Im Karmaloop’s / MISS KL Of The Month: Exclusive Photos + Interview + Video

I had the honor of going to Boston a few weeks ago to shoot exclusively for Miss KL / Karmaloop’s women site! I had such an amazing time and these are some of my current favorite images! Hope you guys enjoy the interview and video as well.

Can you tell our readers who you are you and what you do?

I’m Audrey Kitching and I am a style editor, fashion writer, model, designer, I work and embody different things in the fashion industry.

How did you get started on Buzznet, and what drew you to Buzznet as opposed to other platforms?

Buzznet actually contacted me! I’ve been blogging for over 10 years. I started on MailoDrama and Xanga which were AOL dial-up style when I was in like 7th grade. Eventually Live Journal came around which more people knew. When I was on Live Journal, I gathered a following from posting photos in clothing I would make and doing fun photo shoots in my kitchen post-Myspace era. I kind of just got a weird little following, then graduated from the Aveda Institute for Beauty and Wellness. I started doing hair for a bunch of big bands in that time and would post photos. Fans of the different bands would look at my blog which made my following start to organically grow. That was when Buzznet reached out to me, before they were a big full blown site. They wanted to fly me to Los Angeles and met with me. They wanted to build a social media site based around me and my fans and I was fully onboard. Now Buzznet is this huge multimedia outlet. It was very exciting to be with them from the beginning.

How would you describe the fashion scene from New York compared to Los Angeles?

New York likes black A LOT. It depends, there is your club scene kids which is very draggy – big hair, make up, and glitter. There is also your sophisticated hipster fashion scene. Then there are also your high class society people who wear YSL, Chanel, Prada, etc. There are definitely different levels to New York. I would say NY is more down-to-earth and high fashion. L.A. is more casual and clubby; a lot of the girls in L.A. at night wear tight little dresses and heels.

What are your favorite spots to hit in NY?

I love Sacred Shell, it’s this amazing little vegan spot. Topshop is also great. St. Mark’s (Place) is the best to get really great sushi. When I’m working in New York, I’m really into the corner Thai massage places you can go to for like 30 bucks. I’m a foodie so I also like to hit up all the vegan spots.

Can you tell us more about your personal style?

My style is kind of a mix of tomboy casual; I wear a lot of leather pants and lace up boots. But I also love fake furs. I say it is something like tomboy meets Barbie!

Branding yourself through the web and social media is huge right now and you’ve obviously been able to successfully make a name for yourself. What is your advice to young people looking to get into the industry?

I feel like it is consistency and hard work. It’s not something you do every two weeks for fun, it’s something you take serious and you have to put dedication and time into it. If you are willing to do that, I think you will succeed. I also think experience is important. Not necessarily a degree from a fashion institute, I think it’s important to intern for companies, stylists, and magazines to learn firsthand what it takes to be in the industry.

Even though you’ve already made waves in the industry, where do you see yourself in five to ten years?

I feel like I’m going more towards designing. Modeling and writing has obviously been amazing but I have three capsule collections in the works right now. I am also currently working on my own collection. I feel like over time, as I get older, and modeling is less of my forefront I think I will definitely be focusing on design.

From designing to modeling, and blogging, it seems like you have a lot on your plate! What does a typical week for Audrey Kitching look like?

A nightmare – I get up every day at 7:00 a.m. and roll out of bed to make tea and breakfast. From there I’ll go to my office where I’ll do emails, social media, and blogging. I’ll browse the web for articles to write about and come up with concepts from 7:30 to 11:00 a.m., and from that point on it could be a phone interview or working on a design collaboration or photo shoot or having to go to the city for an event. It’s always different depending on the day [but] almost every day I’m working from 7:00 in the morning to 9:00 or 10:00 at night.

Although there are hundreds of thousands of people who ADORE you, how do you deal with all the negativity that gets thrown your way?

To be honest, it used to really bother me. I used to feel like the people saying things didn’t know me as a person because I don’t think I’m a shitty person. I feel like the people who would say things would be jealous or didn’t want to take the time to know me which was upsetting. I used to try to defend myself but at this point I feel like my work speaks for itself and if people still want to hate me, that’s fine. I’m so comfortable now that I don’t give a shit.

Knowing what you know now, would you do any things differently in your career?

That’s like once of those mind fuck inception questions… I want to say “yes,” but if I had done things differently I probably wouldn’t be where I am now. There are people in the industry I wish I didn’t date… there are photos in Google that I wish didn’t exist… There are hairstyles, makeup, and Hot Topic photo shoots I wished never happened… but if all that stuff didn’t happen, I might be serving coffee somewhere. I don’t regret things because I think mistakes are important for growth – but my ego regrets them.