Who What Wear

Meet the face behind Hamilton Hippie

NICOLE ALEXANDER is well on her way to becoming one of Hamilton’s most popular social media stars — but you’ve probably never seen her face nor knew her true identity.

You might recognize her as Hamilton Hippie, the stylish blogger with a penchant for faux fur and a girlie-girl esthetic whose thoughtfully curated Instagram feed has garnered a following of more than 2,300 people in a short six months.

She says she is careful to not show her face. She reveals genuine elements of her life without putting the focus solely on herself by covering topics she feels are relatable to many of her followers. Plus, she likes the anonymity of keeping her face hidden.

“I like to keep it as anonymous as possible, not because I don’t like my face or anything like that or not being confident in who I am,” says Alexander, 25, who also works as a freelance social media manager. “I just kind of like the privacy. I never really was big on social media, growing up, so the people who know me think it’s kind of funny that I have a blog that’s been doing so well because it’s kind of outside of me.”

Despite embarking on a career in social media after finishing a psychology degree at Western University, Alexander is off to a running start with Hamilton Hippie, partnering with local and national retailers from Nine West to Canadian Tire to Orange Theory Fitness to Studio Zee Pilates and many more. And while there is a slight boho feel to her posts, which touch on fashion, home decor, general lifestyle and beauty, they are distinctly modern with a bit of edge, in great part due to Alexander’s eclectic wardrobe style.

“I’m trying to get more bold,” she says of her wardrobe’s colour palette. “I really want bold colours in my wardrobe, just to kind of make my outfits a bit more poppy and flashy.”

An enthusiastic promoter of local brands, Alexander pairs an oversized tee from Steeltown Garage with a red tulle skirt from H&M. She accessorizes with black sock booties from Nine West, a crescent-shaped pendant from Canoe and an antique gold ring — a find from a shop on Ottawa Street.

Most eye-catching piece

I have this (faux) fur jacket that’s the strangest colour. It’s like, purpley, browney grey; I don’t know how to describe it. But it gets a lot of attention and it’s quite oversized and I love it … it’s definitely super old. I don’t even know when this jacket is from — it was a steal at $8. I got it at Bibles for Missions.

Quirkiest wardrobe item

My tulle skirts are up there, they’re pretty quirky. I have … two black ones and this red one. One is long and the other is short and it has flowers embroidered into it. So it’s very colourful and girlie and extra.

And then my other quirky one would be my hippie dresses — I have a collection of tunics and other things that have flowers all over them.

Wardrobe must-have

Black boots. Everyone needs a staple pair of black boots … I have thigh highs that are black that I love. I got so much use out of them, totally worth spending money on. And then ankle boots as well, because they’re just so in right now, you can wear them with jeans, you can wear them with dresses.

Best purchase

My best purchase ever was this black boho tunic that I got from Zara when I was in the UK. And it’s amazing, but it’s (been) worn so much, it has holes in it. That’s how much I wore it. It’s pretty much all black and it has white flowers everywhere and it’s got a couple of frills and it kind of ties up. It’s got every little boho piece on it you can imagine.

Regrets buying

I definitely regret buying rompers. I’ve bought so many rompers that just do not look good on me … I always see cute ones so I buy them, thinking that it’s going to look cute …

Loves to shop at

I love thrifting, so any thrift store ever. And then I would have to say (Hudson’s) Bay, I’m really liking (them) these days because they carry so many different brands. I really like California Moonrise. And then anything local as well. I love popping into local boutiques — there are so many cool places in Hamilton.

Ridding her closet of

I’m definitely trying to get rid of black … right now the colour palette (of my wardrobe is) white, a colour I avoided for years. I just felt white was so flashy, you get it dirty — to me it just seemed like a lot, especially with a darker skin tone …

But now I love white — white has become my new thing, even though I still get it messy. And also grey and white and creams … and pale pink. I love a pale pink. So I’m getting into colours — I’m trying to be more bold now. I want really flashy reds and orange and yellow and I’m really trying to get into the mustards and the yellow.

Splurges on

Shoes and bags but my big to-do thing is to buy my first designer bag. So I’ve probably splurged on some bags but I’ve never bought a high end designer bag — I would love to buy a Louis Vuitton or a Gucci … just something really expensive and ridiculous ...

I lean toward the Louis Vuitton Speedy — it’s like a little duffel bag. Just ‘cause it fits everything you need, especially if you’re blogging and trying to do stuff. I can fit a proper camera in there, my cellphone, and then all the other stuff in your life like a water bottle. So to me it seems like a good everyday bag. You can toss a lot into it. I need it to be practical if I’m going to spend that much money.

Beauty product she can’t live without

I can’t live without conditioner … I live for Aunt Jackie’s conditioner. Pretty much any conditioner, really, though; I just can’t go without it. I need something to help tame my hair, keep it looking fresh and popping and curly.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY SHERYL NADLER “I like quirky pieces, some things a bit retro. I guess that’s where the hippie comes in – I like to pair retro pieces with modern pieces. And I like to pair edgy things with girlie things,” says Nicole Alexander, who pairs an oversized tee from...

PHOTOS BY SHERYL NADLER, SPECIAL TO THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR “I try not to seem to posey-posey, too perfect, even though I start to get perfectionist about everything. But I kind of want it to seem natural,” says Alexander.

Alexander’s red tulle skirt is from H&M; her black sock booties are from Nine West.

“I like to wear sneakers with dresses and sneakers with fur coats. So you’ve got a little bit of casual but with something that you typically wouldn’t think to wear casually all the time. I think that’s really cool,” says Alexander.