Fashion blogger Ashley Newton is certainly amongst the list of experienced fashion bloggers; The Georgia State senior has worked as an assistant stylist for VH1’s Single Ladies and with celebrities like Future and Kelly Rowland.
With experience as a stylist and journalist already on her resume, Newton’s blog “The F Word” is the next page in her career as a fashion journalist.
Although she started “The F Word” (“F” for “fashion) on Feb. 18 of this year, she has already published 12 posts. As a journalism major, she wants to set her blog apart from other blogs and actually report and investigate things in the fashion world, something she said other fashion bloggers fail to do.
“Most fashion bloggers now just post a picture of their outfit of the day. To me that’s not blogging, that’s just putting a caption and then posting it. That’s something for Instagram,” she said. “I wanted to make sure I wasn’t just posting pictures. I wanted to make sure I was educated. All my experience is fashion but all my schooling is journalism.”
Although she has had a love for fashion since she was little, Newton was initially unsure if she wanted to pursue a career in that field. When she began her sophomore year at Georgia State, she set the goal of getting experience in the fashion industry.
“I already liked fashion but I wasn’t necessarily sure I wanted to go into that specifically and so when I came home [from one year at Howard University] I wanted to have a plan. So I started working at Zara.”
It was at Zara that she met her mentor Kenya Ware who helped her get one of her biggest jobs as a wardrobe assistant for the VH1 show “Single Ladies.” For about six months, Newton dedicated at least 12 hours a day helping in the wardrobe department and styling for the show. Although her work was tedious, this was the job that helped her solidify her career plans.
“I was in charge of the clothing archive. I had to take snapshots of literally everything they wore from a ring to an earring. I had to know exactly where it was and go grab those. I feel like it was at that point where I was like ‘Okay, I’m liking this and I could do this as a career.'”
Along with working for VH1’s Single Ladies, Newton’s resume includes volunteering at New York Fashion Week, interning at Creative Loafing and styling celebrities like Kelly Rowland and Ludacris. Still, she says finishing school is her top priority.
“There have been so many opportunities to go and do things. I used to apply for jobs in NY just to see if I could get them. I got calls from Carolina Herrera, Complex Magazine, The Fader and more but school has been in my way and there’s no way I’m not going to graduate from school. That’s not an option,” she said.
After graduating college in May, Newton is determined to find a job in New York. Meanwhile, she is continuing to improve her portfolio with a job as a sales associate at Saks Fifth Avenue, freelance jobs and now her new blog.
With this blog, Newton is hoping to make a stamp for herself in the fashion and journalism industries.
Newton referred to “The F Word” as her “baby” and said the name of the blog was “simple yet attention grabbing.” She said she hopes to carry that simplicity over into other aspects of the website as well.
“I would like to have all of these different components to it, but mostly I want to update people. If [you] want to know what’s going on in fashion, this is where you go.”
(www.thefword-blog.com)
