Those of you who read CF regularly probably know that I was looking for new writers a few months ago. After combing through over 200 applications (!!), I’ve finally narrowed it down to ten fabulous girls who are going to be contributing their thoughts on fashion this fall semester.

What’s Changing at CF?

If you’re worried that new writers mean everything will change around here, don’t be! Nothing is going to change drastically – the CF you know and love will still be here, and I’ll still be writing lots of articles as always. Things are only going to get more fabulous, promise!

Here’s what you can expect to see here over the next few months: more frequent updates with even more fresh new articles and fashion tips, up-to-the minute fashion news and trend information, New York Fashion Week coverage (less than 2 weeks away), a more national perspective on fashion (no more New England-centric fashion posts), and much more! I also have a few BIG secret projects in the works that I know you guys are going to love. (More on those soon!)

Without further ado, here’s some info about the new CF writers, listed in alphabetical order..

CF’s New Fall 2009 Writers:

Blair – University of North Carolina – Our resident sorority girl, college fashionista, and interior design maven, Blair will show you how to live the fabulous life on a student budget – from designing your dorm room to dressing your best at all times.

Colleen – New York University – A city girl with an eye for style, Colleen knows a lot about fashion, as well as what to wear and how to wear it. Expect her tips and outfit ideas to help you dress well for any occasion.

Kim – California State University – From the west coast, Kim is a sophomore graphic design major who wants to work for a fashion magazine one day. She’s been blogging for years and will be covering everything from the online fashion world to runway trends, street style inspiration, and everything pop culture.

Kristina – University of Arizona – Kristina, a senior studying Psychology and Spanish, has an eye for the trends and is always on the lookout for well-dressed fashionistas on campus! After graduation, she plans to attend FIDM in LA as a professional designation candidate in apparel manufacturing management.

Lisa – Barnard College – Former Teen Vogue intern and beauty blogger at College Beauty, Lisa will tell you everything you need to know about looking and staying gorgeous while in college – from makeup to hair and everything in between.

Liza – University of Minnesota – A Journalism major with a great eye for fashion, Liza is your go-to girl for everything from shopping ideas to truly useful fashion tips. Expect to read a lot of her stuff in the months to come!

Meggy – University of Wisconsin Madison – Meggy is a Retailing major (emphasis on fashion), with a minor in Business. She takes an intelligent, practical approach to fashion and believes in dressing to suit your individual personality and body type – never mindlessly following the trends. Look to her for practical tips for dressing well without losing your individuality.

Michelle – College of Idaho – A college student who loves writing, vintage shops, poetry readings, and scrapbooking, Michelle knows style on a budget and will show you how to navigate the thrift shops to get a fabulous vintage-inspired look without spending a lot.

Mya – James Madison University – Mya says it best on her blog – she’s a “VA college student struggling to balance dreams of fabulosity with the realities of one’s wallet.” Check back later today to read the first of her posts for CF.

Noel – Columbia University – You probably already know her as Miss Couturable, but the fabulous Noel is going to be writing for CF this semester too! As a former Seventeen Magazine intern starting her freshman year of college in NYC, Noel will be writing about everything from wallet-friendly versions of runway looks to her adventures budgeting and shopping in the city.

Any Questions?

There you have it, the 10 new writers you’ll get to know over the next few months. I know you guys are going to love them as much as I do!

In the meantime, feel free to ask any questions you may have in the comments section. I’ll be more than happy to answer them, as always! And if you have any questions for any of the writers, feel free to post those in the comments too!

Hope you’re all as excited as I am!

The winner of the CF/Juicy Couture giveaway (chosen at random) is… Ellen, comment #108!

Congrats Ellen! If that’s you, check your email ASAP for details on how you’ll be getting your prize. If you didn’t win, don’t worry – there will be plenty more chances for you to win a prize here soon.

Thanks to everyone who entered!

You may have noticed that the comments section looks a little different today.. that’s because a few things have changed! Here’s some more info on the new functionality.

The biggest change is that you can now choose a custom picture to display next to every comment you make – a picture of you, a photo of your favorite celeb or designer, whatever you want! This will help identify you and your comments here.

To choose your personal avatar, visit Gravatar.com and sign up (all you need is an email address).

Once you upload your picture to Gravatar or choose from one of their pictures, your avatar will show up next to your comments on CF as well as on any other site that has Gravatars enabled. To change your profile picture, just visit the Gravatar website again and update your profile with a new avatar.

If you have any questions or problems getting your avatar to work, just leave a comment and I’ll try to help! Can’t wait to see your new profile pics..

Well, it’s been a month since I started the Reebok EasyTone Challenge, so I thought I’d post my final results. Read on to hear my thoughts on the shoes. Even better, EasyTone has offered to do a giveaway for CF readers, so make sure to see the end of this post for details on how you can win a pair of EasyTone sneakers for yourself!

The EasyTone Challenge

To recap, a month ago I decided to test out the new Reebok EasyTone shoes which are supposed to tone your legs while you walk around in them. I’m trying to get in shape for summer, so I figured if it was possible to tone my legs without any extra effort, it’d be worth it. I updated with my progress a few weeks ago, and now my final results are below.

My Results

After 30 days, I have to say, I haven’t noticed any changes in the way my legs or butt look. I am honestly a little sad about this because I really wanted the shoes to work, but here’s why I believe they didn’t work for me.

First of all, I didn’t wear them all the time. I am NOT a fan of running shoes with jeans, and I’m never going to sacrifice style just to tone up. So I decided to only wear the EasyTone’s around the house – never outside. This was probably the main reason they didn’t work for me. These shoes probably work best when they’re worn for all your daily activities – but what stylish girl would want to do that? I’m not willing to wear athletic shoes outside unless I’m exercising, period.

Second, wearing them around the house didn’t give me lots of time to walk around in my EasyTones. I spend most of my day working at the computer, so I don’t walk around constantly when I’m in my apartment. I’m sure if I was more active at home during the day, they would have worked better as well.

That said, it did FEEL like the shoes were working my muscles. They are supposed to create natural instability similar to walking on the beach, and I did notice that feeling. It also felt like my muscles were working harder than usual when I was walking around in my EasyTones, so that might be an indication that they’d work if I wore them more often.

The Verdict

Overall, I think the EasyTone sneakers show promise – they definitely feel like they make your muscles work harder than normal. That said, I think they would work best for someone who would wear them all day for their everyday activities. This would be someone who didn’t care about fashion and just wanted to get in shape. Unfortunately, that’s not me.

The Giveaway – Win a pair of EasyTones!

Now on to the fun part – a giveaway! Even though the shoes didn’t work for me, you might have different results. If you want to take the EasyTone Challenge for yourself, Reebok is giving away a pair of EasyTone sneakers to one lucky CF reader!

Here’s how to enter: comment on this post (make sure to include your email address) and tell us the craziest thing you’ve ever done to get in shape for summer. Did you try some ridiculous fad diet? Run up and down the stairs constantly? Put weights in your socks? Let me know in the comments section and you’ll be entered to win a pair of EasyTone sneakers in your size and preferred color.

The contest will stay open until midnight on Sunday, May 24th, and I’ll randomly choose one winner from all the entries. Only one entry per person, please – duplicate entries will be deleted.

Good luck to all of you – I’ll announce the winner on Monday!

It’s been a little quiet around here lately, and don’t think I haven’t noticed.

Thought I’d update you guys on what’s going on with me – it’s exam week and I’m inundated with papers and projects, most of which are due tomorrow. I’m sure all of you know how that is! So that’s why I haven’t been able to update here lately. Also if you’ve sent me an email and are still waiting to hear back, my apologies! But I’ll get to all of your emails by the end of this week, and I have some great posts planned for this weekend too.

In other news, I wanted to remind you all that today is your last chance to enter the $250 Avelle Gift Card Giveaway! The comments section will close at midnight Eastern time tonight, so make sure to get your entries in by then for a chance to win. A winner will be announced tomorrow – will it be you?

Updates here will resume ASAP! Until then, here are some fashion articles to tide you over:

FabSugar gives us a look inside Miss Sixty’s Spring/Summer ‘09 Lookbook.

Anna Sui is releasing a collection for Target! Even better? It’s based on the four main Gossip Girl ladies – Blair, Serena, Jenny, and Vanessa. Sounds pretty great if you ask me.

Stumped for what to wear your exams? Casey of Teen Fashionista models a cute finals week outfit.

WhoWhatWear Daily did a great piece on 90’s Fashion. Tacky? Maybe. But fabulous? Oh yes.

Fashion + ipod playlist inspiration courtesy of Raych at That’s Chic.

A great post on the rules for wearing Ugg boots by the always fabulous Gala Darling.

Published a few weeks ago, but still great – Questions Answered: Missbehave x2 + More! – former Vogue intern & style blogger Jazzi McGilbert talks fashion internships, living in NYC, and how working in fashion isn’t what the Devil Wears Prada makes it out to be.

A little summer fashion inspiration: Roxy Ads – don’t they make you wish you were a surfer girl?

See you all in a few days, and good luck with your exams if you’re taking them now!

A few weeks ago I announced that I would be participating in the Reebok EasyTone Challenge this month, wearing my new EasyTone shoes around the house to test them out.

Thought I’d update you all on my progress and how I’m liking the shoes so far.

In general, I have noticed that I can feel a difference walking around in these shoes versus any other shoes I own – It does feel like my muscles might be working harder when I’m wearing these. They’re supposed to make your leg muscles activate more than usual, and the shoes do seem to do that.

But I’m not one to talk up products I wouldn’t spend my own money on, so here’s the honest truth: I haven’t noticed any tangible results from the EasyTone sneakers yet. I’ve been wearing them around the house daily but have not seen any significant change in my leg tone yet, despite it feeling like they might be working.

I have been working out at the gym and eating healthy in addition to wearing the shoes, so any changes I see over the next few weeks will probably be due to those things more than the shoes.

Of course I’ll keep testing the EasyTone sneakers for the full 30 days.. I’m just not expecting much at this point. We’ll see what happens – I’ll update you all again in a few more weeks.

I’m excited to announce another promotion I’m going to be participating in over the next few weeks! Since summer is so close and I’m trying to get in bikini shape, I’ve decided to participate in the Reebok EasyTone Challenge.

What is EasyTone?

EasyTone is Reebok’s new line of sneakers that tone your legs as you walk around in them. They have “balance pods” built in under the heel and forefoot of the shoes, which are designed to create natural instability with every step. This instability forces your leg and glute muscles to work harder, increasing muscle tone and giving you a workout when you’re just walking around the house or doing everyday activities.

According to Reebok, “While wearing EasyTone shoes, a person will experience increased muscle activation* in her glutes (28%) and in key muscles in her hamstrings (11%) and calves (11%). (*Based on tests comparing EasyTone to a typical foam based walking shoe.)” Pretty cool, huh?

What is the EasyTone Challenge?

Reebok wants to get the word out about these shoes, so they sent me a pair of EasyTone sneakers to test out for 30 days and review for you guys! I’ll be wearing the shoes around the house during the day for all of my regular activities (because you know how I feel about athletic shoes and jeans in public), and I’m going to update you all on my progress as the month goes by.

Overall, I’m excited to test the shoes out but am also a little skeptical. I’m a big believer in diet and exercise, so I’m not sure if I believe that a pair of shoes can make that much of a difference in the tone of your legs. But you never know – maybe these shoes will work well for me!

I’m going to update you all again with my honest thoughts on EasyTone in a few weeks, so check back here to learn more about these new shoes.

Just wanted to let you all know that I’ve been thinking a lot about this site lately and have finally decided to stop writing under an alias and use my real name here!

When I first started CF, it was just a fun hobby and I didn’t want the site to be personal at all. I was a sophomore in college and totally unsure what I wanted to do in the future – what if something I said on my fashion blog came back to bite me when I applied for jobs? Also, my real name is pretty unusual! So instead of using my own name, I chose to write under a generic fake name, one of the most popular names I could think of!

Anyway, College Fashion has grown SO MUCH since I started it, and I’ve grown a lot too. I think it’s finally time to put my real name on it – since I practically reveal every minute detail of my life on my Twitter, and almost everyone who knows me offline knows about this site, putting my real name on here is the next logical step. It just feels more honest not to use a fake name, you know?

So anyway, hi, I’m Zephyr! Yes, Zephyr is my real name. It’s on my birth certificate and I did not make it up :)

I hope the name change won’t be too confusing for those of you who have known me under a different name for these past two years. Nothing else here is going to change – just the name at the top of each post and my email address (it’s zephyr AT collegefashion.net now). I also updated the About Page with a little more info about me too.

Anyway, that’s all! Just wanted to let you all know about the change. Hopefully this will help us all get to know each other even better. Thanks to all of you for being supportive and awesome as always! Fashion articles resume tomorrow :)

♥ Zephyr

Happy 2nd Birthday to CF!

That’s right, College Fashion turns 2 years old today!! I totally can’t believe it’s already been two years – it feels like it’s only been a few months. But I said that last year too. It’s crazy how time flies!

I just wanted to take a minute today to thank each and every one of you for being such an amazing community. All of you constantly impress and inspire me in new ways, and it’s so exciting to read your emails, comments, thoughts, and questions. It’s been great getting to know you guys, and CF would truly be nothing without you!

It’s been a great two years, but I still know the best is yet to come. I’ve got some great new features for this site in the works, plus zillions of new fashion articles on the way. Hope you all are as excited as I am!

As always, if you want to give me some input about the site, don’t hesitate to send an email and let me know what you want to see here! I read everything you send me and try to respond to every single email. And be sure to let me know if you want to blog for CF because I’m always looking for new guest writers too.

Thanks again to all of you, and here’s hoping the years ahead will be even better than the last two!