Becky Li

April 29, 2016 / interview by Yi-jie

Many people say you are a fashion blogger, but others think you are more like the “we media”. Which one do you think is more suited to your style?

I worked for media before starting the WeChat account, doing an editorial-related job. My previous job was quite similar to what I’m doing on WeChat now – producing content. So I consider myself “we media”.

You started your WeChat account in 2014. When you noticed your account attracting such huge public attention, did you adjust your content or strategy?

I’m still trying to figure it out. I talked to other account owners and they all said they had plans for their account. I don’t.

You tell people what fashion products they should buy?

Yes, that’s right, introducing fashion items so they can purchase them.

I also love buying things. At first, I just shared the things I liked or that I bought. That’s why all the things I write about have something to do with myself.

It’s your personal interest, but very practical for many Chinese girls.

Yes, that’s right. But as I gain more and more readers, they always comment about what they want to see, too. For example, they always ask how to dress themselves if they have big boobs. If they keep asking about it, then I interview girls around me with big boobs. Or “How should fat women best style themselves?” I don’t have these problems, so I try to figure them out through interviews or research.

How do you manage your time? What’s your daily schedule and your production process?

I work the whole day. I don’t know how to describe it. I usually get up at 9 in the morning, because I have three forums for readers, so I look at the forums first.

Do you interact with them?

Yes, I do, every day. But sometimes I just try to find out what they are talking about. Then I read the statistics of my latest post and, of course, the readers’ comments and reactions. It takes me about an hour. Then I eat breakfast and source photos. I started doing WeChat until 10pm. 

After that, what do you do?

I start to choose comments and reply to readers’ messages. That takes me a couple of hours. When I reply to their comments at midnight, readers are surprised. They say, “Oh my god, why aren’t you asleep?”

You had a full-time job before; how did you manage to do all of that?

I didn’t post every day when I had a full-time job. I posted two to three times a week. But I don’t think the article quality was as good as it now. Maybe because I’m now a full-time blogger, I have higher standards for myself. I put more strength and effort into it. Maybe readers can’t tell, but I know I have to.

Your photos seem to be everywhere now. Have you considered becoming a fashion icon or someone in the public eye?

No, I have never considered it. It seems like a lack of ambition, but it’s true. I think I’m very lucky to be working in this new-media time. Media notice me because I’m one of the “we media”, so there are many reports about me. I’m not saying I don’t want to be exposed to the public. But I don’t intend to make myself as an icon or celebrity.

Have there been any harsh comments?

There have been claims of plagiarism. But the way people write and the points will be different. If account A is doing a topic about coats just as I do, but I post the article after account A, some will accuse me of plagiarising account A. I don’t care about it because there’s no such thing.

If there are any serious comments or suggestions from my readers, though, I remember that. A girl once said to me, “You are a journalist and you should be serious about typing.” I said, “I know and I checked a couple of times, but I still made mistakes.” She said it’s not a good excuse. If you can find it one time, you check three times – even 30 times. I think she’s right.

You were a film journalist before and now part of the “we media” for a fashion account. What’s been the biggest challenge for you in this career?

Physical strength; I feel so tired. 

Where did you get all the tips for dressing yourself and your sense of aesthetics?

[laughs] I think my narcissism and pursuit of being beautiful was inherited from my mother.

Besides your mother, did you have any fashion icons when you were young?

Kate Moss. Coco Chanel also influenced me a lot. She once said that clothes should make you feel comfortable and confident. She didn’t like anything making her feel uncomfortable. I agree with her. When I dress myself now, no matter how beautiful the clothes are, if it makes me feel
uncomfortable, I won’t put it on.

Tell us about your personal style.

I dress in a normal style. I can’t remember when, but once I went out for dinner with my friends. They said, “Why hasn’t a fashion blogger put on new clothes? And you are wearing such thick socks! You should show your legs as a fashion blogger!” [laughs] They always make jokes about me. 

Do you have a go-to item in your wardrobe?

Yes, I wrote about it in an article – it’s a white shirt. Always. If I have no idea what to wear, I will definitely put on a white shirt; it matches with anything from a dress to trousers. It works in all situations. 

You have some promotional articles introducing products from different brands. Have you ever encountered any tough cases where you didn’t know how to work them into the article?

It happens all the time. Sometimes you think it’s okay, but for the brands, they don’t think so. For example, I cooperated with a car brand – I’d better not mention its name. The brand always disagrees with how I introduce them on my account. But they couldn’t point out exactly where the problem is, so we’ve discussed it for a long time.

So there is a brainstorming session for you and brands?

Yes. First, I provide the outline or idea, and then we discuss.

If there are any disagreements, do you keep your original ideas or do you compromise?

I think both. Yes, I prefer keeping my own ideas, but if there are some principles the brands insist on, I’ll respect them. Because they have their own needs. Most of the brands are easy to work with. They come to me because they know my style. For other accounts, brands usually give press releases to bloggers. But I’d rather write it myself; that’s my style. They also respect me for that and give me more flexibility to create. I can’t keep saying the name of the brand throughout the whole article. It’s not me.

When brands approach you, do you have any criteria for potential partners?

Yes, I usually choose the ones I have used or that I like. Even now, this criteria still works for me. For example, for skincare products, I only promote those I have used. If I haven’t used it, I’ll ask the brand to send me a sample or I will buy it myself. There were some brands trying to get me to promote products that I haven’t used before; in the end, we didn’t cooperate. 

Have you ever found your articles interesting but they fell flat?

Yes, even recently. I wrote one titled “Successful People Have Only One Set of Clothes”. I found it quite interesting, but the page views were very low. I don’t know why.

Will you try to avoid topics like this in future?

No, I think I’ll try again. Maybe it’s because readers think, “If I only have one set of clothes, why should I read your account?” I think I chose it because I found it interesting. But for them, I think they prefer something more instructive and practical.

What kind of topic is most popular among readers?

If my article introduces something readers can buy, it will be very popular. If it has nothing to do with buying, it’s dangerous for us. [laughs]

How about fashion bloggers’ influence on the development of China’s fashion industry?

Well, I don’t know about others, but for me, I think WeChat keeps me closer to normal people – so I know the requirements of ordinary people better and make some suggestions. For the whole industry, I think it depends on the bloggers themselves. Take myself as an example. If I only write on my WeChat account, like now, and post some promotional articles, of course the influence on the whole industry will be very limited.

With such good opportunities now, it’s all based on what fashion bloggers are thinking about, what they can do. Then they will know what a big influence they can have.

黎贝卡

从时政记者到电影记者，再到微信公众号运营者，通过和读者分享购物、穿着打扮经验,“黎贝卡”已经成为各大品牌争先合作的对象。她的微信公众帐号“黎贝卡的异想世界”（改名于好莱坞电影《购物狂的异想世界》）被评为“2015年中国最有影响力微信公众号”。
微信粉丝数：80万

有人说你是时尚博主，也有人说你是自媒体人，你觉得哪个身份更适合你？

在做微信公众号之前我在媒体工作，也是做采编这个方向。我觉得我现在做的工作和以前很像，都是生产内容。所以我觉得自媒体人的身份更适合我。

你从2014年开始做微信公众帐号。当发现你的帐号获得了广泛关注时，有没有调整过帐号的内容和运营策略？

我知道其他号的运营者都是提前有一些计划，但是我没有。其实我一直都在摸索。

你的帐号最开始是介绍时尚消费类产品？

对，做时尚消费类的。因为我自己很爱买，所以一开始我只是单纯地分享我喜欢和我买的东西。这些内容都是和我自己相关的。

这是你自己的爱好，但是对中国女孩却很实用。

对。但是随着读者越来越多，他们也会经常在后台跟我说他们想看什么内容。比如他们会说让我写“大胸妹”怎么穿。如果他们一直问，我就会去采访我身边的一些“大胸妹”。又或者像“体型胖的人该怎么穿”这类问题。我会通过采访或者研究来做这个话题。

你怎么安排每天的时间？

我感觉自己一整天都在做微信。我不知道该怎么描述。我基本上每天9点起床，因为我有三个读者群，所以我会先去看一下那些群。

你会和他们互动吗？

会，每天都会。有时候我只是看一下他们在说什么，但自己不说话。我有时候也会看前一天推送的数据以及读者的留言。大概会花一个小时，然后吃早饭。然后就开始准备当天的推送。

然后呢？

我差不多10点钟写完推送，之后我会开始挑一些评论然后回复读者留言。这大概要花几个小时。我有时候凌晨回复读者评论时，他们看到都会很惊讶：“天哪，你怎么还不睡啊？”

你之前有全职的工作，同时还要做微信公众号，怎么平衡时间？

全职工作时我没有每天发微信。一周可能发2-3次。当然那个时候的文章质量也没有现在好。也有可能是因为我现在是全职做微信， 所以对自己的要求也不一样。我自己觉得必须要花更多的时间和精力做这件事。读者未必能感受到，但我自己会这样要求自己。

现在很多地方都能看到你的照片。你是否有考虑转型成为时尚达人或者从幕后转战台前？

没有。我觉得我很幸运，因为现在自媒体很火，大家对自媒体有兴趣，所以媒体才会关注我，从而会有这些曝光的机会。并不是说我不希望被曝光，但我没有刻意把自己经营成一个名人或者偶像。

在你运营公众帐号过程中受到的最严苛的评价是什么？

说我抄袭。因为时尚号的内容比较容易重合，但是只要认真看就会发现写的方式和观点都会不同。比如有的号做大衣的专题而我也正好在做。我是在它之后发布，有的读者就会说我抄袭。我没有把它当回事，因为这是无中生有。

如果说真正有建设性比较严苛的评价，我记得一次一个女孩跟我说，作为一个记者，你应该严谨，不应该老写错别字。我告诉她这是个死角，我校对了好几遍还是看不到。她说，这不是借口，你应该反复校对。我觉得她说的很对。

从电影记者转型到时尚自媒体人，这个过程中最大的挑战是什么？

体力。我觉得很累。

你的审美和穿衣技巧是从哪里得到的启发？

比较臭美和爱买大概是受妈妈的影响。

你的时尚偶像是谁？

凯特·莫斯。可可·香奈儿对我的影响也很大。她曾经说过衣服应该让你穿起来舒服和自信。她不喜欢让人穿起来不舒服的衣服。我很认同她的观点。我在自己穿衣服时，无论这个衣服多漂亮，如果她让我觉得不舒服，我就不会穿。

你的穿衣风格是什么？

很普通的风格。记得有一次和朋友出去吃饭，他们就跟我开玩笑说，：“时尚博主怎么没有穿新衣服？穿这么厚的袜子？你应该像时尚博主一样露出大长腿！”我的朋友经常和我开玩笑。

你衣柜里的必备 单品是什么？

白色衬衫。我在文章里有写过。很多时候如果我不知道穿什么，用一件白衬衣就可以解决。它可以搭配一条好看的裙子或者裤子，什么场合都适用。

你的微信公众平台每天会有一到两篇推广。在写文案的过程中有没有遇到特别难办的案例？

经常会有，每天都会想很久。有时候自己觉得ok，可能品牌会有意见。例如之前和某个汽车品牌合作，他们一直觉得文章过度不自然，但又说不出哪里不自然，所以讨论了很久。

这期间会有头脑风暴吗？

会有。我会先提供思路，之后我们会讨论。

如果和品牌在文案方面有不同意见，你会坚持自己的想法还是会和品牌协调？

都会有。我比较倾向坚持自己的，但如果品牌有一些原则性的问题我也会让步。大多数品牌都很容易沟通。他们找到我因为他们知道我的风格。其他的帐号可能直接使用品牌提供的文案，但我会要求自己写。他们当然也会给我比较大的空间。

在选择合作品牌时，自己有没有标准？

有。我基本上会选择自己用过或喜欢的品牌。直到现在这个原则都贯彻得比较好。比如护肤品，如果我没用过我是不会推的。我会要求品牌寄来给我试用或自己买来用。有的品牌来找我，因为我没用过他们的产品，所以最后没能合作。

有没有遇到过自己写的推送文章预期和最后反响相差较远的情况？

有。我写过一篇《成功人士都有他们的一套》，我觉得那篇很有意思，但阅读量很低。我会再尝试。那篇文章大概是因为读者想“如果我只穿一套衣服为什么还关注你”。我只是觉得这个话题有趣，但读者可能更希望我的帐号给出有参考性和指导性的文章。

什么话题最受读者欢迎？

如果我的文章是介绍读者可以买的东西，会非常受欢迎。如果和“买东西”没有关系，那阅读量就很低。

作为当红“时尚自媒体人”，你觉得你们对于中国时尚行业的发展有什么影响？

微信平台离普通人比较近，它会更知道普通人的需求，可以有很多实用的建议。对于整个时尚行业，关键看时尚博主能做到什么状态。以我自己为例，如果我一直做这个帐号，写一些推广和软文，对整个行业的影响会很有限。

在当下这么好的时机，如果时尚博主、自媒体人能够多考虑自己能做什么，大概才有可能思考对整个行业的影响。

Images: You Zi (Becky in one-piece); Zhong Ruijun (first fashion event); Cui Sitan (street-style shot); Becky Li (all others)