A new year dawns.

With this commencement, Sarah and I feel that it’s necessary to start looking ahead and thinking about how we want Stumptown Stil to evolve in 2013. Much like at the beginning of yoga class, I’d like to take a moment and set some intention for the year ahead. I can’t say where 2013 will take us, but I will say that Sarah and I hope you will join us for the journey that lies ahead!

For starters, one of our intentions is to become a bit more social in 2013. We’re not talking full blown, connect-with-us-anywhere-on-the-internet status, but sometimes we stumble across cool stuff we want to share with you that doesn’t necessarily merit a whole blog post. Or we dig up some cool content from some of our favorite sources that we think you might like too. So, as of this year, you can now connect with Sarah and I on Twitter, Pinterest and Google+. Hearing from you guys makes our day, so stop by and say hello whenever!

A Sort-of Mission Statement…

I’ve been procrastinating in writing something like this up for quite a long time. If you happened to have read our About Us page, you probably know we don’t really have a defined mission statement. If I were to sum it up in a few words, it would sound something like: Make Portland Fashionable (and by extension, really all of the Pacific Northwest).

When Sarah and I launched this blog–just a few months ago in late August (if you can believe it!–we sure can’t!)–we didn’t exactly have a grand plan for our blog-project. We both loved fashion, which was the basis for Stumptown Stil, but moreover we wanted an outlet for this passion, which didn’t always align with our career trajectories. Prior to Stumptown Stil, I had worked (in addition to holding down a full-time job!) as an editorial assistant, then a staff writer in the publishing industry, writing short articles on business and legal news relevant to the local community. I have always enjoyed writing–regardless of the subject, but after publishing some 300+ articles, I decided that I wanted to start applying my skills by writing about the things that I was really passionate about.  Meanwhile, Sarah took her first position working in the tech industry. When I listen to her talk about her work these days, I know she greatly enjoys what she is doing. But, as a tech-industry veteran myself (of sorts), I also know that it’s an industry chronically devoid of sartorial-sensibility (with, of course, some exceptions). Suffice it to say, it was of critical importance for us both to find an outlet for our devout love of fashion and our style musings.

When we started, our blog was, in some ways, a testament of our own friendship and shared passion. I’m not really sure whether or not we expected anyone else to stop by and read. I am sure that we didn’t know what to expect! Much to my surprise, however, the visitors started rolling in (and I think it’s a safe assumption that if you’re reading this now, you are one of these visitors–our “dear readers” as we fondly call you). Unfortunately, we don’t know a lot about you, our readers, but we have good reason to suspect that you’re pretty hip, (and fashionable!) people. And at this point, I think it’s necessary to pause for a second, and say thank you for stopping by! It’s good to see you, and we hope you find our ‘musings’ … well, amusing if nothing more!

I find it’s important to express our gratitude because I know, we know that “fashion” blogs are a dime a dozen these days–formulaic even…(some more successful than others). Between Cupcakes and Cashmere, Macaroons and Mohair, Vanilla Beans and Velvet, Glitter and Gabardine (okay, fine I made some most of these up, but you get the point…) we weren’t sure there would be a space out there for us. In 2012, however, you–our readers–proved to us that you aren’t blogged-out just yet, and apparently there is still a space out there for us in the grand ‘blogosphere!’ Yay!

So now I promise to get to the point. As Stumptown Stil continues to evolve, so, in measure, are our goals. In case you’re interested, we’d like to share our refined goals–resolutions you could call them I suppose, for the coming year.

We resolve to balance style and fashion.

I often refrain from calling S.S. a “fashion” blog, instead opting for style blog. That’s because my hope is that we demonstrate trends, outfits, and pieces that you find accessible. While we’re engaged with what’s going on in the high-fashion world, we want to help you connect with these trends. This means that when it comes to our looks-of-the-week and other posts, if it’s not wearable, it just doesn’t work.

We resolve to stay Portland.

On the flip side of that style-fashion balance, our goal is to highlight the creative energy and the exciting momentum of skilled movers and shakers in Portland’s budding fashion industry. So, to the extent that we cover fashion (as opposed to style), we’d like to keep our lens as localized as possible.

We resolve to be sartorially authentic

Recently, we’ve been receiving a few offers to review products on our blog and we want to be honest with our readers regarding our position on promoting products. I think it absolutely necessary to broach the subject matter given the amount of controversy that has been brewing around this lately, (particularly as a former member of the publishing industry).

So here’s what we think. While it’s an exciting time for us, we are committed to only featuring or promoting products that are in keeping with our unique and authentic style sensibilities (even if that means turning down offers that just aren’t a fit).  Why? Because free products do not make a blog. Readers do. (As much as it may later pain us to say), our goal is to only feature products that are accessible–financially and sartorially–to you, our readers. I say this because Sarah and I have seen a fair share of bloggers become successful and start showing off pieces like DVF clutches and See by Chloe shoes (which, frankly, probably aren’t affordable for the majority of their viewers). This blog is intended to inspire you, our readers, to cultivate your own style–not to alienate you by showing off items that 90% of you would never dream of owning. (Thanks to all for allowing us to express our point of view on this matter!)

To hold us to that point, here is a short list of items that we solemnly swear not to wear in 2013:
Jeffrey Campbell Litas (sorry, everyone, not for us!)
overalls (oh, hell no…)
diaper shorts
Pretty much any shoe with a combined heel/platform height exceeding 4 inches

We resolve to be more social

But you already read about that, above!

Lastly, we resolve to have fun!

Stressful as maintaining a blog can be when you’re working full time, we love what we’re doing. Here’s wishing that you, too, have some fun in 2013, and maybe stop by our blog from time to time?

Happy New Year, dear readers!

xo

Erin