Life is a fashion show for Tiffany Tse.
The 25-year-old writer for Glendale-based tween magazines BOP and Tiger Beat has long been a fan of colorful accessories and quirky apparel, putting together unique ensembles on a daily basis.
But she recently burst into the spotlight for her personal blog, Style Sophisticate, where she regularly posts images of her fashion creations, sometimes calling them "geek chic" or "sporty and sophisticated."
Tse, a Glendale resident, was the only Los Angeles-area writer to be chosen as one of eight finalists on America's Most Stylish Blogger, a contest by AOL-owned Stylist.com and online store Bluefly.com.
Now in its fifth and final week, the online competition has challenged contestants by shipping them different items around which to create their own look.
Tse, who hosts her blog for free on Blogger.com and has a relatively small contingent of loyal readers, considers herself a dark horse in a competition against writers she has admired and followed.
But after a rocky start, star designers like Amy Smilovic and Nicole Miller praised Tse's approach, helping to launch the part-time blogger into fourth place in online voting.
ZAIN SHAUK: You're kind of part fashion guru, part entertainment writer, part blogger. How does this work?
TIFFANY TSE: I always just say I work in entertainment media by day and blog about fashion by night, because we're definitely more entertainment- and celebrity-focused at work, but at night when I go home, that's when I blog about fashion, and on the weekend is when I take my outfit pictures.
Q: How did you get into fashion blogging?
A: I started the blog in 2007, and I remember I had just come back from teaching English in Japan and I was starting my writing career. A writer's salary is very low, and I was a freelancer, so I liked clothes and I wanted to started blogging about all the cool clothes I wanted but couldn't afford on my freelance writer's salary. So that's what I was doing, and about a year ago is when I started posting my outfits, and that got a much better response from bloggers because it's actually showing my personal style and what I wear instead of, "Oh, this is a cute purse."
Q: What is your personal style?
A: That's such a hard question! Everybody asks me that. I would say it's very fun and young and a little bit irreverent and risky and evolving. Constantly evolving.
Q: What is it that made you so fascinated with fashion?
