INSTAGRAM for FASHION -LOVE!

( My instagram for fashion feed is embedded here  at the bottom of the page using an awesome “instagram feed” plugin!) Scroll down to see my recent posts right here!

My video loaded with everything I learned while I tripled my instagram following in a month while euphorically harnessing the many tricks and tools that beginners don’t usually know about instagram’s capabilities.  It’s 1/2 hour, but well worth it if you want to get your message out there! Click the link here or the video at the bottom of this page.  Sometimes you see someone with a business on intstagram and you think.”oh, darn, she has great stuff here, and nobody can find it because she doesn’t know…….)

While exploring ways that I can reach and find my ideal customers and TRIBE on social media, I have very naturally and effortlessly falling MADLY IN LOVE with instagram.

I once took a great online course by Gabrielle Bernstein called “God Is My Publicist”. I listen to it over and over. I always remember her saying that you will naturally find that you feel at ease in certain social media, and not in others, and that’s FINE. It’s daunting to think you need to be active and versed on ALL of them!! (And not very natural….)
We’ll, I’ve tried ’em all. I still use YouTube and Pinterest pretty regularly for content creation, research, and teaching, but INSTAGRAM actually lives in my heart as a part of my day, every day.

1. IT’S MY FAVORITE FASHION MAGAZINE, because I feel like I can control what I see and I can see mostly what I WANT to see!
2. It’s SUPER- VISUAL (I love visual) and by using hashtags, I can find the kind of images I am looking for any time just by using HASHTAGS!
3. As a fashion designer and illustrator who treated her magazines as sacred texts in the late 80s and early 90s (magazines were so uncluttered then…..) Instagram gives me the freedom to curate my OWN magazine, featuring artists and subjects I love, (as well as creating and sharing my own authorial content). I do this using the REPOST APP (more on this later) so that credit is ALWAYS given to the original post-er (very important IP etiquette!)
4. It feels very much like my book “the Language of Fashion Design” …. going live and continuing on, always EVOLVING!
5. By using HASHTAGS, my ideal customers or people who are looking for the kinds of images I am posting will be able to find ME.
6. Recently I started my #TRIBEtips campaign on instagram so that anyone using that hashtag can get art and drawing, illustration and design tips and inspiration for fashion design and beyond, straight from me using gorgeous graphics and text. This is to get my ideal customers to talk with me and walk away with value and a feel for my teaching style. It was during the launching of this campaign that
   (I have also launched #TRIBEtalks on YouTube to answer my followers’ questions and give demonstrations and pep-talks on common questions about fashion illustration and fashion design for designers and aspiring designers.)

As you check out my feed below (and please, set up your own account and follow me on instagram! My user name is @fashiontribalista or you can SIMPLY FOLLOW BY CLICKING THE BUTTON BELOW THE FEED (scroll to bottom of page)
Feel free to like what you like, share what you want, or tag your friends for posts you find useful or inspiring! COMMENT in instagram to let me know what you think, or ask questions!
[instagram-feed]

I hope you will enjoy and learn something, share something (tag ME by typing @fashiontribalista in a comment anywhere on instagram) for anything you want me to see, and let’s celebrate among ourselves! If you tag someone in the comments, they receive a notification to go and look at that image or post.

ps. I always hoped that I could create a magazine that celebrated all of the colors and cultures that I love. On instagram I recently have started reposting from others because that gives me the ability not only bring together what I love but also to, fueled by love, promote and share the work of other smaller and not-so-small artists, artisans, companies, designer and places who are posting but not extending their reach so far on instagram. When I do this, I feel so good, because I know it’s good for them and it’s totally pleasurable for me!!
So welcome to the party. I cannot WAIT to meet you.

Much love, Laura
ps you can easily follow me or see my content on YouTube, Pinterest, and Instagram by using the COURSE link in my website’s header or subscribe here on the site for your goody bundle and stay in touch.   I hope you’ll do that now :0)!

FashionIllustrationTRIBE was born when I decided to start quality, intensive online fashion courses that could reach mothers and other aspiring designers who wanted to begin their development wherever and whenever they could, while still getting the same quality design class that they would at a top fashion school, for a fraction of the price, .  ( I had developed Parsons NYC’s very first online fashion design and illustration studio course in 2008, so why not my own when I left the Fulltime faculty to care for my baby as a single mom in 2011?) I also want to to teach with much more heart and fun than the university environment could contain.