Eva Chen

There's a curiosity about what magazine editors do, the behind-the-curtain experience.

My advice for young people is, study what you love and intern in what you want to do. And I think it's okay to pivot as many times as you need to.

You do not need to go to journalism school if you want to work in the fashion industry. I think high schools condition you to think this way: If you want to be a fashion editor, go to fashion school. If you want to be a writer, you should study journalism. I think that the best school in life is experience.

Instagram was initially launched as a community for artists and photographers.

My job is more about helping people tell their stories in ever more interesting ways.

You could be an 18-year-old girl in Tokyo wondering how you could ever break into fashion or beauty, so you follow your favourite designer or editor, see what their day comprises, where they go, who they meet, how they do it... If I were setting up my own label today, I would definitely do it through Instagram.

I've been trying out all these bronzers, and By Terry has an amazing one called the Bronze Expert.

The best perk of my job is getting to take products home. I mean, my bathroom looks like Sephora; like a clean, smaller Sephora.

This is so cliche and cheesy but so true - seeing how happy people get if you A. give them a beauty product or B. give them a tip that works. There's such joy in finding a good beauty product.

I would say I am unapologetically nerdy. I was always a little awkward.

The new generation of designers, like Prabal Gurung and Alexander Wang, have hundreds of thousands following them on social media who will probably never be able to afford their dresses but still feel a loyalty to them. So when that designer writes a book or launches a beauty line, they might pick that up.

We're a show-and-tell generation. People want to see behind the scenes. The more involved and invited they are, the closer affinity they have to your brand.

You can get inspired from a magazine, yes, but you can also be inspired from a website, from a street-style blogger, from what people post on Instagram.

To say I like social media is an understatement.

There are different ways to show and tell through Instagram. What's right for one designer will be very different for another designer, and everyone's going to be figuring things out, but it's a great opportunity to use it for feedback.

If you had asked me growing up what a stylist does or what a magazine editor does, I would have had no clue - how do you research something like that when you are a first-born child of an immigrant who only grew up knowing doctor, engineer, and lawyer as careers?

I know how I shop and how I am inspired to buy things, and the majority of it is from Instagram. I look at people like Yasmin Sewell and Leandra Medine from the Man Repeller, as well as the countless models that have really cool street style, for inspiration all the time.

The thing about Instagram and fashion is that is has absolutely taken down the sense of the velvet rope and has pulled the curtain aside on the entire experience that used to be for a select 100 people in the world. Now it is there for millions of people to consume.

I finish off my manicure with Dior's Gel Coat, which has a thicker consistency than most top coats. It dries quickly and leaves your nails really shiny.

I use pure acetone Nail Polish Remover from Nails Inc. to really strip the nail. It's actually important to dehydrate your nail a little bit to get rid of all of the oil before you put color on; then the color will really stick. Then, I use OPI Bond Aid. It's a liquid dehydrator that you paint onto each nail.