Fashion Trends and Friends Celebrates Their 1 Year Anniversary

How It All Got Started:

Cindy, Lori and Julie met freshman year in college on the tenth floor of Stevenson North at Northern Illinois University.  The year was 1979.  Hence, the graininess of these pictures…back in the day of cameras, film and actual photos.  Cell phones with cameras, Facebook, Instagram…even desktop computers were not part of our vocabulary.  Thank goodness!  We all borrowed Lynn’s (pictured in the white tee) typewriter to write our papers.  Cindy and Lori were marketing majors. Julie was an education major. However; one thing was for sure, we had a passion for fashion!

We dabbled in all the fashion trends as evidenced by our “preppy look”,  disco outfits,  to our early ’80s (1984) jumpsuits with padded shoulders.  I’m (Julie) embarrassed to say I rocked the permed mullet at one point.  UGH!  FTF has supported each other over all these years celebrating each other’s successes and supporting each other during difficult times…forever friends!

Fast Forward to the Summer of 2015

One of our annual traditions as girlfriends is what we refer to as our “poolside chat”.  This annual tradition is an all day affair of catching up with each other, eating, laughing, and drinking.  Part of the conversations tends to focus on fashion challenges we face as we get older.  It can be difficult finding age appropriate looks because designers focus on teens and millennials.  However, we will not be resigned to old lady looking outfits. We’re confident we can overcome these challenges and still be cute and trendy no matter our age.  Fashion Trends and Friends was formally put into action after our summer 2015 poolside chat.  We knew we could help others in our demographic and thought we’d not only share but also point fellow 50 and over fashionistas in the right direction!  FTF is as much about FRIENDS as we are about FASHION!  What separates us from other bloggers in our demographic is that we offer solutions!

BLOGGING:

Fashion Trends and Friends has been blogging weekly since April 2016.  Here are our highlights over the past year:

Julie:

Each week I’ve looked forward to conference calling with Cindy and Lori.  First, we catch up with each other and then jump into FTF details!  I’ve learned to master my selfie stick and have recently purchased a tripod.  It was difficult getting used to taking pictures of myself and always judging them with a critical eye.  Sharing my passion for fashion is such fun; and I love telling others what we’re doing…blogging, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest!  I’m proud of FTF joining forces with other woman bloggers over 50 through #thefierce50 campaign.   Lori and I had the time of life being filmed for the documentary series about Tina of Tina’s Closet even if nothing comes of it.  I strongly believe that we’ll continue to grow and assist others to “be their own kind of beautiful”!  FTF is destined for greatness!

Cindy:

My first job out of college was in the fashion world working for Trifari.  I totally loved working with my first boss, mentor, who then grew to be one of my best friends, Wendi Mancini!  She taught me everything there was to know about retail and costume jewelry.  Although I moved in a different direction in my day job I continued to love fashion so when Lori and Julie approached me about joining them to create Fashion Trends and Friends I was all in!  Fashion Trends and Friends is unique in the blogging world because our focus is solving fashion challenges women our age face by highlighting clothing options that are on trend, hide flaws and where to buy them.   Our priority is to make it easy for busy women who are our age and are pulled in a million directions to stay hip and current.  Based on the feedback we have received from our followers we are hitting the mark! Thanks for following us and feel free to invite your friends.  Be social and share!

Lori:

When we first started this blog my hope was that Fashion Trends and Friends would become a trusted resource for women.  A place to find what the current trends are, a place to find great outfits that looked good and also camouflage problem areas, and a place that will tell you where to buy these outfits/looks.   The unsolicited feedback we’ve received from friends and followers leads me to believe we are on track and are making an impact.  It makes this journey so gratifying!  Here are some of the things we’ve heard from followers this past year:

” I never thought I could wear things from Boston Proper.  I thought their stuff was too sexy for women my age but after seeing you wearing their clothing I knew I could wear it too and look age appropriate.”  

“I loved your blog featuring tops that keep you cool in the hot summer and yet cover your arms.  I actually went on line and bought two of them myself.”

“I thought Aldo’s was a very expensive store!  I had no idea they’re shoes, purses and accessories were so reasonably priced.  I am going to check them out!” 

Thank you to all of our friends and followers for supporting us!  We love you all!

Thanks for celebrating with us, supporting and encouraging us throughout this crazy, fun adventure!  Cheers to many successful blogging years to come!  Have a suggestion for upcoming blog topics?  Leave your suggestions in the comments!