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A WRITTEN PORTRAIT
Amy Roiland is a fashion blogger, accessories designer, and overall creative whose punchy palette of citrus-colored zest splashes among the rinds of monochromatic fashion. Amy grew up surrounded by floating almond blossom petals dancing away from the sweet aroma of their magenta centers, and horses galloping through wind perfumed with the nectarous and heady scented honeysuckle. Just as the almond blossoms and honeysuckle of her childhood farm permeated the air, Amy’s buoyant personality gushes out like the first bite of watermelon on a summer day. While Amy thinks she comes off as cold on her social media, we think her joy and humor beams like a warm sun ray through her fashion choices rather than an ivory toned smile. Amy’s potent nature and childhood colors in much of her PORTRAIT in youthful and sweet shades of pink against fresh green hues.
Amy is endlessly inspired by Wes Anderson, American filmmaker, whose work is known for its unique visual narrative. His films often feature highly saturated symmetrical arches and meticulously detailed geometric spaces. Amy designs fashion pieces and directs photos like Anderson creates; her accessory designs are intricate while her blog and social media photos are architectural and follow a unique tonal aesthetic. Amy’s accessory business, AmRoi Designs, features mini color-blocked backpacks, marbled hair clips in shapes of heels, silk gloves, and her signature cat eye sunglasses, and 60s esque platform heels and geometric camera straps in collaboration with several brands. Amy’s highly detailed aesthetic paints in the rest of her portrait with green fluffy horses in pink silk gloves and a plum colored shadow of almond blossoms on honeysuckle-toned skin. In our interview with Amy, she tells us how she would design a room based on her childhood, details her aesthetic, talks about her daughter’s interest in fashion, and highlights her most personal designs. Read below for a full written PORTRAY-T of Amy Roiland, otherwise known as a Fashion Nerd!
Thanks so much for taking the time for this interview, I really appreciate it! I reached out to you for a feature because I love your aesthetic, it’s so vibrant and fun! To start off, how would you describe your own aesthetic?
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I feel like my style is very eclectic and colorful and fun, yet put together and retro. I love mixing modern styles with vintage pieces. I love accessories most, I feel like they can really make an outfit incredible. I love Wes Anderson characters and his color palettes. I also love French style as well.
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Your fashion choices are what some in the fashion industry would call “dopamine dressing,” which is a style that’s expected to be really popular this year. I’ve seen a lot of 1970s style dressing among GenZ especially lately, so I think a lot of people are using dopamine dressing to boost their mood at a very difficult time globally. Do you feel like your fashion choices boost your mood?
Yes very much so, I believe color and prints really change my mood and lift me way up. I also believe the way I dress makes other people smile and happy, which in turn also makes me happy. I have always dressed up in fun different ways to boost other people's moods, when I put things on I always say ooo this is fun, or funny.
I know that you are inspired heavily by 1960s fashion. What 1960s looks from popular culture would you put on a board representing your aesthetic?
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I would have to say Twiggy for sure and her flower prints as well as Chantal Goya in Masculine Feminine. I love bold prints and muted tones from the 60s.
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I want to rewind all the way back to 2016 when you went on Shark Tank to present FashionTap, the fashion social networking app you created allowing those within the industry to tag the products in the image to create monetization. Since then, social shopping has become a huge thing so you were really ahead of the changes in social media at the time. How have you adjusted to the changing social media landscape over time since starting your blog to now when everything seems to be about short-form videos?
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Thank you so much. Yes I knew this would happen and social commerce would be huge. Too bad I didn’t have a better team in place. I just adjust accordingly as things keep coming my way. I am now tagging products to images which helps boost my posts daily and I am filming more and more video content. I have over half a million followers on TikTok now and I keep growing pretty fast. I am excited about the videos even though they take way longer to make.
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Since FashionTap, you seem to mostly be on the design side of the fashion industry now with your brand AmRoi. The brand is mostly focused on accessories from camera straps to eyewear and bags. If you could choose 3 pieces that you designed that you feel describe you best, what would they be and why?
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I would have to say my multi colored pastel box handbag/backpack I designed for House Of Want first. This bag is so me and so fun and I love how it can be worn three ways. I also love every single bit of detail I added into it. The second piece would have to be my Polka Dot platform shoes I designed x Jessica Butrich- these are incredible and they embody everything I love, from the design, to the colors, to the fit- they’re outstanding. Third would have to be my Betty and Veronica Sabrina cat eye sunglasses in baby blue with pink lenses and Betty on one side and Veronica on the other in pastel multi colors standing off the frame- these are amazing and I love them so much. Once again I love the details, I am all about the details no matter how small. I wish I could add a fourth because it would be the line of hair clips I designed for MLE, the gloves clip, the shoe clip and the sunnies clip are so incredible and so unique to the hair clip world, I love them. I put a lot of thought into each thing I design, I want the most details I can possibly get away with. It’s easier to add details into accessory design than clothing.
"I put a lot of thought into each thing I design, I want the most details I can possibly get away with. It’s easier to add details into accessory design than clothing."
We also need to talk about your gorgeous daughter’s fashion, she’s one of the best dressed toddlers I’ve seen! You often match with her which I think is so sweet and will create a lot of memories for her as she grows up. When you were very young, do you have any vivid memories relative to fashion?
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Thank you, she is the sweetest thing and so much fun, such a bright light and such an icon. She loves fashion, way more than I ever did at her age. I started to get into fashion at age 16. Prior to 16 I was a tomboy who was a skateboarder who dyed her hair green and purple and wore two colored contacts. I remember at age 3 I wanted to dress more like my brother and I hated accessories and I hated handbags as well, haha!
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How do you envision the world of fashion when your daughter is older?
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I think the world of fashion is constantly evolving and I think people will just start dressing however they feel and not with any trends in mind. They will pull and pick whatever they want and wear it however they want to. I also think comfort is key and becoming more and more important with time.
I’ve read that you’re a big fan of Wes Anderson who is well-known for bright color palettes in his films. If you could be transported to one scene from a Wes Anderson film, what scene would you choose?
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100% the Grand Budapest Hotel entrance, the two doors for sure and inside the hallways. It is so incredible and so me.
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I also read that his films often build a world out of a snapshot from his childhood. If you could create a fantasy room from a snapshot of your childhood, what would the room look like?
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It would be a pink and green room with almond blossoms everywhere on the ceilings and on the walls and there would be horses printed in different patterns on the walls. I see super fun detailed prints and mixtures of prints too- polka dots, black and white lines, muted tones, and 60s colors. I grew up on an almond orchard farm with horses and animals so this would embody me. Maybe cowboy boots and hats printed around as well. Super killer 60s art deco furniture and lamps also.
Image Credit: Grand Budapest Hotel by Wes Anderson
If you could bottle three scents, what would they be and what do they remind you of?
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My first choice would be Honeysuckle because it is my favorite smell ever and reminds me of childhood. Then, my daughter's hair- her hair smells so amazing like something I cannot explain. Also, these little white flowers that I cannot remember the name of because they smell like my blanket when I was a baby.
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Do you have a favorite piece of advice you’ve ever been told or favorite saying?
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I have always said persistence is the key to success and the key to success is focus.
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How do you view yourself? Is it different from the way others tend to view you?
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I am completely different in person than I am online- I am nerdy, I am loud, I laugh a lot, I make jokes all the time and I am pretty hyper. In my images I hardly ever smile and I guess maybe people think I come off cold. The other day I did a 1 hour live stream and everyone was blown away by me, they had no idea how I was in real life. I just don’t like the fake smiles during a shoot, it seems weird to me. The funny thing is the accounts you see where the girl is smiling and fake laughing in all her pics she’s really a mean person outside of her account… Truth…
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To stay connected with Amy:
@afashionnerd on Instagram
@amroidesigns on Instagram
@afashionnerd on TikTok
amy roiland
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