Meet the southern style blogger who’s changed the App State insta game

She’s got thousands of followers

| UPDATED

If you haven’t heard of blogger Corbin Tate Bruton, you probably will soon. At just 21 years old, she’s a veritable fashion queen who’s heading up her own blog, ‘Corbin Tate’, working for women’s jewelry company Kendra Scott and keeping her thousands of Instagram followers up to date.

Bruton grew up in Sneads Ferry, North Carolina and started her blog (originally called ‘The Classy South’)  while attending Appalachian State University. Her style is a mixture of boho and classic, and her blog features outfit inspo as well as food and travel posts – serious #lifegoals. We gave her a call from our New York office to talk fashion, blogging, and life in the South.

Did growing up in Sneads Ferry influence your style? Were the people fashionable?

No, it’s a really small town – I think we had three stoplights when I was growing up. But it’s a beach town so everything’s really laid-back, I definitely wouldn’t say fashion is the first thought on everybody’s minds. I think that’s probably what lead me to be so interested in fashion, because nobody else was. And I think that’s also why I’m very laid back and kind of have that Bohemian vibe.  It’s all about comfort and being beachy, and having something to throw over your bathing suit. In high school I was always wearing my bathing suit to school and I’d just have my cover up on and go to the beach after.

And how has your style developed since the laid-back school days? 

So I was super super boho hippie in high school.  Everyone called me a hippie and I loved that. And then I got to Appalachian and that is the style there. Everyone’s really peace-love-hippie, boho, flowing everything, no structure. It’s definitely not your typical Southern school. So I kind of backtracked then and didn’t want to be like everyone else. That’s a big thing for me, I never want to follow the crowd. So I became really preppy and did the Lilly and cardigan thing, and that’s why I called my blog ‘The Classy South’ when I first started. But I did that for a year or so and then I got back into what my style really is, which is a mixture between bohemian and having those structured, put together pieces. I think before I was really trying hard to be bohemian and hippie and then I got to Boone and was really trying hard to be preppy and not like everyone else there, and now I’m just kind of myself and what works for me. I like to mix those styles together. I like to have those flowing Free People dresses but I’ll pair them together with a structured back or a structured cardigan.

What prompted you to start blogging?

I was a sophomore and I had just gotten my first apartment with my four best friends and everything was great. But it was five girls living in one apartment which was probably not the best decision, and I ended up kind of falling out with all four of them. And so I was living in a house of four people who didn’t really like me… I would basically go to class and then run upstairs and sit in my room.

One night, I was looking at my favorite blog, a Spoonful of Style. And I suddenly thought if she can do it, I just want to do it. So literally it was 2am and I just started it on a whim and named it The Classy South. I think my first post was on statement necklaces. So I put some necklaces on my desk and took pictures of them and uploaded it. I really was just looking at [Spoonful of Style] and I didn’t have a hobby, didn’t have friends, so I looked for a community to distract me from what was going on. It ended up being one of the best things I’ve ever done.

When you’re blogging and putting together outfits, where do you draw your inspiration from?

I think for style I tend to turn to Free People and their website. I know that sounds lame but I don’t really have time to look at Pinterest or look at magazines or anything like that. So really I’m just always looking at Free People’s website and seeing how they layer things and trying to mimic that. A lot of the time I’m just choosing outfits by just throwing stuff together. For blogging I have two girlfriends that I’m literally always talking to, always bouncing ideas off of. One of them is Laura Leigh from Louella Reese (@louellareese), and the other one is Emily from Style Hunt (@stylehuntblog). They’ve become two of my best friends. We’re always texting and we have a group text where I can ask what they think of certain ideas. It’s really great to have somebody who understands and to bounce ideas off of.

Is the style vibe in Charlotte different at all from Appalachian or from your home town?

People are really rich here! People are extravagant. I’ve only been here for three days and I think everyone here has their own style, but I will say that everyone likes to show off brands a lot. It’s a ton of Louis Vuitton, which is great. I would love to do that. It’ll be interesting to see how I dress and how other people dress when I go out and about at night.

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You’re currently working at Kendra Scott. Can you tell me a little bit about that?

I started there a year and a half ago, kind of on a whim, too—that’s kind of how I do everything. I found out that they were opening and so I applied and they hired me. But they hired me in February and I was still going to Appalachian, so I commuted every two weeks to Durham to work and then I moved in with my brother during the summer and worked there them, but I kind of held on to that job after the summer because I wanted to stick with them and wanted to work there after college. I just moved to Charlotte and I’m working full time for Kendra Scott as a sales associate.

I’m really excited. The one thing that did set me apart in that interview was the fact that I have my blog. A year after I got hired my manager even told me. We were out grabbing tacos one night and she said, “I was thinking back to when I hired you and we saw your blog.” I had taken a picture in front of the store and posted it on Instagram and said something about how excited I was to interview there, and she showed me the email where all the people who were interviewing me were emailing back and forth and saying, ‘She’s so cute’ or ‘She’s adorable, I can’t wait to meet her!’ It’s funny that they saw it. And small things like that I think set you apart. It really helped that they liked looking at my blog and it gave them the chance to get to know me before they even met me.

As far as the logistics of the blog go, how often do you post and how much time does your blog take up day to day?

I’m a really structured person so when I first started blogging I had a rhyme and reason to everything and I knew what days I would post. But now that I’ve gotten more serious about it I would say I usually do five posts a week, although sometimes I can’t get to it. But it takes a lot of time and I don’t think that people see that. It’s almost like a part time job. For example, I just rebranded myself and now I have to send out emails to all my brands. I have a bunch of brands that I have really good relationships with that’ll send me stuff and I need to keep up those relationships. It’s a lot of work. People think you just take pictures and post them and that’s it, and the reality is it’s like a part time job.

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I love that your blog isn’t only a style blog. You also have ‘Eats and Sips’ and ‘The Travel Diaries.’ Can you tell me a little bit about those and how they got started?

That’s something that I’m really trying to focus on now because I love doing style posts but that’s really only half of what I like to do. I know people classify me as a style blogger but it’s really hard to write about style, and what comes easily to me is to write about experiences. So I want to get more into fitting those outfits into my lifestyle and talking about the experiences that come along with wearing that outfit. I’m just trying to incorporate more of who I am, because today there’s so many fashion bloggers and it’s what you do that sets you apart that matters.

I want to ask you a little bit about the South. What do you love most about living down South?

I love that everyone’s so genuine and charming. I used to date somebody from Maryland, and I love Maryland but when I’d go there, people are just not nice. Sometimes people can be very rude and just don’t understand how nice it is to live in the South where everyone is really charming, and feeling like you have community wherever you go is really important. When you say you’re from the South, there’s this mutual understanding. And also sweet tea is great. I don’t see how people live without sweet tea.

In your opinion, why is fashion in the South better than fashion elsewhere?

I think because people aren’t trying to be so high fashion and chic. I feel like people in the North really try to do street-style and really crazy high fashion things and here it’s very doable. Because I feel like when I follow some bloggers who are in New York it’s like, I would never wear that on a normal day. And in the South it’s wearable things that are still doable and still fashionable. People aren’t trying to be someone they’re not. There is a typical Southern style but there’s not a pressure to be one way, whereas I think in the North you have to be on your game every single day if you really want to stand out.

Are there any stereotypical Southern trends that you don’t wear or that you’re not a fan of? Cowboy boots or anything like that?

I don’t own a pair of cowboy boots. I really want a pair though, but they’re so expensive! I guess the Kentucky derby style isn’t really me. I love Lily Pulitzer but I don’t own anything from her; it’s not my style. The big hats, I don’t really do that.

Do you have any favorite pieces in your closet?

I do. Right now it’s all my Free People slips and tunics because I like layering them and I hate wearing shorts in the summer; I like wearing dresses. I have a Free People slip that’s purple and it’s got eyelet detailing on the bottom, and I wear it all the time. It’s really simple and sweet and I like having that eyelet detail hanging out under a tunic or a sweater.

Do you have any advice for someone who wants to follow in your footsteps and start a blog of their own?

I’ve always told people to go out and do it. So many people ask me for advice on how to start a blog, but people who try and plan everything out and try and get a specific niche in mind—it’s better to just go for it. Like I said, I do everything on a whim, but you’re never going to do it if you just sit around thinking about how you’re going to plan everything. And with blogging it takes a while to figure out how you want your brand to be and what you want to talk about.

You might start out as a fashion blogger but realize that you just really like to make cocktails and you do that. I think by blogging you figure out what you want your blog to be about.

What are your hopes and goals for the blog in the future?

I’m kind of in an awkward place right now because I’m moving around a lot, so I guess what I hope for it to be is a place to talk about being 21, single, and not really having a plan or a place in mind where you want to end up. I think it’ll be interesting to see how people relate to me.