The IFB Evolving Influence Conference was really an amazing day - much more so than I ever could have expected.  I arrived at 8am to volunteer and the day just got better and better - great people, ideas and even a great public faux pas as good as any John Mayer incident.*

I was swept up in the whole affair.  When my sister emailed me to say that Condé Nast had called my home office line and didn't leave a message and maybe it was Anna?? ... Well, I knew it wasn't Anna but caught up in the energy of the day, it was hard not to imagine it was something to get excited about.

Shortly thereafter I met Gala Darling and Rumi Neely (about whose brand I wrote my grad school entrance exam) and then there was Scott Schuman - and then Garance Doré!  Although maybe (hopefully) I acted normal, I have to admit I was embarrassed just at the feeling of being starstuck by the latter pair.  By the end of the night the room was really a who's who with Tavi, Susie and Bryan Boy humbly holding court onstage. 

It felt like being part of something new - not because it was about fashion blogs but because it was finally collective.  In many ways it was a well-deserved celebration (and timely examination) of how far this segment of new media has come.

I came home with a camera full of images of the people that inspire me in so many ways - to be a part of this solitary, unprofitable racket called blogging, to dress better, to care less about what's "holy," etc.

I glided over to my phone on this happy cloud to call back the Condé Nast number and it was ... the subscriptions renewal department for Vogue.

And I was back into my rags, shoeless, with just a pumpkin and my mouse.

Complete coverage to come on Style Sample.

Image credits: Holier than Now

Lovely people, left to right from top: Tavi Gevinson of Style Rookie with Diane Pernet of A Shaded View on Fashion, Susie Bubble of Style Bubble with Phil Oh of Streetpeeper, Erin Hagstrom of Calivintage with Rebecca Stice of The Clothes Horse, Scott Schuman of The Sartorialist with Garance Doré, Rumi Neely of Fashiontoast with Colin Sokol, Magdalena Olek, Monica Seggos of Lili Magazine.

* It wasn't one of the panelists, I'm not repeating it - those who were there know what I'm talking about.