By Adriana Cameline
“Can Emma Chamberlain wear ___ so it can become popular again?” or “once Emma Chamberlain wears it, I'll wear it.” have become very popular sayings among young adults and teens in the past few years, but why?
Before YouTube, How did Emma get into Fashion?
Emma goes in depth about her fashion journey in her anything goes podcast. In middle school she moved towns with her mom and began to notice that a lot of the other children in the area were wealthy. She saw brands she had never seen before, like Abercrombie, Aeropostale, and Hollister while she was still wearing Old Navy. “In middle school I didnt even think about fashion as a thing, I was just trying to fit in the best I could.”
On the flip side in high school, Emma had to wear a uniform so on the weekends she would experiment with style without the judgement from her classmates. Emma expressed how she really began her personal style journey when she started to disconnect mentally from school. She would go out with her dad who is a photographer and take instagram photos of her outfits in San Francisco. Quickly, she noticed how expensive being trendy can be, especially when you're experimenting with your personal style.
“When you wanna be fashionable, it costs money, and I always felt bad because I didn't make my own money, so it was hard for me to expand myself.” This realization is when Emma started to think strategically, thrifting is how she could go out and buy 30 pieces for $100 and experiment with style without the cost repercussions.
The Start of Emma's Influence
With this new revelation, Emma really was able to start creatively experimenting with style. She was thrifting clothes most girls her age wouldn't even look at and making them her own. With a passion for everything creative, Emma started her youtube in 2017 as a highschool sophomore.
Her first few videos were lookbooks, how to improve your style on a budget, and thrift hauls.
Her style inspirations came from both vintage magazines and her music taste. “Through years of putting together outfits, time and time again I kinda feel like I've figured out my style now, but I'm still figuring it out and it evolves constantly”, Emma said in her podcast. Quickly enough, her videos began to gain traction. With a mix of her bubbly and honest personality, many wanted to emulate emma. This also includes fast fashion companies. As the popularity of thrifting began to rise following her, the styles that you would only see in goodwill began to show up in places like urban outfitters, brandy melville, and forever 21. Pieces like rugby shirts, vintage inspired graphics, and mom jeans started to appear in place of tube tops and skinny jeans.
Emma's Controversy at the Louis Vuitton Show: Paris Fashion Week 2019
While fast fashion companies and teens alike noticed her impact, Louis Vuitton saw something many high fashion houses didn't. Even though Emma’s style is not high fashion, her influence on both fashion and pop culture is colossal. The brand decided to make Emma a brand ambassador and invite her to their Paris fashion week show along with doing some videos for their youtube channel in 2019. At the time, many asked if she even belonged at the show due to her laidback, non high fashion style. Numerous fashion writers and twitter users alike poked fun at the situation asking if she would show up to the show in mom jeans and a scrunchie. Unlike what most expected, Emma was styled in a Louis Vutton dress (part of that year's spring collection) that was very different from her everyday look.
Emma wore a vintage print dress with fringe on the shoulders paired with natural makeup and a slick back pony.
Although this isn't the first time Emma has faced some fashion controversy, the Paris fashion week show caused the most debate. Emma said this about the show: “this is a whole new world, even though these outfits are very abstract, there is so many areas of inspo to pull from that.”
Now, both fast and high fashion brands have caught on.
Emma's Recent Success
Emma didn't let fashion week get to her and continued to create fashion content and be an ambassador for the brand. Now, Emma has immased 12.2 million followers on instagram and 9.9million subscribers on youtube over four years. She continues to make vlogs, fashion videos, and creatively expand. Along with her channel, Emma has a number of collaborations under her belt. A PacSun line, two Wildflower cases, her own line of sunglasses, and much more. Emma recently even became a creative director for Bad Habit Skincare at just 19. Along with that, she has her own trendy coffee brand called Chamberlain Coffee.
Emma Continues to Inspire Teens, Young Adults, and Fashion as a Whole Today
With her growing personal brand, Emma keeps both following and creating trends. Recently, Emma is responsible for the resurgence of trends like flared yoga pants, halter tops, loafers, and so much more. Her current vintage, eclectic style has continued to influence her followers and the industry itself.
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