“I started just sharing what I was loving in fashion and lifestyle generally. Slowly people started asking for specific content and I developed a loyal group of ‘followers’ that I engage with regularly which has grown and evolved into the resource that is www.WhitneysWonderland.Com. We cover everything from fashion and makeup to travel and fine dining, anything that I’m doing that I think people will enjoy hearing about really! My Insta page is an extension of the Blog and is somewhere I can show glimpses into some of the amazing things I get to do and experience!” -Whitney Valveverde
It’s funny how sharing just a little glimpse of your life can bring joy to so many other people. Whitney simply does the things that she loves and people take away a lot of inspiration from that. But it’s hard not to be inspired by her creativity and the thrill she brings to life!
Start
Whitney had been into fashion from a very young age. In fact when I asked her to share some of her first fashion memories, she went back to a time where would sew little dresses for her barbie dolls and coordinate fashion shows for them. As time went on she continued to advance her talents and even got her first degree in fashion and design. And with a little love and support, something she loved became a career for her.
“My partner is super supportive of everything I do and while it was always inside he gave me the push I needed. He suggested I start a blog years ago, almost more as a diary than anything else, I really didn’t think anyone would be that bothered about reading it, it was really just for me! Suddenly I was getting emails from people wanting to know where I had got a certain piece or how I thought they should style an outfit they had bought and it gave me the confidence to keep pushing and it just grew from there,” Whitney exclaims!
“My grandma was a huge inspiration in my life generally but also in fashion. Aside from being an immaculately turned out lady she sat with me making the dresses for my dolls and finding little offcuts of fabric for me to use. She was the one who sowed the seed all those years ago and it has grown into who I am today…with a lot of watering along the way.” -Whitney Valve
Accomplished
Whitney has been able to achieve a lot of things in fashion. I was eager to hear some of her proudest moments. “Gosh it’s really hard to single out different things as everything I have achieved and all the people who have helped me feel like an integral part of my journey. From getting my degree and creating that first collection that i am still so proud of, to those first steps in the blogging world and winning a cosmopolitan blog award at the end of 2016 to the first brand that believed in me enough to hire me and work with me when I was just starting out. Every step has been a real achievement for me and I am so grateful for every part of this incredible journey!
Outside of my own achievements, being able to help the people I love and the causes I feel strongly about has been so unbelievably rewarding. My dad always said to me that the best gift anyone can give you is to let you help them, I never understood it and used to think it was just a corney nonsense he would say to try and make me and my brother better people. The older I get the more true it feels. I love being able to help someone and see the difference that help makes in their life. It started when I gave a box of my old clothes ( I get gifted a lot of wonderful things so have a lot of clothes!) to a very poor family in costa rica for their daughters, I thought little of it but the children were crying they were so happy which made their mum cry and then I was crying but it was all out of happiness! Now I am so lucky to be able to continue doing things like that but also to support larger scale projects that can do even more to help. It’s hard to describe the feeling, but rewarding is a good start,” Whitney explains.
Think about the 80/20 rule; if you get 80% of your impact from 20% of what you do, what is that 20% for you as it pertains to developing and expressing your personal style?
Accessories can change everything, if your looking for big impact from little effort then think about how you can add a little something to really make the outfit pop. A great example are the leather flowers sold by J Lang, they are magnetic fastend and can be added to any outfit to make it your own and lift a plain dress or bag to a whole other level! I also still add little details to bit I buy like stitching a cheap bracelet to the side of a pair of socks or even just adding a scarf to a bag or outfit can change everything. Every woman should invest in some scarves!
What about discovering new styles to incorporate into your look and style?
I am constantly traveling for work which is 95% blessing and 5% curse but it does mean I am exposed to so many different styles and cultures and they say mimicking is the sincerest form of flattery so I try and take something away from everywhere I visit and incorporate it into a look
Who do you consider the icons in the fashion & design industry?
Wow there are so many how long do you have! Azzedine Alaïa, Giorgio Armani, Cristobal Balenciaga, Sara Blakely, Pierre Cardin, Jacques Cartier, Hussein Chalayan are all heros of mine. The list is almost endless, having studied fashion I used to spend endless nights pawing through old collections and discovering new heros all the time! Coco Chanel’s life was an incredible story and unbelievable achievement from such a canny lady, Iris Apfel breaking down boundaries for so many years and still going strong! I have so many but these jump to mind in the moment!
