Arts

Claire Lee ’19 Combines Cuisine and Couture on Fashion

As a waiter placed an array of brightly colored risotto, pastas and flatbreads on her table, Claire Lee ’19 quickly pulled out her camera to snap pictures of the dishes. Lee described to The Phillipian that this impromptu photo shoot at the Fig & Olive Restaurant in Lee’s hometown of Chicago is a common occurrence for her. Lee often posts pictures of meals to her fashion and food blog, “Pear of Heels.”

“I love food and fashion, so I wanted to find a place where I could merge the two, to come up with the name of my blog I used ‘pear’ [to represent] the food aspect and ‘heels’ for the fashion and combined them,” said Lee.

Lee has had an interest in fashion and blogging since a young age. She started her first fashion blog at 11, but deleted it because she felt it was too unprofessional. She launched “Pear of Heels” last year.

“I’m a bit of a perfectionist, and when I saw professional blogs with perfectly assembled outfits and beautiful logos and layout, I just wasn’t happy anymore with my amateur efforts. I’m still not 100 percent pleased with [‘Pear of Heels’]… There’s always room for improvement. But the reality is that I’m a student, and I have to start somewhere. I know that I will keep learning and progressing as a blogger and that my blog will come together over time,” said Lee.

Some of Lee’s favorite blogs to read include “Wendy’s Lookbook” by Wendy Nguyen and Chiara Ferragni’s “The Blonde Salad.” She said that she admires their confidence and attention to detail and hopes to incorporate those characteristics into her own blog.

“I have always gotten inspiration from other bloggers, and they really helped me develop my own personal style, [which I would describe as] edgy, modern and futuristic, while still being feminine. I thought that I could [inspire] others and showcase my own little space on earth and how I dress,” said Lee.

Lee’s sister, Chloe Lee ’17, also has a fashion blog, called “Cachet de Chloe.” While Claire Lee looks up to her sister, there are major distinctions between the sisters’ styles.

“We do share some [articles of clothing], but her style is more funky. She has a really crazy closet, and I really respect her style, but I definitely think we have two very different styles,” said Claire Lee.

“[Claire Lee’s] blog has transformed into something much more than the amateur photos we used to take in our basement. She wasn’t actually into fashion when we were young… I swear her style evolved in a day. It was all very sudden, but I’m thrilled that we can run our blogs together,” said Chloe Lee.

Now that she is at Andover, Claire Lee said she hopes to infuse elements of boarding life into her blog.
“I think that people in my generation are genuinely interested in boarding school, and I want to showcase [that] lifestyle by capturing images of our lives here at Andover and sharing them with my followers,” said Claire Lee.