Shereen Sikka, popularly known as Shereen Love Bug, recently joined NewsX Influencer A-List for a candid conversation. Redefining fashion in digital space, Shereen spoke to us exclusively about the inspiration behind her brand name, ‘Shereen Love Bug’, what made her become a fashion blogger, what goes on behind the scenes and much more. Read excerpts:
Speaking about her brand name ‘Shereen Love Bug’ and the story behind it, Shereen said, “People usually expect that there’ll be some deep meaning behind it but there actually isn’t. When I first started off, I started off with my website, with my blog, which was LoveAndOtherBugs.Com, which kind of was a take on a movie title that I really liked at that time. I knew that I wanted love in the name of my blog or anything that I want to build. Even I ever start a brand, the name love has to be there just because I really believe in the law of attraction, the power of vibration. I thought love has to be there. I want to attract love and I was in that zone. That’s where bugs came from. I was blogging for about a year almost. When I started on Instagram and had to choose a username, I thought that it should be an extension of what the blog is. I just took love and bug. It sounded like a cute little insect so I was like this is what it is going to be. It is going to be Shereen Love Bug. I really did not think at that time that it would become a thing or become something that people will recognise. Like you make an email id, I did not think that I would continue to have it for so many years. It was a one-time thing.”
On becoming a style icon in the digital space, Shereen shared, “I have come from a fashion background since I have studied fashion throughout my school life. I knew that one thing I wanted to do was fashion. Till the 3rd standard, I thought that maybe I want to be an astronaut or something but beyond that, my only career option was fashion, just because of how much I loved art. I still love to paint and I love art in any form. I wanted to study fashion. I went to London and I studied fashion design and marketing because I loved fashion and I loved art and I loved aesthetic but I did not want to construct clothes. When I was studying, my parents also said that you have to design, you’ll be a fashion designer. I said I wanted to learn fashion but I don’t want to design or construct clothes because that is a very different niche. I feel that it is very different. That time, styling wasn’t that huge. I studied fashion marketing thinking that maybe I could work in a magazine or maybe like a fashion PR house or something. That’s where the background comes from. When I finished my studies, the first job that I ever landed was styling with Rhea Kapoor. That kind of gave me the best insight that I could ever get in the fashion world.”
When asked about the efforts that go behind the scenes, Shereen responded, “A lot of credits goes back to my styling background. That’s where I made connections with really good designers and that’s where I feel that I made a little bit of a network. I think that for I putting things together and putting looks together, even when it comes to aesthetic of my feed, it is kind of like styling a feed. There is an app that I use to styled my feed a little bit based on tones and colours and aesthetic, so that It looks good to me. I know that a lot of people might not be looking at my feed everyday but I look at my feed and I want to look very pretty. From an art point of view, I want to look at something and feel that it is something beautiful and it’s something that I am putting effort in. I do have some really talented photographers that I have the opportunity to work with, depending on what my inspiration is. For my editorials or a project, I pick and choose. For me, when my content comes great, it is because of team effort, my photographers, my makeup artist, the location, the clothes, everything’s come together and work really well, that’s what makes it successful Instagram series or Instagram story.”