Elle Ferguson is presenting at the Style Under The Stars event at Karrinyup. Styling Teagan Sewell. Dress: Aje. Necklace and anklet: Sportsgirl. Bangle: Seed. All from Karrinyup Shopping Centre
Camera IconElle Ferguson is presenting at the Style Under The Stars event at Karrinyup. Styling Teagan Sewell. Dress: Aje. Necklace and anklet: Sportsgirl. Bangle: Seed. All from Karrinyup Shopping Centre Credit: Simon Upton

Mega Australian influencer Elle Ferguson focused on more than just collecting likes

Damien WoolnoughPerthNow
Elle Ferguson. Source: @elle_ferguson/Instagram
Camera IconElle Ferguson. Source: @elle_ferguson/Instagram Credit: Supplied

When the free dresses started to arrive from labels eager to capitalise on the skyrocketing success of Elle Ferguson’s first blog, a friend offered some timely advice.

“‘Free dresses won’t pay the rent’ was what I was told,” Ferguson, 33, tells STM. “It has stuck with me and now I say it to myself at least once a week.”

Ferguson’s appeal to her more than 676,000 followers is easily apparent, with legs that stretch longer than Port Beach, wavy blonde hair and a relaxed style, honed working as a visual merchandiser for One Teaspoon, General Pants and Seafolly.

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Unlike the legion of Insta-models flooding social media feeds, however, Ferguson never sought a filtered version of fame.

While working for General Pants 11 years ago Ferguson would send a daily email to her work contact list featuring fashion inspirations, which quickly evolved into the blog They All Hate Us.

“When I worked on the blog with Tash Sefton there were really no blogs in the Australian space and it took off quite quickly,” Ferguson says. “But I could also see the opportunities and decided that instead of saying ‘no’ to what came along I would just say ‘yes’.”

Elle and her partner Joel Patfull at the Melbourne Cup.
Camera IconElle and her partner Joel Patfull at the Melbourne Cup. Credit: Supplied

Rather than use the venture to fill her already crammed wardrobe, the blog led to collaborations with beauty giant Schwarzkopf, Bose, Victoria’s Secret and influential US retailer Intermix. Even with the blog’s growing fame, Ferguson decided to take a job at Seafolly before striking out on her own.

“I’m a cautious person and I was on a good wage at Seafolly,” she says. “I wasn’t going to leave work unless I could make what I did in my job. When Instagram came along the growth was impossible to ignore and I eventually went full-time about four years ago.”

Now flying solo, Ferguson has moved beyond collaborations to launching her own tanning range Elle Effect and hosting launches, such as the opening of Karrinyup Shopping Centre’s Fashion Loop and H&M store on Thursday. The title influencer no longer seems to cut it.

“When I’m travelling to the US for work I put entrepreneur in the job section,” Ferguson says. “I don’t mind the term influencer and I feel privileged to have a platform and share things that are close to my heart. But I am also a female founder of Elle Effect and living the job every day. There are quite a few sacrifices made along the way.”

The sacrifices are hard to spot on Ferguson’s social media feed as she smiles alongside her equally photogenic partner, former footballer Joel Patfull, at the Melbourne Cup, models her collection for Billabong and uses Bondi Beach as her personal runway.

Elle Ferguson. Source: @elle_ferguson/Instagram
Camera IconElle Ferguson. Source: @elle_ferguson/Instagram Credit: Supplied

“I get that it looks amazing,” Ferguson says. “But there is no off button. There’s the 30 hours of travel to get to a shoot and all of the expenses along the way. I recently said to Joel that in four years we have not taken a trip that wasn’t work-related.”

Those trips mean more social media likes, which means more work and even the recent changes on Instagram removing the number of likes from a post in the interests of mental health has failed to pause the growth of Ferguson’s personal brand.

“Strangely I have had my likes more than double for posts,” she says. “I think people might feel more comfortable engaging now. I have always tried to create a safe and positive place for people. If someone makes a nasty comment I will delete it and not give it another thought.”

The nasty comments can happen in the real world as well. When Ferguson grew tired of making other brands bigger for a mere talent fee she self-funded the launch of Elle Effect. Finding a chemist to work with was a challenge.

“I had to go to California because Australian chemists wouldn’t even meet with me,” she says. “Now that it ships internationally they are all happy to meet me. You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.” Or an Instagram account.