Runway Exclusive: The Rising of Charee Lenee’

Charee Lenee

In the world of fashion where trends are forever evolving, history repeats itself and almost anything goes, there is always that something or someone that stands out and speaks for itself. Meet Charee Lenee’! Charee Lenee’ is one of Atlanta’s own up and coming fashionista/fashion bloggers. According to her fashion is her passion. STACKS Magazine caught up with Charee Lenee’ to find out exactly what about fashion makes her world turn, exactly how she makes her style her own and to get a little more in-depth with her as to what www.ChareeLenee.com is all about.

What does fashion mean to you?

Fashion to me means to be yourself. You, pretty much, are fashion.  It’s not about what trends are or anything like that.  It’s what you want it to be. 

What kinds of things foster or inspire your creativity when it comes to style?

Nothing really inspires me.  If I like it I’m going to buy it.  I don’t care if it is last season, season before, or whatever…if I like it I’m going to buy it.  So nothing really inspires me.

If you had a way to describe it, how would you define your personal style?

My personal style is modern, fierce…trendy.

What are 3 of your fashion must haves?

Black pumps.  Every girl must have a pair of black pumps.  A chunky watch…you can throw it on like a bracelet and it’s an immediate accessory.  Right now I am loving skinny cargos.  I have like seven or eight pair.  So I would say those 3 things are musts.

Ok, let’s get into a little bit about chareelenee.com…what inspired you to become a fashion blogger?

Well, I always liked blogging and before I had a blog that was all about celebrity fashion.  And then, I kinda wanted to get away from that because, I’m like, OK, I’m marketing all of these celebs and I’m not reaping any benefits from it.  So I said “well I’ll just do a blog about me”.  I love fashion and I am always shopping…a shopaholic.  So I said let me just start a blog all about me and what I do…daily outfits. It will help people if they don’t know how to put things together; sort of help them put their pieces together and not have to spend so much money.  You know, just something on a budget. 

Yeah, you know I notice too with the celebs at times they’ll have something, but we can’t wear that to work or wear that color hair or those shoes; so that’s good.

Right, right, exactly!

Tell us about the efforts you have made thus far to brand chareelenee.com.

I use social networking a lot.  Twitter, Facebook and as you know, my husband, he is a marketer so he helps me a lot, he has all these different softwares.  And I just, if I’m out in a store or something and somebody says “oh your shoes are cute”, I will giv’em my card and say “hey check out my blog, I have a fashion blog!”  You know, just simple right now.  I’m not doing anything major.  It’s real easy.

What makes you different from the several other fashion bloggers out there?

My blog is just about me.  So, I don’t think I am like everybody else because it’s just me.  I just wear what I wear and I describe what I’m wearing and where you can buy it. 

What current fashion trends interest you the most?

The skinny cargos of course and for spring I like the wedge…that’s like totally awesome to me.  Those two I think are the best trends right now.

You’ve said that you can do what you want, when you want, just be yourself…what are a few of your fashions do’s and don’ts?

A don’t would be…do not wear legging or tights with just a t-shirt.  Don’t do that, please don’t do that! (laughs).  To me that’s the ultimate don’t.  Also, if you’re going to wear red lips, you know red lipsticks are hot now, if you are gonna do red lips then make all your other makeup kinda subtle since your red is the pop.  So don’t put a red lip with all this bright makeup.  I think those are the only ones…but definitely the legging with a t-shirt…that is a definite no-no!

Do’s…skinny cargos!  With a pump.  You can dress’em up, down, you can put them with some combat boots, you can put your flip flops, flats, anything…you can dress skinny cargos any kind of way. 

Beside the chunky watch, what other accessories?

Bracelets or a bunch of bangles, hoop earrings, studs, and leopard.  Leopard print.  Anything leopard.

Who are some of your favorite designers and style icons?

My favorite designer is Michael Kors.  Just because I like all of his stuff, it’s just the bomb.  His stuff is expensive but you can go to TJ Maxx or Marshalls.  I found a Micheal Kors glitter top at TJ Maxx and it was only $24.99 and originally it’s like $89.99.  I like his designs and you can find them in those stores.

Style icon is Rihanna.  I love her.  Her style is just the bomb to me.  I mean of course some things she wears you can’t wear out because she is a celeb so she can wear whatever she wants to wear but I love her. She is like my number one style icon. 

What are some of your favorite clothing stores or websites?

TJ Maxx and Marshalls.  Online would be asos.com.  For shoes I like urbanog.com, it’s a really good shoe store.  I was a member of justfab.com, which is good.  It’s a shoe club sort of like shoedazzle, you pay $39.95 and every month they’ll send you a selection of shoes.  But I found a new one, it’s called solesociety.com.  It’s just like justfab and shoedazzle but it’s by Haute Look.  They have fabulous shoes.  It’s 100% leather shoes and it’s only $49.95.  So they have higher end shoes and it’s only ten dollars more but their shoes are awesome. 

What are your picks for this upcoming spring’s must haves?

The wedges, the stacked wedges; canvas, the canvas shoes; and bright colors like oranges, greens, you know, all of your summer-y type colors. 

I’ve been following your blog and I’ve gotta know, gotta ask…belts…you love skinny belts.

Yes!

Give readers a little bit of insight on that.

It just adds more to your outfit.  Even if you do a before and after…put your outfit on with a cardigan or a regular shirt it just looks normal, but soon as you put that skinny belt on it kinda gives it more of a pop and sorta completes your look. 

When spending money on clothing and accessories, what advice would you give to a savvy shopper who likes to save a dime?

I would say definitely shop thrift stores.  Thrift stores, goodwill, anything like that, they always have good stuff…most of my stuff I find are at thrift stores.  You only spend two dollars, four dollars.  My latest find was a leather skirt, it was only $9.99 and it was a 100% leather mini.  Normally it would probably cost me two hundred to three hundred dollars and I only spent ten dollars. 

Can you tell us what the future holds for Charee Lenee’, as far as the website and any plans you have?

Well, the ultimate goal that I have is to open a boutique.  That’s my dream.  The whole reason why I started the blog was to get my name out there so once I do launch my boutique people will say “oh, that’s Charee Lenee, I read her blog!”  So my ultimate future goal is to have a boutique. 

Tell our readers where they can find you.

You can find me at www.chareelenee.com 

Is there anything else that you want our readers to know about the site, like maybe how they can get involved?

Yeah, definitely! If you have a picture or you want to showcase a daily outfit just email me at info@chareelenee.com and I’ll feature you on the blog.  It’s as easy as that.  You don’t have to do anything else, just take a picture, email it to me and I’ll post it, and I’ll send you an email once I’ve posted it and…you’ll be featured! 

Check out the vid below to hear what Charee Lenee’ had to say about the one thing she would change about the fashion industry.

Also, ladies, if you have a piece that you don’t know what to do with, you can also email that to Charee Lenee and she’ll help you make an outfit out of it.