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Ask A Blogger: Aren’t you cold?

| 29 Comments

Because my six year anniversary of blogging is coming up, I have been thinking about answering questions from the bloggers’ perspective. I try my best to keep things “real” while also fitting into the new blogger standards that have emerged over the years. Blogging used to just be more casual, but now that it’s turned into an industry (and a business for me) it’s become a bit more polished. While I definitely like that, it does take away some of the grittiness of real life. Blog life ≠ real life.
(Quick note: six years feels both like an eternity and a blink. I feel like The College Prepster has always been a part of my life and it’s strange to think that there was a time when she wasn’t.)
One of the questions I’ve been getting the most on Instagram and email and even on the streets:
Aren’t you cold?

The other day, I was standing on the sidewalk taking photos with Bekka for Nordstrom and Burberry and a woman came up to me, tapped me on the shoulder, and so-loud-it-was-almost-yelling asked me, “Aren’t you cold?!?!?!”) She wasn’t just asking rhetorically, she waited for me to answer.
“Yes,” I replied simply with goosebumps on my legs and wind-induced-tears running down my face.
It comes with the territory. I only take outfit photos once a week for an hour. I try to squeeze in three outfits in exactly one hour; this translates to 20 minutes per outfit…. most of which is spent in my apartment changing. I can’t think of many things as awkward and unnatural as standing outside on the sidewalk taking photos, so I really try to get it done fast. Bekka and I go to the same handful of spots in the neighborhood where we take photos, all of which are within four blocks of my apartment. And I wear THIS COAT, every time. (Bekka and I almost always end up laughing hysterically as I brush away the tears and dip in and out of my coat between shots. See photo above, I couldn’t stop laughing!)
Another thing to remember about the three outfits/hour is that I could be shooting the outfits on a warmer day and publishing them on a day when it happens to be colder, or vise versa. (You could easily apply this to some of the pre-fall outfits with “Aren’t you hot?”) I try to keep my outfits seasonally appropriate, but there’s a bit of strategy that you have to play into as a blogger. It’s very much like how retailers start putting summer clothes out when it’s still freezing and winter clothes out when it’s still sweltering. If I’m working with a brand who wants to promote a winter coat, for example, they’d want that content up before or right as people decide they need a winter coat. That’s going to be just before or right at the beginning of the season, not so much in the middle or tail-end.

Sometimes the weather is just unpredictable. The morning Kat and I shot these photos, it was unseasonably warm and incredibly humid. My hair was curled when I left my apartment, but when we got to Central Park it was a big poof! I was wearing the warmest Barbour I own and the thickest sweater. (It sounds ironic, but I was actually thinking when I planned the outfit that it would be the one time I would be warm enough… ha! Joke was on me, I was over-warm!)

I personally don’t commute to work in the morning or have to climb into crowded subways to come home at night, so in my opinion, being cold for 15 minutes one day is not a big deal at all. To be honest, I’d choose being cold for 15 minutes a week over the morning commute any day. So I’m definitely not complaining. It’s not the most comfortable part of my job, but overall it is absolutely a good deal. 
While I can’t speak for every blogger out there, that is my answer. Yes, I’m cold, but only for a handful of minutes every week.


xoxo
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29 Comments

carly

No I do! I just shoot them at different times. In the posts I generally say where I wore it or where I'm planning on wearing it. I don't have a photographer following me around and a lot of events are at night so I pre and post shoot outfits!

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Natalie A

Gotcha 🙂 I was just thinking if you were cold in the outfit then you probably wouldn't want to wear it out. I'm sure there are probably other details to it that we don't see, though.

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Alina Ermilova

Oh, I'm sure every blogger out there can relate to this, including myself! I live in a cold country and shooting outfits at this time of the year is really hard. I also usually have a super warm coat and a pair of winter boots behind the scene.

<3

ALINA ERMILOVA | BLOG

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Kaitlin Olivero

So so so funny. I tried taking Christmas Card photos in nice outfits (that would not be so nice if I had to wear my parka) but we just couldn't deal with it! So kudos to you for making it through 😉 Also, I want to say how much I love your outfit posts, you make them so natural!

Kaitlin || the-curated-life.blogspot.com

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Hill

For totally selfish reasons I appreciate you making the sacrifice. While nobody in their right mind would go out with bare legs in a New York winter, that's more of the norm where I live. So while you're freezing taking those photos there are tons of readers who'll be able to wear that same look and be 100% comfortable

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Whitney Nichols

I can definitely relate, the weather in Colorado has been oddly warm for December. It was 60 degrees today! Riding boots wasn't the best choice . Usually I get overheated, when it's chilly I love to incorporate a coat into my outfit.

Whitney
polishedandpinkblog.com

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Juliette

As a born and raised Upper East Sider, I do have to admit when I saw the original post with that photo, I thought, "someone needs to introduce her to black tights ASAP!" Cold or not….fashion faux pas! If you're gonna be living here, you gotta get with the program honey. 🙂

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Sara Strauss {Sincerely, Sara}

I loved this!!! I only have one outfit post per week (the other four posts are other fun things), so I only take outfit photos one day a week for 20-30 minutes. Yes I'm cold or dying of heat if it's the summer, but it's really not that bad. Thanks for sharing this!
~Sara

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Melissa Tierney

I ALWAYS get asked that question! I shoot every sunday and get 8-10 outfits shot…I always get asked 'isn't it raining in NY or snowing or freezing' every time I wear a skirt or dress!
xo,
Melissa
MissyOnMadison.com

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