Elizabeth Pruett ‘13, aka EB, has always been a fashion enthusiast. From the multitude of internships she has had to her personal fashion blog, EB has made fashion a huge part of her life. EB is from an affluent community in New England where everyone dresses “preppy,” and attended a small private high school where she was required to follow a strict dress code. When she was about 12 years old, she was ice-skating with her father and they were discussing her interest in fashion. He suggested that she develop a blog to write about her ideas, as blogs had just recently been invented. EB followed his advice and created one of the first fashion blogs in the world. She named it “EB RUE,” with the “rue” referring to the word “street” in French, because she was born in Paris.
Over the last 8 years, EB has been updating her blog at least once a day and has an abundance of followers. She has also extended her brand to Facebook and Twitter. EB confesses that she would not wear many of the fashion items she writes about because she understands that certain people can pull off looks that others cannot. Therefore, her blog appeals to all types of girls because it reflects a variety of styles. EB often uses images of celebrities because she feels they are extremely large influences in setting trends. Most of the time EB likes looking and reading about trends but they tend to be impractical for everyday dressing. She advises girls to not “become slaves to fashion and look silly.” She went on to say that it is important for girls to look their best, whether they follow the latest trends or not.
However, EB RUE is not just a site of pictures. EB enjoys writing “opinion essays” and often discusses beauty products, food, and music. Recently, EB wrote about body image, and addressed the issue of eating disorders and models. She said, “beauty is so misconstrued these days, and I like to show girls that models are skinny because designers are showing off their clothes – the models function as hangers so that an audience can better focus on the designers’ creations. Most women naturally have curves, and women should flaunt and accept them, not hide them and develop eating disorders.” Click here to read her full story.
EB says that she gets many of the ideas she writes about from magazines (she literally reads every single one!) and other blogs. Some of EB’s favorite fashion blogs are The Cut, High Snobette and The Style Rookie. Of course, she also admits to reading Perez Hilton religiously.
When asked about the way Emory students dress, EB said she is not accustomed to the way girls dress here because she is used to a more “clean-cut, conservative, put together look.” She is especially concerned with the fact that too many girls dress the same, which she considers to be “not fashion,” as fashion should express individuality. However, EB claims that day and night are completely different. When girls go out at night, EB says, “they look great and know what they’re doing.” In terms of the way boys dress, EB admires SAE’s preppy style (Nantucket reds, boat shoes, pinstripes), and is sick of the fratty cut off t-shirts (editor’s note: we all are).
EB RUE has also provided EB with an array of impressive internship experiences. During high school summers, she was able to intern at various marketing companies. One summer she even had the opportunity to create a fashionable women’s line for Rugby and pitch the marketing concept to Rugby’s executives. She used her friends as models for the pictures she included in the presentation, and the executives bought her idea! EB said that the fashion line has been momentarily put on hold while Rugby focuses on other areas, but she hopes they will continue developing the line.
Although EB seems to have it all figured out, she admits that she remains nebulous about her future career plans. She would love a job that encompasses all of her other interests as well (which include travelling, learning about different cultures, reading, writing, marketing, and singing). As for now, EB is enjoying working on her blog, focusing on her schoolwork (she is double majoring in Anthropology and French), hanging out with her sorority sisters in ADPi, and writing for Her Campus as one of our new fashion editors! This definitely won’t be the last you’ll be hearing about EB! Check back soon for her upcoming articles!
Check out EB RUE!