By Jennifer Smith | Reporter
Buttoned Bears, a student-run fashion and lifestyle blog, is having a pop-up shop from 1 – 5 p.m. Saturday at LL Sams Poolhouse, located at 2000 S. 1st Street. The pop-up shop will include a variety of local vendors, coffee, Pokey O’s and live music from Baylor students Jacob Humber and John Sung.
Beaumont senior Ariana Coleman, the blog’s editor-in-chief, said Buttoned Bears formed from the desire to spread the conversation about fashion at Baylor.
“Buttoned Bears started with our founders, Hannah Kleinick, Taylor Wong and Abby Thompson [during] their freshman year at Baylor, four years ago. They just wanted to create a place where you can talk about fashion, highlight the fashion at Baylor and talk about trends,” Coleman said. “Buttoned Bears is the first of our kind, that we know of. There are other blogs that sort of do lifestyle, but we are the only one centered-around fashion.”
This is Buttoned Bears’ fourth independent pop-up shop. Coleman said for each shop they form a contract, including a fee, which the vendors sign and pay to be a part of.
“It’s a lot of work but it’s completely worth it. And, on top of all the other businesses, we have our own booth where we have crafts and snacks. People should expect a fun, cool atmosphere to come chill and see what we have to offer,” Coleman said.
Coleman said fun prizes and goodies will also be given away on Saturday, with one of the biggest prizes being a Polaroid camera.
Orange County senior Meredith Nagel is one of the marketing and advertising coordinators. She said she had always followed Buttoned Bears on social media, and finally decided to get involved. Nagel manages their social media accounts and implements strategies to gain more of a following.
“I’ve had so much fun doing it, I’ve really enjoyed getting to know the team which is filled with such talented people. Although I’m not a fashion major, it’s a really cool thing to be involved with as a hobby,” Nagel said.
Nagel said she thinks the blog’s “So Hot Right Now” feature each Monday makes Buttoned Bears unique from other local blogs.
“Each week we feature a different Baylor student that has a unique style and we interview and photograph them. This is a lot of people’s favorite part of our blog because it incorporates our audience,” Nagel said. “Also, it’s completely student-produced, which has been amazing to see all of our members balance their crazy school load and put in all the effort to Buttoned.”
Nagel said the team’s number one goal is to create a fun environment for the Baylor community to explore fashion through their platform, while also giving the blog more exposure. She said she’s even inspired by the material posted on their site from other student’s wardrobes.
“I think fashion is so important, especially to college students, because it’s a mean of self-expression. At Buttoned we love to find unique students across campus showing off what makes them feel best. There are so many creative and self-expressive students and it’s been really cool to hear them describe their own style,” Nagel said.
Waco junior Harrison Young is a writer for Buttoned Bears and said he loves the idea of exposing the Baylor student body to new trends. The blog’s fashion aspect was what drew him to apply for the job. His job title includes pitching ideas and writing the blog’s articles about whatever is trending at the time.
“Baylor can be very narrow-minded when it comes to fashion, which I think a lot of people can agree with. I feel like part of my responsibility is to expose Baylor students to other styles out of their comfort zones,” Young said. “Buttoned is unique because we focus on Baylor students specifically. We feature a different student every week and emphasize their style on campus.”
