Rumi Neely‘s ascent to fashion fame reads like a classic American success story. Born to a Japanese mother and an American father, Rumi grew up in the Bay Area of California, where she developed a taste for vintage treasures and West Coast style. Later, while studying international relations at UC San Diego, Rumi decided to turn her passion into profit. She launched her personal style blog Fashion Toast in 2008 along with an eBay store called Treasure Chest Vintage. By 2009, she was sitting front row at Fashion Week.
Today, Fashion Toast receives 5.5 million hits per month and Rumi regularly teams up with top brands, from Free People to Forever 21. She even has her own luxury apparel line, ARE YOU AM I, which has garnered a cult following since debuting in December 2014. This month, we’re happy to announce that Rumi will join tFS as our November guest editor! First up on the agenda? A little meet and greet.
- When it comes to being a blogger, people don’t realize… it can lead anywhere you want it to.
- My biggest fashion pet peeve is… insincerity.
- I’m dying to splurge on… the perfect velvet ankle boot.
- The last thing I googled was… “velvet boot.”
- My favorite designers are… Anthony Vaccarello and Clare Waight Keller.
- My life motto is… mean it.
- The item of clothing I wear the most is… the ARE YOU AM I Zillah Slip Dress.
- My guilty pleasure is… wearing the same outfit three days in a row.
- You’d never catch me wearing… something I’m not freakishly obsessed with.
- If I had one extra hour in the day I’d… snuggle with my boyfriend.
- The last great book I read was… Mark Twain’s autobiography.
- My favorite brunch spot is… wherever everyone else isn’t.
- On a Saturday night, I’m usually… out somewhere holding hands with my man.
- One of my secret talents is… contortionist.
- I’d love to work with… Edgardo Osorio.
- I find the best vintage treasures at… all the secondhand shops on La Brea.
- The one thing I can’t live without is… maniacal attention levels from my cat Kumo.
- My current Netflix addiction is… Don’t Trust the Bitch in Apartment 23.
- My beauty essentials are… Avène Cleansing Foam, Sunday Riley Good Genes, iS Clinical Hydra-Cool Serum, Stila eyeliner and Charlotte Tilbury Bronze & Glow (mostly Glow, though).
- I like to collect… cool memories.
- One thing you’d be surprised to know about me is… I’ve never been more excited by the Internet than I am by the idea of expanding ARE YOU AM I.
