Instagram Influencer Spotlight On: Iola Downing @LOLADOWNING

1) Tell us a little about yourself. What are you doing now and where do you come from?

Hi! My name is Iola I’m 20 years old and I’m what you might call "a brummie." Although I don’t (quite) have the accent I am from Birmingham – England! I currently study Fashion Design at BCU which I love and I’m already in my 2nd year. Following the completion of my degree I do hope to make it in the Fashion world as an aspiring designer – I would totally up and move for the dream job so who knows where work will take me!

2) What are your topics of interest? What do you post on Instagram the most?

I do tend to take a lot of Fashion photography, details of outfits in particular. Other than that it’s mostly selfies, sassy going out photos or holiday photos. I also post a lot of food selfies and snippets of my university fashion work on the snapchat area of Instagram!

3) How did your Instagram name come about?

So my name is Iola not Lola right? However EVERYONE know me as @LolaDowning not Iola. I decided in year 7 of high school when I made my first Facebook account to call myself Lola as Iola is abit of a tongue twister if I can’t tell people how to pronounce it first. It’s also a nightmare to spell I’ve had "eyeola" "eeola" "ieola" the lot. It’s also a Greek name and I have no Greek heritige at all – unfortunately!

4) What are some apps you use to edit your photos? Share with us your photo-editing routine!

I don’t actually edit my photos I just tweak them on Instagram with about 4% of a filter and then turning the shadows and highlight up/down to suit the image haha – barely worth doing you think but it actually makes the work of difference! In me eyes anyway.

5) Any Instagrammers whom you really like? Which Instagrammer inspires you the most?

I tend to look at reality tb stars ALOT. Like, recently I stalk Olivia Buck a lot because she’s done so well after the TV show Love island promoting brands I love and releasing her own clothing line – my dream. I also love having a look at Blue Briggs (Helen) and Tayla Blue – founder of hot!mess clothing. I really admire Tayla for creating such a good brand and I really hope to be able to do the same one day.

6) If there’s one thing your fellow Instagrammers just gotta try now, what’s it gonna be?

Designing a piece of clothing you LOVE – it’s so satisfying! Instagram wise I tend to look at positive hashtags in the morning to get me motivated for the day! Things like #goodmorningposts #fitspo #ootd #holidayblues #breakfastclub really get me going and I feel much more motivated and productive having been inspired by good, positive, beautiful imagery!

7) What’s your favorite part about being an influencer?

I love it when people recognise me for me, like it’s such a lovely thing to notice someone out of the whole population.

8) What are some of your top tips to brands for running campaigns? How do you maintain authenticity?

Maintaining authenticity in my eyes is having something new that nobody hasn’t seen before. Think of an ultimate, swaggy design and there you have it – if it hasn’t been done before you are on to a winner! If I was to run a campaign it’s all about you you know in the networking world as social media is SO big right now. If you have good networkers who are willing to put in time and effort and who aren’t lazy then your campaign will not fail! It’s also about capturing the right image and vibe for the brand and if it suits the target market you’re aiming for.

9) What would your advice be on the importance of quality and original content?

Originality? What is that nowa’ days? Honestly it applies to everything people participate in and the fashion industry in particular. Nothing is original, we take old ideas and give them a little update to ‘make them new again.’ Originality is key but finding something that hasn’t been done before is very difficult! So I think the phrase ‘copying’ should be disregarded and if you can take something that has already been done and make it new again or better than it was before then why not! If you’ve managed to put your own spin on it to give it a well needed update then well done you! As a fashion designer at uni it’s always good to get inspiration from other designers but making it into your own interpretation is the key to success.

10) What do you like best about partnering with brands?

I love the fact I have the opportunity to take some really cool pics, pics that are ‘instagram worthy’ haha. I also love the incentives most brand offer to do well, I love motivation and that certainly helps, some brands also offer look books to inspire your photography I think this is really cool – seeing what everyone else recruited is up too!

Topics:

• Art
• Design
• Fashion
• Hair & Beauty
• Photography

Country:

Virgin Islands (British)