Well connected
Eva Chen, Instagram’s director of fashion partnerships, is transforming the way businesses foster their social media profiles, and, as Zara Wong finds out, it all comes down to authenticity.
We know her from #evachenpose – the updates from Instagram’s miniature conference room on her Instagram account – and from the videos of her children playing with the app’s filters. Eva Chen’s reputation and influence exceeds the realms of traditional media. As director of fashion partnerships at Instagram, Chen has been instrumental in guiding the best of fashion’s insiders to produce their most authentic imagery and videos for the social media platform, a continuation from her earlier career working at fashion and beauty magazines. Chen visits Australia this June to speak at Vogue Codes.
Zara Wong: “You started your career working at magazines such as Elle and Teen Vogue, and then you were editor-in-chief at Lucky. Did you ever think you would be working at a technology company like Instagram?”
Eva Chen: “No! I never would have predicted it. With my career, I have always just followed what I’m interested in and what I want to learn more about at the time. When I had Ren [her first-born daughter] I decided to leave Lucky and take some time off, and then this opportunity presented itself. Even before I worked for Instagram I felt like I was doing a similar role to my job now; people like Pat McGrath or models like Karlie Kloss would ask for advice on what they should post on Instagram. I always was the kind of editor that people ask for advice about social media, so now it’s my job to help people tell their stories better on Instagram, whether it’s models, designers, stylists or glam squads.
“What’s amazing is that any time I’m in an airport, and I look around and see what people are doing, so often it’s scrolling through Instagram or posting their stories. It makes me really happy and I want to say: ‘Hey, that’s where I work!’ I’m constantly learning, whether from someone who works on a product team, or Marne Levine, the COO of Instagram. She is an amazing role model whose brain is wired in such an amazing way. She balances all the details along with her passion.”
ZW: “And even before that, you were using Pinterest and Tumblr, recommending what to buy on sale and replying when people asked you for career or beauty advice.“
EC: “Yeah! That’s like O.G. The other platforms for me were always about the ability to connect to a bigger audience and to interact with people. When I was at Teen Vogue it was talking to teens to help them in any way I could, whether it’s skincare or fights with friends. And now I really get it all through Instagram. I try to answer as many questions as I can over Instagram and interact with my followers. It’s been really helpful as a new-ish mum. There are some followers who I’ve never met, but if I ever meet them in person, I would literally give them the biggest, bone-crushing hug, because I feel like I have a relationship with these people.”
ZW: “You’re so open on your Instagram – when you meet your followers in person, do you sense they feel like they have the liberty to get really personal quickly?”
EC: “I invite it, so I don’t mind. Even before Instagram existed, I was that person where if you stopped me on the street and asked for directions I would be like: ‘Oh, there’s this pizza place on the corner’, and, ‘Oh, there’s a really good bubble tea place two blocks away as well – let me write that down for you.’ I like sharing what I like – experiences, emotions – and now Instagram has allowed me to reach a wider audience. I will never forget when I was talking about my son [Tao], who didn’t learn to sleep through the night until about 11 months, which is quite late, and there was just an outpouring of words and advice
from my followers and it reduced me to tears. They were so sympathetic and eager to help. I was so grateful to have them sharing their wisdom.” ZW: “The internet and Instagram have played a big part in making fashion so much more open and democratic now. What effect do you think this openness has on the fashion industry in particular?“
EC: “Instagram has taken down the velvet rope of fashion and made it a really inclusive and friendly experience for everyone. You could live in Melbourne or Montana and feel like you’re a fashion insider from the comfort of your own home. Now people want to see the details and the behind-the-scenes, so you have someone like hairstylist Jen Atkin, who works with many celebrities, and you can see what she does. There’s an entertainment factor in the behind-the-scenes. An overall trend on Instagram has been a return to authenticity. We’re seeing that people want real moments on Instagram that are raw, and not too edited or staged or that look like they were shot with a professional camera or with a huge crew with professional make-up artists. People don’t just want to see the finished image, they want to see how we got to that finished image.
“I think about the fact that it took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do job-wise. I grew up as a firstgeneration American to immigrant parents who gave me so much in terms of education. But I didn’t know magazine jobs existed, or what marketing entailed. All I really knew was that people could be doctors, bankers, lawyers and engineers. If I had the opportunity to follow a young stylist styling someone for her first Met Gala or a model like Slick Woods or Adwoa Aboah and follow their ups and downs, it would have given me a quicker path to my current career. I probably wouldn’t have struggled quite as much as I did when I was younger, but I guess it all worked out, because it all links to where I am now.”
ZW: “We’ve seen you go from Elle and Teen Vogue and Lucky to Instagram, and on paper it looks great, but there are always the bits in between where you’re not sure, or, you know, something has not gone as planned …“
EC: “Definitely. It’s better to try things and realise that you don’t want it. You might think that you’re a failure, but it’s actually a success because you learnt something about yourself. I find it really admirable when people share on Instagram when they’re having a hard time. I follow the curve model Paloma Elsesser [@Palomija] who talked so passionately what it was like to work with Glossier where she posed nude – and tastefully nude – and what it meant for her and body acceptance, which is a growing movement on Instagram. I know T Y right now in England there’s a T movement where people are using the hashtag #acneisnormal, and I love that! I am very inspired by that: when people are open and courageous in that way.” ZW: “How did your time working in magazines prepare + you for your job now?“
EC: “At magazines I worked with photographers, models,
stylists, market editors, writers, and I would try to get them to do the best work they could on behalf of the magazine. I think my job now is quite similar, but it’s on behalf of their Instagram, so their Instagram is their own magazine. What I took from it was the ability to talk to a lot of different kinds of people and to see the big picture.” ZW: “Instagram is a tech company first and foremost. When did you realise that you had an interest in it and that it would be a big part of your career?“
EC: “I honestly wouldn’t have guessed that it would be. I’ve been doing informational interviews once a week for maybe over 10 years now. My advice to people is to look for your passion. If you love movies, you could find a way to make working in entertainment a reality for you. You don’t need to be the movie star, but you could be in production or the art department. It’s just a matter of doing the research and finding a way to get there, and being a little bit entrepreneurial and thinking outside the box. So for me it’s been a really happy surprise and that’s how my career, oddly, has kind of operated. It’s always been a passion first.” ZW: “From your position, what do you see the future of fashion looking like?“EC: “There’s still the progression towards body inclusivity and body positivity. Right now it’s: ‘Yay, it’s so great, we’ve arrived’, but we’re still ways off from it being the norm. Fashion shows should reflect different cultures and different looks and everything in between. I’m glad that we’re at the point where it’s expected that you have a diverse point of view, and I think a lot of that is going to come off when executive leadership or a company’s board of directors have diversity represented by women with different backgrounds, LGBT, body positivity, everything. There is an expectation on leadership now to hire for that at that C-suite level.” ZW: “What are you most frequently asked about Instagram?“
EC: “There are no real rules besides be yourself. It’s really hard to be very prescriptive. But a few rules I prescribe to on my Instagram is, number one: be open, be authentic, don’t try to be X, Y, Z bloggers, because they have however number of followers. You should post what moves you and what you’re interested in, and not what will resonate with people. You will find your community on Instagram no matter, because there are 300 million people on Instagram. Number two is if you have a hobby or a passion, tap into that community and grow your voice there. Don’t obsess over your grid, don’t delete everything on your account so that you’re cool and aloof.” ZW: “What do you wish more people knew at the beginning stages of their career?“EC: “I honestly went through my career taking each day at a time. I would have continued doing that, asking lots of questions – don’t feel bad to stop and take a break and re-evaluate what’s right for you. People don’t have the expectation that they’re the same person at all points in their life. There’s no reason why your job at 22 should be the same job when you’re 30. So I think taking time to kind of ask yourself: ‘Am I happy most of the time? Do I like what I’m doing? What is the purpose of what I’m doing?’
“The best investment I think that any woman can make is to take care of herself, because it’s hard to balance. The most important thing is knowing when to say you need a night off, pour a glass of wine, and read, like, your dorky sciencefiction book. It might sound clichéd, but taking care of yourself so you can take care of other people – whether it’s at work, school, or with family or loved one – if you can give back to people you can give a little back to yourself. Be nice to yourself, and be forgiving to yourself.”
To find out more about Eva Chen’s appearance at Vogue Codes, go to codes.vogue.com.au.
“Instagram has taken down the velvet rope of fashion and made it a really inclusive and friendly experience for everyone … people want to see the behindthe-scenes”