This past weekend to celebrate the fifth anniversary of The Mod Little Melanin, I participated in a socially distanced photo shoot! Over the last five years, I’ve fallen in love with being in front of the camera, styling outfits for myself, and clients, striking a pose and sharing my love of fashion with the world. Instagram has certainly transformed over the last five years. Growth isn’t quite as easy, and solving the algorithm to get your content to your followers is a never-ending struggle. But with those changes to Instagram, new opportunities have arisen for me. Brands now pay me to create content with their products to share with you all on my page. I now have the opportunity to use Instagram as a source of income that is certainly needed as a broke podiatry student. I’ve even transformed Styled by Mod - my OG followers remember those days of me styling clients and my Polyvore flat lays - to my own brand (@shopthemodlittlemelanin) that is re-launching with accessories on February 14th! My love of fashion didn’t just bloom overnight though. It started as a child when I would march around the home in my mom’s heels and layer on her necklaces to play dress-up. Flourished with me coloring in my Barbie fashion coloring book at age four, and falling in love with my patent red leather shoes as a kid. To me, fashion is more than the way you dress. It’s a form of expressing oneself non-verbally. The fashion taste of a person can reveal much about their personality. Are they a minimalist? Are they adventurous? Or do they prefer classic, traditional pieces? Do they like to stand out? Or would they prefer to blend in with the trends of the times?
Think about my taste in fashion. Bold prints, bright colors, fun textures and statement pieces are my favorite to incorporate into my everyday wardrobe. I like to mix high-end and low-end pieces, and love to show that body size does not determine what is and is not meant for you. My love of fashion has inspired me to take The Mod Little Melanin one step further by developing a clothing line specifically for mid-size women, size 10-16. There isn’t quite anything out there that caters to women my size. The traditional S, M, and L doesn’t always fit, and going into plus size may be still be slightly too big. By developing a clothing line with my body type in mind, I’ll be able to cater to a clothing line for the girls that are what I like to call mid-figured. This is something that has been in the works for months, and I’m so excited to share what I’ve been working on with you all this Fall! XOXO, Chelsea Nicole The Mod Little Melanin
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Pop of Color Check! ️🧡
Nothing makes me feel better than adding a pop of color to my outfit! Outerwear is an easy way to brighten up your OOTD! You’re probably thinking, Chelsea Nicole, I only own black coats. And if you do that’s okay! But listen to me when I tell you that bright colored outerwear is totally in! If you’re not quite ready to make the transition to such a bright color, like this green leopard print faux fur coat from @boohoo, choose a subtle navy blue or even taupe colored coat. It’s an easy way to incorporate color into your outfit, and can serve as a neutral piece that can be worn with a variety of different looks! I’ve linked a few navy blue and taupe coats in my Like to Know It! Visit the link in my bio to shop! #themodlittlemelanin And P.S. Happy Mod Little Melanin Monday! 🦋 For reasons I haven’t figured out yet over 1,000 of y’all follow me for my fashion posts when I haven’t even followed y’all back!
When Iaunched this page five years ago on this very day, there was no such thing as being an “influencer.” Being on here was not a job, and I don’t think anyone would’ve ever imagined this could become a source of income. Fashion bloggers would literally go out in their backyard and shoot some pictures to upload with the hope that their page would get enough hits for someone to post their pictures on Pinterest so they could grow their following. We all had phones with so-so camera quality, so photos weren’t as detailed. Camera tripods for phones were not yet a thing, and you had to beg someone to follow you around all day to get good content for your page. No one cared about how the aesthetic of your feed looked. Back then likes wouldn’t show the number until you hit “11,” but you would never worry if your page gained traffic or not because the algorithm was still in chronological order. (Hint, hint @instagram.) It was so easy to grow. And then everything on Instagram changed to focus on monetary growth. Paying to promote posts was the only way to get traffic. Engagement groups are a must for your page to even get 10% of the likes it should. And it became difficult for little bloggers like me to grow. I’ve taken numerous breaks from blogging because I felt discouraged that I wasn’t as big as I should’ve been in five years. Was it my content? Was it me? Neither. Instagram is catered to pages with a big following, and it becomes easy for smaller pages to fall through the cracks and to never be seen. We can’t even see what others like anymore to see if that content would be interesting for us to engage with. I’ve decided to vow to make this year the year I’m dedicated to creating the content that I love for my page, regardless of the likes, and the growth. For doing what makes me happy brings me the most joy, and I encourage you to do the same. Happy Birthday, The Mod Little Melanin ️ #themodlittlemelanin Happy Mod Little Melanin Monday! 🦋 Each and every Monday this year, you’ll be receiving some of my favorite styling tips that I’ve shared with clients I’ve styled in the past, and that I use each and every day! In the past, I would often have at least 3-4 clients that I would style every month. But with myself being in school, my time is consumed mostly by studying and trying to catch up on my beauty rest. A new year is the perfect time to revamp my vision for my blog and to take the content I am producing to the next level for my blog, The Mod Little Melanin, my Instagram feed and my Pinterest Page. I hope all of my readers take this time at the beginning of the year to discover what they wish for their purpose to be this year, and to go out and accomplish that purpose. This Monday’s tip is mixing prints! In the year 2021, it’s time to believe that you absolutely can mix prints and pull it off! Keep reading for a few tips I often would tell my clients to help you seamlessly pull off your next mixed prints outfit! The first step to pulling off a mixed prints outfit is to select two prints that have the same base color. Unsure of what I mean by base color? If you look at the two prints I’m wearing, you’ll see that the base color of both prints is the color black. Black, my base color, helps to allow the prints to become cohesive and appear unified in your outfit. I choose to mix prints in both the top and outerwear of my outfit, but you can absolutely mix two prints as a top and a bottom by following the same base color rule. Selecting two prints to correspond with one another becomes simplistic when selecting complementary colors. For example, pink and orange, blue and yellow or leopard (brown) and red. If you’re still unsure if you can pull off an outfit with mixed (and trust me you can!) start off pairing a white patterned shirt or pant with a colorful patterned piece of outerwear, just as I did.
My coat is from the men’s department at Boohoo, and my top was purchased years ago, likely from a thrift store. My leather pants are a find from my mom’s closet. Don’t hesitate to take a peak in the clothing department of the “opposite sex” to find pieces that you like. After all, gender is a social construct and not something that is set in stone for us to conform to and follow. Shop in whatever section of the store you feel speaks to you! Happy Monday! Chelsea Nicole, The Mod Little Melanin The 2000s called, they want you to raid your mom’s closet for your clothes. Have you noticed that the fashion trends of Y2K are slowly creeping back into everyone’s closet? What Gen Z has dubbed “E-Girl” fashion are actually the long forgotten trends of the early 2000s mixed laced with the trends of today. But don’t worry, the dreaded low-rise jean hasn’t quite made a comeback - yet. Today’s look is an easy way to mix the trends of yesteryear with today. Start out with a flare legged pant. I’m wearing a pair of burgundy/brown cow print pants from shein.com. These pants are high-waisted and pair well with a variety of tops. I chose a super cropped top, also from Shein, in a coordinating color with teddy bear sleeves. The 2000s were all about being “matchy-matchy” and complementary colors help to pull the look together. You can finish off your look with a pair of Doc Martens, or similar. Mine are, you guessed it, burgundy!
Highlighting your natural beauty was popular in the beginning of this century. Add soft makeup, and a blush pink or nude lip to complete your look. Don’t forget to add your favorite miniature shades. XOXO, The Mod Little Melanin |
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The Mod Little Melanin
The Mod Little Melanin
A Fashion Blog by Chelsea Nicole.