Courtesy of Alexa Chung/Instagram

Looking to Take Your Style Game From Drab to Fab? Follow These Fashion-Forward Influencers

Fashion & Beauty

Oct 21, 2019 10:31 am·

By Life & Style Staff

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The Best Fashion Influencers to Follow on Instagram and Twitter

Rocky Barnes

Take one look at model Rocky Barnes’ social media pages and it’s clear why she has found such success as an influencer. Born and raised in Manhattan Beach, California, and now based in Los Angeles, Barnes — a.k.a. Rachel Horowitz — has a flawless yet effortlessly chic personal style which she documents on her Rocky Barnes blog. She spends her time traveling the world with photographer husband Matt Cooper, who documents the couple’s adventures and lives life to the fullest. “My personality is adventurous, outgoing and opinionated,” she’s said. “I love hosting and always want everyone to have a good time. I’m a work-hard, play-hard type of girl.” But it’s not all play: Barnes recently launched a collaboration with Express, inspired by her personal travel and adventures. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

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Aimee Song

With more than 4.6 social media followers and a website, Song of Style, that gets over 2 million page views a month, Aimee Song is a bona fide force in the industry. The L.A.-based influencer started blogging in 2008 while studying architecture in San Francisco and later launched a full-blown fashion and lifestyle brand. Aimee (pronounced AH-mee) is now also a New York Times best-selling author, thanks to the success of her debut book Capture Your Style, but she tries to stay relevant yet credible with her ever-growing fan base. “The challenge now is this market is saturated, so a lot of people are creating similar content — trying to be a little different is the biggest challenge,” Song, who can get $7,000 for a single Instagram post, has admitted. “Trying to remain raw and true and authentic is a constant challenge because if you see something more glamorous and pretty, you kind of innately think, ‘Oh, do I have to do that?’” Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

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Alexa Chung

A former model and television host, Alexa Chung has forged a path as one to watch for all things fashion. Known and admired for her effortlessly cool personal style, 35-year-old British-born Chung splits her time between London and Los Angeles, focusing on her eponymous clothing line and collaborations with brands such as AG jeans and Longchamp. But despite her online fame (Chung brings in about $5,000 for promoted content), Chung is wary of the industry that helped make her an It Girl. “Social networking is an ironic name for something that has little to do with connecting us with others and everything to do with self-promotion,” Chung rued in her 2013 book It. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

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Caroline Daur

On her Instagram page, Caroline Daur — a.k.a. Caro — can be spotted traveling the globe in high fashion outfits (the geo-tag on the jet-setter’s account is clear: “always somewhere”) that show off Daur’s unique look. “My pictures allow me to tell an ongoing story of my personality and style,” Hamburg, Germany-based Daur has said. “My style philosophy is having fun and being confident in my clothes. I always say I am a ‘chameleon.’ Sometimes I like to dress like a princess and another day I feel more a super [androgynous] vibe.” Whatever she is doing, it’s working: she has collaborated with everyone from Fendi, Dior, Dolce & Gabbana and Roger Vivier, and her legion of dedicated fans around the world continues to grow, thanks to her candid vibe. “I’m a little goofball and love to share my personality on social media,” Daur told her followers. “I look forward to continuing to share my passion with you — and hope to inspire you to live your personal dream.” Follow her on Instagram.

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Chiara Ferragni

When Italian Instagram star Chiara Ferragni started posting her looks as the Blonde Salad in October 2009, fashion blogging and social media were still mostly unchartered territory. The 32-year-old law student turned fashion icon now boasts more than 17 million Insta followers and is paid nearly $20,000 for every branded post (the Harvard Business School uses her as an example of how to monetize a personal brand). Plus, she has her own fashion line, the Chiara Ferragni Collection, and spends her time globetrotting to the chicest events in the world — often with rapper and producer husband Federico “Fedez” and son Leone in tow. “When it comes to anything you want to do in your life, you have to be passionate,” Ferragni has said. “Success may come, but in the end, the most important thing is you are doing what you really want to do.” Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

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Danielle Berstein

Danielle Bernstein launched the fashion blog We Wore What while still a student at NYC’s Fashion Institute of Technology as a way to showcase the creative outfits she spotted around campus. Now she’s a star of the social media scene, with a trendy clothing line and sought-after collections with Joe’s Jeans and Onia swimwear (which did nearly $2 million in sales in just 24 hours), Bernstein, now 26, shows no signs of slowing down, recently revealing, “My three-year plan is to continue to grow my brands, introduce new ones, and to keep investing and becoming a strategic partner in start-ups, companies, and brands that I believe in from an early stage.” Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

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Gabrielle Gregg

It can be hard to ignore the pressure to be thin —especially on social media. But Gabrielle Gregg, a.k.a. Gabi Fresh, has positioned herself as a role model for body positivity and acceptance. “When I started becoming more active online and learning about body positivity, I found forums for plus-size women who like fashion, and that kind of changed my life because I thought I was the only one!” the L.A.-based Gregg, who started her blog in 2008, has said. Fast forward to today, and proud size-18 Gregg has worked on projects with plus-size clothing line Eloquii and Target’s Ava + Viv while also launching a swimwear line with Swimsuits for All and working as a stylist. “Living in a larger body definitely affects how society treats you, and finally connecting with others who understood that experience was not only validating but also healing,” Gregg has revealed. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

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Gala Gonzalez

One of the OG fashion bloggers, Gala Gonzalez found online fame with her understated yet aspirational style. Born in Northern Spain and educated in London, Gonzalez — the niece of renowned Spanish designer Adolfo Dominguez — now lives in NYC, where she’s worked with major brands like Nike, Lowe and Cartier while curating her own Amlul fashion line. Gonzalez has described her personal style as “eclectic with a bohemian touch” and showcased her looks in the 2018 style tome #GalaConfidential: 10 Years of the Influencer. “My go-to’s are a pair of white jeans, cozy sweaters in natural colors, a suit and a pair of loafers. I love to give my look a masculine touch,” Gonzalez has said. “I love the style icons from the 1960s and 1970s, such as Lauren Hutton.” Follow her on Instagram.

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Jenn Im

Since 2010, Jenn Im has been making a name in the saturated influencer space with her popular YouTube channel, Clothes Encounters, where she shares her advice and tips on fashion, beauty and lifestyle — while also partnering with brands such as Calvin Klein, Macy’s, Clinique and Levi’s. In 2016, the L.A.-based Im also released a makeup collection, Jenn Ne Sais Quoi with ColourPop and is now dedicating more time and energy to her own fashion brand. “I think definitely I’ll be putting everything into my clothing line,” the Korean-American Im has said of Eggie, (“baby” in her family’s native tongue). “It’s my baby. I want to make it grow and make it a household name. One day, if we could do beyond clothing and have home wear, that’s where I see it going, too. I want to promote it as a lifestyle. And I want to create honest content. That’s a big priority for me.” Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

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Julia Engel

A Southern belle with flair, Gal Meets Gal founder Julia Engel shows off her feminine style on her site and social media accounts, which she launched in 2011 while a college junior. Now, her Gal Meets Glam collection is sold at Nordstrom and what started as a simple hobby is a full-fledged empire for the 28-year-old, who lives in Charleston, South Carolina, with husband Thomas Berzolheimer. “I wanted to create something that was bigger than myself that could be a daily part of these women’s lives,” Engel said in a 2018 interview. “One of the reasons why it was received so well is because it was so true to myself and true to everything I love and everything I built on Gal Meets Glam over the past seven-and-a-half years.” Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

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Leandra Medine Cohen

As the founder of the Man Repeller brand, Leandra Medine Cohen possesses a tongue-in-cheek attitude that made her a star in often-uptight the world of fashion. NYC-born and bred Cohen started the site in 2010 as a way to poke fun at the “man-repelling” outfits she was wearing and developed a devoted audience on both her personal and brand accounts. “It’s about trends that women love and men hate,” Cohen, who released her first book Man Repeller: Seeking Love, Finding Overalls and launched MR by Man Repeller footwear in 2016, has said. “I think what’s so interesting for people is that I don’t take it so seriously and yet I am still immersed in the [fashion] industry.” When Cohen, 30, isn’t hanging out with her husband Abie and their twin daughters Laura and Madeline (Cohen has been extremely open and honest on social media about her fertility struggles), she can be spotted at all of the top fashion shows, collaborating with brands including Mango, Maje and Michael Kors. Follow Man Repeller on Twitter and Instagram.

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Marino Di Vaio

Is there anything Mariano Di Vaio doesn’t do? The 30-year-old is a social media star, to be sure, thanks to MDV Style, the blog he started in 2012 while studying acting in NYC, and the e-commerce site No How Style. Italian-born Di Vaio has also worked as a model and brand ambassador for Gucci, Hugo Boss, Maserati and Omega; as a designer of his eponymous MDV line of jewelry, eyewear and leather accessories; as an actor in the 2016 comedy Deported; and he authored My Dream Job — all while raising two sons with wife Eleonora Brunacci! For Di Vaoi, it’s all about embracing personal style and being comfortable in your own skin. “Feel free to be whoever you want to be in the clothes you want to wear,” he said in a July 2019 Instagram post. “They’ll judge you no matter what.” Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.

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