Undoubtedly, her accidental prowess and influence attracted Dazed Digital to invite her to become their commissioning editor, a dream job because it means she’s not merely pondering but affecting and reporting on fashion, paid to internet surf and even travel to the fashion hotspots of the world and report back. Not bad for a 25 year old self confessed “blogging geek” who’s insecure about her self image.… I knew this was going to be interesting when, before we'’d even got our coats off we had discussed the merits of a long-line-pant over a thong and found the thong wanting! The charm of Susie and her Bubble is her unique and honest take on style as she responds to it, wears it and loves it. Her infectious stream of consciousness or '“verbal diarrhea'” as she calls it is absolutely HER. But with her jet-setting career swerve, does she still have time to devote to her first love? 

PB: How do you actually find the time to blog anymore? 

SB: People don’t realise how little time it takes for me to write something on Style Bubble, more so than if I was writing an article for Dazed. I can knock it out in five minutes, which isn’'t to say that a lot of effort doesn’t go into it, working on the images, the research - which is part of my daily life anyway, but I don’t think I could write like that for anyone else. Apart from the fact that there’re typos and grammar mistakes everywhere, it’s informal and chatty. 

PB: I think people respond to the honesty in your voice with Style Bubble. You are a true enthusiast and that is infectious. I love it when you present yourself in a look that is perhaps an experiment that in retrospect went a bit wrong! 

SB: I like my mistakes! When you go to the Style Diary page, I look now and I can’t believe some of the outfits I put together. Not that I regret them. I’'m not trying to put the “best vision” of myself out there it’s a vision of what I’m feeling at that moment. The whole thing is like a work in progress. 

PB: It’s a refreshing change to the over-styled celebrities we’re force-fed elsewhere in the media.… 

SB: It’s gotten to the point where there are no fashion mistakes. Even when you look at the Oscars, you used to get a list of the horrors like Cher or Celine Dion, but now they’re all in long Grecian gowns and they all look perfectly OK but homogenised. Everyone’'s so savvy or all the people around them are so savvy, it’s like there’ is a formula. 

PB: Maybe that’s why those “circle of shame” magazines are so popular, as a reaction against that? 

SB: Maybe, but I think they’re overly harsh. I think they'’re quite hypocritical, and what’s a fashion gaff to somebody is someone else’s idea of an amazing outfit. There shouldn'’t be a set barometer. “This is good and this is bad”; it’s all objective. 

PB: I think that’s why your blog has been so successful, because it’s almost anti-perfect. 

SB: I get a lot of flack for it though. Obviously people comment and say I look ridiculous. Just yesterday I got this comment that said; "“I don’t think that you make women look beautiful, for me fashion is about looking elegant and chic and you shouldn’t consider yourself a fashion blog”". So basically because I’m not elegant or chic I should give up blogging. 

PB: You must have to develop a thick skin? 

SB: I was 21 when I started and I'’ve always been quite insecure about myself. In the beginning I used to take pictures with the camera obscuring my face. 

PB: I remember that, you always had a camera in front of your face! 

SB: But also I was living by myself, didn’'t have a boyfriend and it was quick. I’m not single anymore and I’m most comfortable when my boyfriend takes pictures of me at home in my home environment. 

PB: But with your growing notoriety, presumably you have to agree to photoshoots in a studio with strangers...… 

SB: I'’m grappling with that. Grazia made me look like a Philippino prostitute according to my mum, and when street photographers take photos of me I do this cramped, nervous smile and look constipated!!! 

PB: It'’s interesting to see your evolution through the blog, I imagine it has helped make you more confident? 

SB: Maybe it’s helped me be more confident. All of my friends will tell you I’m the most self-deprecating person. It’'s not something I can shake off and I probably won’t ever, really, I’ve been like this since I was 5. It’s not a nice way to live, but unfortunately I have this mindset and it’s who I am. 

PB: You have achieved fame in that you have fans and an audience. Niche fame. 

SB: It is a niche but I can never gauge how big that niche is. When I was in Copenhagen I thought nobody would know who I was but I kept getting stopped in the street. It happens a lot in Topshop. I guess that’s my demographic! 

PB: What’s the first thing you do when you get up in the morning, is it straight onto the computer? 

SB: Actually straight onto my Blackberry because it’s next to my bed – which makes me sound like some sort of power woman! It’s so aggressive, it flashes at you every time you’ve got an email. Then I have a cup of tea and get onto the main computer , then it takes me 15 minutes to get to work and I’m online all day. 

PB: Talking of power women, I think it’s interesting that women are the strongest voice in the blogging community.
 
SB: I think they’re more bothered to do it. I mean, you’ve developed from one blog into another, don’t you think it’s wonderful to have that voice with no consequences? 

PB: Yes, it’s uncensored and quite liberating. By and large I find blogs by men quite rubbish! 

SB: The men’s ones are almost trying to emulate a magazine. I can’t often find a personal voice in men’s blogs. But maybe that’s the way they write and feel comfortable writing. Brian Boy’s had immense success.…

PB: But he’s quite a girly boy isn’t he?! 

SB: Yes he is! Maybe women have a lot to get off their chests! I mean I don’'t rant that much or try not to, or to go in the negative direction. It’s easy to; sites like Go Fug Yourself, they’'re good at what they do but...… 

PB: It’s much easier to slag something off than to be eloquent about something you’re interested in isn’t it? 

SB: I love to communicate my enthusiasm about something. If I find a designer I want to write about I literally can’t wait to get it up online, I’ll be formulating it in my head and it comes out like a stream of consciousness. A lot of people ask me how to write a successful blog, but if you go into it with that outlook you’re never going to get there. Not every fashion blog is going to be famous, the best you can hope for is that you do it and enjoy it. Even if I lost all my readers tomorrow I'’d still do it! 

(We glance at the Observer Woman magazine which came out this morning with a feature and shoot of Susie in a selection of her own clothes) 

PB: What are you wearing in these pictures? 

SB: Vintage, ebay, Topshop…...

PB: How do you feel about the High Street? 

SB: It’'s difficult. On one hand it’s democratic but on the other they rip off designers and don’t give them credit for it. I wish I could be in a position to champion and only wear the designers I feature on the blog, but the reality is I couldn’t afford to dress in their clothes. I’'m not a hardcore thrifter, I couldn'’t only buy from charity shops, unfortunately I don’t function that way. If I do go to Primark I tear what I buy apart and wear it differently or use it for something completely different. Places like Topshop I can’t deny that some of their stuff is well made and they do a lot of collaborations with designers which I’ve always loved. High/low collaborations fascinate me. Legends like Zandra Rhodes, Celia Birtwell, these names have been brought into common parlance by high street collaborations. 

That is a real fashion democracy. The general public are so much more interested in fashion than they were 5 or 10 years ago. I don’'t know if I would ever not buy anything from the High Street, it’s so much a part of my generation. I used to live across the road from Selfridges when I was at UCL and I used to walk through the designer bit to get to Topshop... then go and buy a £1.50 apple from the food hall!!! 

PB: And also, being Chinese, how do you feel about the conditions in the Chinese factories that make these garments? 

SB: I know for a fact that without this work these people wouldn’t have an income. It'’s an essential part of the economy, and right now they’'re having a hard time. 

PB: Do you see yourself doing this in some form well into the future? 

SB: People are always asking me what I’m going to do with Stylebubble or whether I’m going to make money from it. My main challenge is getting the time to keep it going. Dazed have been really supportive, they said you must keep on blogging. I don’t really care where it goes, I just want to keep going. It’s a big part of my life – which sounds really sad! 

PB: I don’t think it does at all! Do you ever feel pressure in the knowledge that all these fashion students are logging onto Style Bubble every day and they’re looking to you for inspiration? Is it hard to keep doing it for YOU? 

SB: Yes, it’s hard because I never set out to be an informant or a resource – what a boring word! I do struggle with that because I can only write about what I know. I try not to think about it too much. Hopefully if I mention a designer they’ll go off and do their research as well. I’m not an authority and don'’t want to start thinking like that. My readers are intelligent and as long as they take from it what they will, I’ll carry on writing in the vague wishy washy way I do!!

For someone who didn’t study fashion, Susie has become one of the major players; not through cutthroat ambition but by expressing something close to her heart from the heart. Her generation has grown up expressing themselves online and documenting their lives and somehow Style Bubble walks the line between personal and professional that communicates to her contemporaries as well as the wider Fashion forum. Addicted to the fix of fashion, nevertheless she can see herself ageing gracefully in Comme des Garcons and Yohji Yamamoto sipping tea on her veranda with her Blackberry thumb twitching and one eye on her laptop! 

http://stylebubble.typepad.com

PB