I jumped on the Pinterest bandwagon many, MANY moons ago – truly back in its infancy. In 2010 I was still in the Fashion Industry when making trend and mood boards was a key component of my work. (Yes…I LOVED it!) 🙂 I was a lucky lady, and couldn’t have been more in my element.

I was a devourer of all things visual… It didn’t necessarily matter if a photo in question was of an actual SHOE or not (ladies footwear being the branch in which I worked for well over a decade.) I could use everything from images with obvious connections (footwear, handbags, accessories etc) to things that were more abstract (makeup artistry, rain-drenched sidewalk bricks, a caramel apple…) It really didn’t matter, so long as the color, or vibe, or depth captured what I was intending to weave into a story… A story that would serve as the basis for the colors, materials, and styles we’d select for that season, essentially…

So for me, Pinterest was a GOLD mine. I wish it had been around sooner, but I was thrilled to work with it back then…in spite of bugs and growing pains. It was massively addictive for me as a Fashion Director, but also just a highly visual person. It proved (and still does) equally as addictive for hoards of the – primarily female, as you might surmise – population. 

I can’t say that I’m on the site quite as much these days, but I still pull images with reasonable frequency. Each time I do so, I find myself smiling because Pinterest is so much more than what a large majority of people see it as being – as in, a board for to-dos or must-haves. For me it is more of a drool-fest – at least as far as my overarching usage goes. I pin images that I want to wrap myself in somehow…if not entirely and ravenously imbibe. They’re delicious, in a word (and to reduce it to one is a painful exercise!)

But there are boards I have created that do include things I would buy, or might should some event arise… For example, my Pinups and Fabulousness board… There are a plethora of sassy images – the just-for-fun-and-isnspiration kind. But then there are the pencil dresses or obscenely luscious heels that I desperately want a reason to buy – so says the tiny sliver of typical-female that I possess (because it really is a lot tinier than the grossly-generalized stereotype.)

Anyway, the real fun in Pinterest is that it is – I believe – a full-on snapshot of a person’s personality – it’s a lot more colorful than a Facebook, and I daresay farther reaching into the depth of one’s character than an Instagram (remember, these are images we can easily pull from every nook and cranny of the global Interweb ether!) It also happens to allow for the multiple facets of our being – I’m several things in one Geminian bundle myself. . .

For example…it would take under a second to see that I am obsessed with 50s glam – but not the frillier, cheesecake pinup fashion, so much as the badassery of Bettie Page. I’m all about fitted, curve-hugging, sensual shapes and lines… I have a gothic sensibility overall, which is glaringly obvious, paired with a little bit of “show” (performer much of my life, after all!) I love long heels and edgy details (like Paciotti’s infamous dagger going down the back of these killer heels…)

So if you are ever wondering about a person…check to see if they have any Interest boards out there. You’ll be amazed what you can learn . . .

I’ll share more of my boards later (unless you feel like looking now…) because it’s far too much to consume at once. In fact, a single board might prove daunting to the mundane mind! For me, though, it’s like a pool I dive into as much as I can (knowing that I must proceed with caution, lest I be pulled into the seductive undertow of image pinning!)