Britt Aboutaleb - Fashionista

Britt Aboutaleb

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Business

Elle.com Loses Over Half of Its Editorial Team

Major shakeups have gone down on Elle.com's editorial side. Everyone's jumping ship! As a few media outlets have already reported, Keith Pollock, Elle.com's editorial director, is leaving to become editor in chief of Du Jour--a new digital and print editorial publication launching in collaboration with Gilt Groupe. What we didn't know until recently is that he will be bringing Elle.com's market editor, Sydney Wasserman, and art director Stephanie Jones, with him to his new gig (Jones will be the art director, Wasserman the senior market editor). So that's about half of Elle.com's editorial staff right there. And that's not all... Britt Aboutaleb, former editor of this site and Elle.com's fashion news editor, is not only leaving Elle--she's leaving New York! And fashion! Sort of!

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Style

Fashionista Turns Five! Fashionista Sixth Editor (That's Me, Leah Chernikoff) Takes a Look Back With Laughs and Cats

Believe it or not, Fashionista turns five years old this year. Which is, you know, pretty old in blog years. To celebrate our big bday, we’ve asked all of Fashionista’s former editors (in chronological order that’s Faran Krentcil, Natalie Hormilla, Abby Gardner, Britt Aboutaleb, and Lauren Sherman) to reflect back on their time at Fashionista from the highs (seeing a Chanel show) to the lows (being chewed out by Arianne Phillips for leaking her fashion week plans and costing her a client). You've already heard from Faran, Natalie, Abby, Britt and Lauren, So to wrap up our five year birthday nostalgia series, I figured as Fashionista's current editor, I ought to weigh in. I've been here almost two years and I won't even attempt to fit the things I've learned and all the stuff I love about this job into a post. It will be TL;DR and no one wants that.

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Careers

Fashionista Week in Review: The Fashion Intern Debate Continues, a Guide to China's Takeover of the Front Rows and Stylish Acts at SXSW

Former Editor Britt Takes Us Down Memory Lane: Fashionista turns five years old this month, and we've been checking back in with former Fashionista editors. Fourth in line is Britt Aboutaleb, who left not a dry eye in the house. We love you Britt! Intern Insanity: Fashion internships have been a hot topic here at Fashionista, and our readers are not short on opinions. We investigated what internships were really like at major publications according to former interns after finding out that Condé Nast has completely overhauled their program. None other than Grace Coddington chimed in on the debate, stating that interns "think we owe them something." Which side are you on? How a Chanel Jacket Gets Made: It's one of the ultimate symbols of an iconic fashion house that has been reinvented dozens of times. Now, watch how it gets made with this quick video. Chinese Takeover: First it was Linsanity, now Chinese actresses and socialites are taking over the front rows at fashion week. These beautiful ladies are the future of fashion, so we put together a guide to get to know the new faces.

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Style

Fashionista Turns Five! Fashionista's Fourth Editor, Britt Aboutaleb, Takes a Look Back

Believe it or not, Fashionista turns five years old this month. Which is, you know, pretty old in blog years. To celebrate our big bday, we’ve asked all of Fashionista’s former editors (in chronological order that’s Faran Krentcil, Natalie Hormilla, Abby Gardner, Britt Aboutaleb, and Lauren Sherman) to reflect back on their time at Fashionista from the highs (seeing a Chanel show) to the lows (being chewed out by Arianne Phillips for leaking her fashion week plans and costing her a client). Last month (yes, we took a break on these nostalgia posts during fashion month), Fashionista’s third editor, Abby Gardner, enumerated her fondest Fashionista memories, Letterman-style with a top 10 list. Before her, Natalie Hormilla waxed nostalgic about afternoon Soho news-gathering strolls, and before her, the site's founding editor, Faran Krentcil, brought tears (of laughter and just aww-ness) to our eyes with her tales. Next up, my partner in crime, Britt Aboutaleb, the site's fourth editor and now the fashion news editor at Elle.com.

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Business

All Eyes on the Editors: Has Street Style Photography Created a New Unattainable Ideal for Women?

There's no doubt about it: With the advent of street style blogs like The Sartorialist, Tommy Ton for Style.com, the Street Peeper and Altamira NYC, the landscape of Fashion Week has changed. With fashion editors' and stylists' outfits now being meticulously covered, what goes on off the runway has nearly eclipsed the collections. Anyone who's recently attended fashion week--or hell, anyone who's been on the internet in the past year--will notice that the frenzy surrounding street style during fashion week has reached a fever pitch. Swarms of photographers crowd around the latest street style It-girl, angling (and sometimes shoving each other) to get the best picture. Unknowing tourists stop in their tracks, staring agape at the spectacle--some even start taking their own photos, thinking it must be a celebrity. Industry wannabes, dressed in over-the-top fashions, walk by "casually," desperately hoping to catch the eye of a photographer. Fashion week used to be a civilized industry event. Now it's become a media circus, with both established editors, actresses and unknowns going to crazy lengths to get their fifteen minutes.Teen Vogue's Mary-Kate Steinmiller, who is street style fodder herself, told us, "I think everyone (yes, myself included) is guilty of what I like to call 'peacocking' and 'baiting the razzi.'" Other editors have admitted to us that they've spent weeks prepping for the event, meticulously planning each outfit. One told us that she would change mid-day if she felt her outfit wasn't up to snuff. This deliberateness has surely had an effect on the authenticity of street style photography.

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Careers

What Should You Wear on a Fashion Industry Interview?

A reader recently emailed us asking what she should wear to an upcoming interview with a prominent New York fashion designer. "Do you think you could help me with some suggestions?" she said. Of course we could, but first, we wanted to ask a few of our industry favorites what they think one should wear to a fashion interview. Because it really is different than interviewing for a job at a law firm--or even an advertising agency. Matthew Hunt, the publicity director at Exposure US (who's worked everywhere from Gucci to Burberry to Ford Models), says it best: