INKED: Sara Donaldson - Harper & Harley Blogger

I've been reading Sara Donaldson's Harper & Harley blog for a few years now and enjoying her chic stylish outfit posts & flawless beauty. I found Sara via fellow FELLT blogger Nicole Warne (Gary Pepper Vintage - who I illustrated for). It turns out my old workmate is friends with Sara - what a small world indeed. I discovered this when I was telling him about Nicole reaching the finalists for the Cosmopolitan Fun Fearless Female Awards as did Sara's blog Harper & Harley.  I was inspired to draw Sara after seeing her latest beauty editorials - what artist can resist such a striking profile?!

The inspiration for my illustration. Photo by Harper & Harley

Tell me about yourself Originally from Brisbane I moved to Sydney a few years ago to crack into the fashion/e-commerce industry. Currently I'm a Marketing and Sales Coordinator for MANIAMANIA, an amazing designer jewellery label, however along with this for the past 4 plus years I've had my own personal fashion blog on the side, Harper and Harley, which I've used as my creative outlet. It's been such a wonderful way for me to express myself and also enable me to work with and support Australian brands that I love.

 

You're part of the blogging powerhouse that is FELLT - does it help to be part of a blogging network? For me the best part of being part of a network is that I have someone that can take care of a huge chunk of the business aspect for me. I'm already swamped Monday to Friday with my full time job, so its nice to have some of the pressure taken off, especially now that my blog has become almost a full time job on its own.

Radiant! Photo by Harper & Harley

You're reducing your wardrobe to black, white & grey, which is similar to my approach of illustrating (black & a splash of red), so what draws you to these 3 colours? (Chrissy: I myself never wear white, I love the clean crisp colour but can always hear my mum saying WHITE GET DIRTY! haha) I'm not too sure when it all happened, but colour in clothing has recently made me really anxious and I just can't do it. There are only a few exceptions to the rule, like khaki, denim, navy and camel, but to me they're also quite neutral as well. I love classic pieces that are in your wardrobe forever, and lets be honest, that pink leopard number isn't going to make the distance!

Photos by Harper & Harley

Your photos have a great narrative and tell a story - how do you plan a shoot? I try to make my outfit shots as realistic as possible, so pieces you would actually wear and want to add and work in easily with the rest of your wardrobe. As long as I feel comfortable in an outfit then it conveys well on the blog, so that must be the reason i'm able to translate that to my readers.

The blogging phenomenon has really rocketed in the last 4 years with Australians dominating fashion blogging, how do you see this evolving in the future? It's honestly blown me away, firstly how long the phenomenon has lasted, and secondly the opportunities that have arisen from this one time hobby. I've always been upfront with myself that it's not going to last, but I hope it keeps going for a few more years until we have completely saturated the market. But in saying that in fashion there are a few avenues for people to go to for inspiration and to find information on the latest trends and must have pieces, magazines, runways, in stores, on the street and blogs. So perhaps it will stay and be one of these places for people to reference for many years to come.

A huge thank you to Sara for being a mega babe and saying yes to being INKED!