Blogger Babble: Jessica Schroeder of What I Wore

By Felicity Loughrey
April 5, 2010

“The first time I shopped on eBay was to buy a pashmina from overseas. I watched so many auctions (and lost quite a few) before I found an amazing deal," says Jessica Schroeder, the voice—and body—behind the wildly popular personal style blog, What I Wore, of her first eBay encounter. "I think it was under a dollar. I still wear it to this day,” notes Schroeder, 28, of the pale pink scarf—one that's certainly familiar to the 225,000 visitors that flock to her blog on a monthly basis.

In Brooklyn streets and parks, Schroeder (with the help of her fiancé, Adam) photographs her outfits and gives her audience the what, where and why of each ensemble. She started snapping her daily fashion in 2007 as part of the Flickr community, wardrobe_remix, a flickr pool where users from around the world submit photos of what they are wearing, and from there, What I Wore was born. The Indiana-native now blogs practically fulltime, though she also does some social media consulting and strategy for businesses looking to increase their presence online.

Schroeder is certainly a brand in the making. She has four blogs on Tumblr (“it’s easy to maintain more blogs on there at once,” she says): In addition to writing What I Wore, she photographs what she eats on My Daily Bread, documents her wedding plans on What I Wore Down the Aisle and offers random pop culture tidbits on Love Puppy. Then there’s a fledgling video channel, What I Wore TV—and she counts 4,800 followers on Twitter for What I Wore alone, not to mention the other Twitter handles she maintains.

Schroeder in her eBay finds (photos provided by Schroeder)

So what’s the best thing to come from her mini-empire? “It’s great to get to know people behind my favorite companies,” she says. She just finished a project called My NY with Coach, where she worked Coach-donated bags and trenches into her wardrobe. “I’ve also met a lot of wonderful fellow bloggers in person and formed some great friendships.”

As for her shopping habits, Jessica trawls eBay once or twice a week. Her eBay tip is to search for fabric content, like cotton, silk, linen, when clothes hunting. “One of my favorite search terms is '1950s cotton dress.' Lately I’ve been on the lookout for non-floral wacky prints from the 1960s.”

“There are a lot of very knowledgeable dealers with mint [condition] pieces [on eBay]. But there are also sellers who are just cleaning out their closets with total treasures,” she says, recalling a favorite faux leopard fur coat picked up for $150. When choosing a seller, she looks for quality photos and believe it or not, flaws. “When a seller makes note of even the smallest imperfection, I feel like I can trust them more.”

Jessica Schroeder's eBay Wish List

Roll over items for details

Peggy Hunt Lace Vintage Dress

(sold for $480)

Vintage Navy Cotton Mini Dress

(sold for $102.50)

Black Hunter Wellies

(sold for $74.99))

Vintage 1970s Trench Coat

(current bid, $56)

Three Yards of Retro Print Fabric

(sold for $19.99)

Blogger Babble: Jessica Schroeder of What I Wore

Felicity Loughrey is a writer and editor who lives in Brooklyn, New York. She writes for Vogue Australia, Vogue Living and occasionally tumble-blogs at Reddish Blonde.

Tags: