The Wanderlust Girls Are Saving Pups With Pumps
Our favorite fashion bloggers have just announced a new Instagram series to promote dog adoption, and acquire sweet new kicks in the process
We’re back with another Member Spotlight, because our members are FRIGGIN’ AWESOME and always worth bragging about!
This week, we bring you a cool new initiative started by The Wanderlust Girls — the BFF fashion bloggers, whose amazing friendship transcends anything we know or feel; because seriously, how can two friends work together for almost two decades and not have murdered one another yet? Maybe they’re actually gorgeous cyborgs, pretending to be human, using their friendship as a cover. I knew it all along!
Fashion-bot theory aside, The Girls have started a really cool new Instagram initiative — #ShoesAndRescues. Every week, Emily and Abigail will be posting a pair of shoes, currently in-store, along with an adorable adoptable pet.
We caught up with them to talk a bit about life as well-dressed undercover robot spies, only to find a greater capacity for empathy — via #ShoesAndRescues — than most humans can muster… Maybe I’m the robot! Or maybe I’m just crazy jealous of their glamorous, forever-on-the-road lives.
Check out our conversation below:
Let’s go back to the beginning — how long have you two known each other, and at what point did you decide to start Wanderlust Girls?
We are celebrating our 17-year friendiversary this Fall. We grew up sharing our clothes, which weren’t all that great back then — damn the dreadful early 2000s fashion. We’re talking zebra pants and jellies… although hipsters would probably still wear that.
When we went to separate colleges we realized we’d have to rebuild our personal closets. Our senior year was when we found out about fashion blogs, and The Wanderlust Girls was born.
We had no intention for the blog other than to keep in touch and share our passion. A friend said, “You know people are actually reading this, right?” Emily didn’t even know other people could read it! We’re not the most tech-savvy. He suggested we clean up the layout, and take it more seriously.
The Summer after graduation we moved to the city and immersed ourselves in the “scene.” We decided to give Fashion Week a shot that September. Our thought was, “What designer would accept a couple nobody bloggers?” Turns out we underestimated ourselves. We went to 50 fashion shows that season. (By the way, that’s excessive. Never do that unless you want the flu.)
Regardless of the physical and mental exhaustion, I [Abigail] will always remember my first runway show and thinking, “I love this. This is where we’re meant to be.” That Fashion Week built the foundation of our business. We started to get hired as freelance wardrobe stylists, personal shoppers, event hosts, and so on. We realized our personal brand was growing, and less than a year later formed Wanderlust Fashion LLC.
Why do you think it was such an unexpected success?
There’s probably a few reasons it took off. One being that it was completely organic, authentic, and honest. We blog because we love it. We also carry big personalities with us, which companies have flat out said that’s why they hired us. We’re always cracking jokes or trying to lighten the mood. Fashion is a serious business, but our mission is to keep it fun.
And so now you’re using that power for good! Tell us a little more about #ShoesAndRescues.
We are posting one photo a week on our Instagram of a pair of shoes that are available for purchase posed next to an adoptable pet.
All we ever do is talk about puppies, which is weird because we don’t even have one. By the way, when I say puppy, I mean any age. I don’t care if it’s ten years old, I will call it a puppy. So to the person that says, “That’s not a puppy.” — shut your mouth. We’re the girls that flip out over any dog walking by without even looking up at the owner. There are a lot of dogs on the street, so as you can imagine we’re frequently making a fool of ourselves.
We’ve been wanting to get involved in pet adoption for so long, but travel too often to own or foster one ourselves. We were just chatting and wondered, “What if we promote adoptable animals on our Instagram?” We wanted to combine our love of fashion, and a couple weeks ago it hit us — Shoes & Rescues. Let’s feature a pair of shoes and an adoptable animal.
And who are you collaborating with on this?
We’re currently partnered with Animal Haven in NYC, but are reaching out to several other shelters in the area! The more we can get involved the merrier!
Obviously the main goal is to find these sweethearts a home. If we can help even just one animal find a loving family, we will feel accomplished. As far as the campaign goes, we’d just love for it to spread! With our ties to the fashion industry, we’ll be urging the featured shoe designer to share with their readers, showcasing the animal to thousands of more followers. These shelters are so overcrowded and need the powerful word-of-mouth aid of social media. Perhaps it should be called word-of-keyboard?
We’re really happy to hear that cities are starting to ban the sale of dogs and cats unless the store is working with rescues or shelters. Part of this is because of social media accounts, and we’re so excited to get involved.
How can other New Stand Members get involved?
If you have your own rescued pet, feel free to get involved by using the hashtag #ShoesAndRescues. Otherwise, keep an eye out for an animal that might melt your heart, and go adopt! Who knows, maybe we can host an event at The New Stand with a designer and a shelter!
YES! Thanks for speaking with us, ladies, LET’S MAKE THIS HAPPEN!
