Camille Charrière is perhaps best known for her fashion blog, Camille Over The Rainbow. She grew up in Paris, but moved to London in her early twenties to begin a career in finance. She found city life challenging and craved a creative outlet, so she started writing a fashion blog... in secret...
That was in 2010. Today, Camille has almost 500k followers on Instagram and has collaborated with brands from H&M and Chloe to Acne Studios. She has been featured in Vogue and The Wall Street Journal and countless other publications.
Here, she talks to Grazia about 'living' through Instagram – what it's like to have a career so heavily reliant on social media, and how she manages the negative comments...
Why did you start your blog 'Camille Over The Rainbow'?
I started a blog because I was really unhappy in my job. I graduated in law, moved over to England 5 years ago and started working in finance. I really hated my job, it was the first time in my life that I was really unhappy.
I used the blog as a creative outlet. It was somewhere that I could express myself on a daily basis. I was pretty worried about it and I didn’t want anybody to type my name into Google and find it – working in finance, it could damage my career. It was something I really kept under wraps.
How did your blog turn into your career
Being in London really allows you to be yourself. It really pushes people to find themselves and to become who they want to be. I really didn’t like what I was doing and the blog gabe me the confidence to know I really did love fashion and I had something to say about it. All those things pushed me to quit finance and apply for a job at Net-A-Porter.
I used the blog as an interactive CV – aged 25 I’d never worked in fashion and didn’t have anything to show for myself in the industry. It got me the job and everything followed from there.
I don’t come from a family of creatives and none of my friends worked in creative industries. But I just persevered until the point where I was saying ‘No’ to so many things that I would have been a fool to not give it a go – so I did.
**Do you have any advice for the next generation of bloggers? **
Trust your gut and don’t copy. If it’s been copied, it’s been done better by somebody else. Find your voice because there is definitely room for everybody out there. And don’t make it your aim to become a big business immediately. The whole purpose of a blog is to get an audience to trust you.
You are extremely successful on Instagram. To what extent does your Instagram account reflect your real life?
That’s a very interesting question. It definitely represents a certain chunk of my life but it is definitely the more polished chunk, the best chunk. Regarding Instagram, I think a lot of people in my situation might find it the same – the more followers you get, the more the personal involvement.
I have veered away from having a very personal account; there are not many pictures of my friends or family, but that’s more because I want to respect their privacy, rather than because I’m uncomfortable with it. Most of my friends and family don’t actually have big Instagram accounts; all of theirs are private.
My account definitely is ‘me’ (hopefully!) and I think my personality shines through most by the captions. But I do feel Instagram is too polished right now. I think everybody is very careful about everything they put up, so I think that’s why people are moving on to Snapchat, where you can find real versions of people’s lives.
There has been much in the media about the stress that social media induces. Do you find it increases the stress in your life?
Yes, 100%. It’s something I really don’t like. I would call it one of the big negatives about my job, which is – at the end of the day – a very fine job. I’m paid to be myself. I get approached by brands to represent them and because of the position I’m in, I’m able to pick and choose the ones that do.
It's a pretty sweet deal, but I am accountable to so many people; there’s a danger your life will become what you’re putting up about yourself.
With that, comes a lot of pressure – like how many likes you're getting? And is your picture good enough? Is your outfit good enough? Is someone getting more likes than you? These are all things that are a waste of energy and a waste of brain space.
At the end of the day, the people who have big Instagram accounts have them because they have an instinctive way of posting that appeals to the masses. I think that you really have to try and stick to that if you want to stay good. First of all, try not to copy anybody else, and not try to only post for your audience. You need to post things that you want to post, regardless of how many likes you might get.
How do you manage negative comments?
The thing about Instagram is, the second you become adventurous and launch yourself into territory which is versatile, people tend to jump down your throat. I know I’ve tried to talk about sustainability and politics, coming from a place where I am fully aware that I’m not perfect… but the reason you bring these things up is because you have such a big audience and a responsibility.
In being part of that conversation, trying to highlight those issues, people really do jump down your throat. ‘You talk about this, but you wear Zara...' I think everybody needs to remember that none of us are perfect and all of these things are just platforms for communication.
Do you take it personally? Or are you able to leave the comments there?
I’m quite good at taking things with a pinch of salt. I’m also quite opinionated, and when I have something to say, I say it. I have also noticed that it's not your readers who are the most insulting. It’s more when someone else posts a picture of you – that’s when people tend to get nasty.
The audience are your friends, they’ve grown with you, they’ve become your world and everything is a community. People follow you because they like you – unless you’re one of those people who get paid followers.
You end up fostering a community of positive comments, and it's only when you step out of that comfort zone that things get nasty. But then again, you just have to have a thick skin I suppose.
How do you take a good Instagram picture?
I’ve been posting for five years and there are some things I know work on Instagram, like the famous avocado on toast or flowers and things like that, things you know will get the likes. But at the end of the day, to me, they don’t resonate in an interesting way. I like finding things in my everyday life which aren't a cliché – they might not be crowd pleasers but they will certainly get people’s attention.
** Do you have a favourite Instagram account?**
I really like Mara Hoffman. She is really beautiful and super artsy.
What are you wearing this summer?
Denim cut offs, denim minis, lots of white t-shirts. I’ve got a really gorgeous pair of gold Mary Janes by Jimmy Choo that I literally haven’t taken off; they’re gold polished and everybody keeps stopping me in the street and asking where they are from, so they’re definitely going to stay on my feet. Apart from that, I’ve fallen in love with a label called Dodo Baror. They do beautiful dresses and they’re really thick – Austrian and turquoise.
**What have you got coming up next? **
I’m travelling. A lot of my summer is hopping around Europe, because there’s no better place to be in the summer than Italy, Spain and Corsica. Everywhere is just a dream...
Camille Charrière has collborated with Roland Mouret to judge the Instagram competition #ClergerieGirls.
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