“I never imagined I would be blogging about fashion” — Renu Bedha
In conversation with Renu Bedha, fashion and lifestyle blogger at The Stlistik
Renu Bedha comes across as someone who has a unique style sense and strong sense of individuality. On getting deeper into a conversation with her, we discover how she lived most years of her life being overweight and a complete fashion disaster.
She laughs as she talks about a time where she used to pair black salwar with brown kurti and white dupatta while she went to college and claims that she was probably the worst dressed person there. She would even pair socks with floaters while being particular about matching the sock color with her dress.
She also recalls the times when she would just pick anything from her wardrobe to wear and her mom would call her a hippie for not caring a bit about how she looked.
“Every time I meet anyone from my old college days, they are completely taken aback by the transformation and unable to recognise me. It’s quite funny!”
But even as she talks about all of the old times, she sounds strong, happy and confident. Though she has come a long way along her fashion and styling journey, the one thing that stays constant is her strong belief that looking good has got everything to do with feeling good and being confident about yourself, no matter how you look or what you wear.
In this blog, we talk about some of the best highlights and advice from our conversation with her.
1. Inspiration can hit you any day. But when it does, take the leap!
The only reason Renu started her fashion blogging journey was because her husband inspired to take it forward.
“I was always approached by my friends when they needed help with shopping. I helped them choose what to wear and helped them style it. I even helped one friend with her entire wedding shopping.
I also used to follow fashion bloggers on Instagram and feel inspired from there. I showed their feed to my husband one day and he immediately responded that I should totally start fashion blogging on my own.
All I needed was that encouragement. I sat with my laptop from 9PM to 11PM at that night and read everything about starting a blog. At 11 AM, I had my blog setup at Blogspot. I knew I was getting started and never looking back.”
2. Don’t shy away from taking help and feedback from your closest circle
“When I created my first blog post, it was my friend who clicked my first pictures. Then I made everyone in my circle read it to get feedback. There were people who pointed out how my content was not really unique and I took that advice positively. My first blog post was about styling a black dress which most people were aware of and hence it wasn’t very creative.
With my second post, I experimented and made effort to create something unique. I used a dupatta to create a kurta that replicated the celebrity look by Alia Bhatt and everyone loved the blog post.
I would not have grown without all the support and feedback I received.”
3. When you feel like giving up, stick by a little longer
“Sometime after I started blogging, I felt that I wasn’t growing much and not getting anything in return for my efforts. I was very close to giving up.
But then, out of nowhere I got invites to an exclusive event by Kohar Jewels where I met amazing fashion bloggers and felt so inspired by their journey. They mentioned about me on their Instagram feed and I got about 10K followers from being exposed to the audience that was enthusiastic about fashion.
Not long after that, I got a brand collaboration request by Shrivaaz. It was a great experience to sport a unique ethnic look with their long kurti and a lot of people bought it from my recommendation. It was great motivation boost for me.”
4. Don’t be shy about experimenting
“I never hold myself back from trying new looks and outfits. I am not brand conscious. Rather, I pick clothes in my wardrobe purely on the basis of intuition.
Even with my blog, I experimented with lifestyle and travel as I felt that just talking about clothes was limiting me from expressing all aspects of my personality.
I have experimented everything from turning a pair of shorts into a crop-top through a simple DIY to pairing crop top with salwar and kurti. I just go with my instincts and explore unique ways to style.”
5. Styling according to your surroundings is the key
“While I do have a strong individual taste when it comes to dressing, I also realise the importance of dressing according to a place and a situation. As a married person, I have strong respect for my own culture and tradition and even though I might not dress according to them every day, I ensure that I endorse the traditional look whenever I am with my in laws.
I also believe that the purpose behind dressing well is not to impress but to feel comfortable and confident. So it’s not always about standing out. Sometimes, it’s about coming in sync with your surroundings and with people around you.”
Renu’s thoughts about Marsplay
I have been sharing my style stories on Instagram since past six months but the growth is slow and disappointing. I strongly feel that there is a need for a platform that allows people who create quality content to grow their audience and monetise from that. Marsplay is the only platform that I have come across which is trying to do that. I am very hopeful about sharing my content there because I genuinely want to help people to style themselves better.
If you are excited about joining Marsplay and share your style stories, just go to our website and sign up. We are offering an opportunity to a few early sign ups to do a free shoot with us. 😃