fast-fashion copycats, Camille reminds us that it’s that sense of authenticity that we crave yet often ignore that got her to where she is today. “It’s saturated only because people copy each other,” she says of the state of influencer culture, “but to be honest, I don’t really think it’s saturated, because it’s just about your point of view. Are you coming in with something new and exciting, or are you just replicating a formula?”
As for where the future of content creation is headed, she laments the way in which brands often try to manipulate output when working with creators. “The most interesting thing that could happen is for [influencers] to actually be respected as voices who have a completely different role than an advertising agency. They’re trying to control an environment they don’t understand,” she states bluntly. “Brands need to trust the people they work with.”
The most interesting thing that could happen is for [influencers] to actually be respected as voices who have a completely different role than an advertising agency. They’re trying to control an environment they don’t understand. Brands need to trust the people they work with.
So what can we expect from fashion’s favorite content creator? With a wedding on the horizon (her dress, we’re told, will most likely be vintage — but that’s all we get to know), a newsletter on that way, and “lots of writing” in the new year, the world can expect to hear lots from Camille Charrière — and we’ll most definitely be waiting.
