Sisters Luisa and Fernanda Cameron casually flipped through magazines last summer when they realized that few of them were for their age group—the only prominent magazines for young fashion enthusiasts are “Teen Vogue,” “Cosmo Girl,” and “Seventeen.”
Recognizing an opportunity to combine her love of graphic design and style, Luisa, a Laguna Blanca seventh grader, asked her sister, “Why don’t we make an online fashion magazine?”
Fernanda, a fifth-grader at Montecito Union School who shares her sister’s creative interests, readily agreed to collaborate on the project.
The young duo worked on the magazine throughout summer, and they published their first issue of SiS in August 201o.
What started as a hobby has since taken off as a successful and impressive online publication—with more readers and advertisers than the girls could have imagined.
The Cameron sisters recently released their third issue of SiS—a 50 page pdf with beautiful photography, well-written stories, and several ads by well known companies.
The magazine has developed from its strictly fashion beginnings to include topics such as art, cooking, travel, and gardening.
From its recipe for “Black Pepper Tofu to the “Winter Look” piece that features items such as a cashmere J. Crew sweater and earmuffs from Barneys, “SiS” offers something for readers of all ages.
The latest issue also includes an interview with acclaimed artist Charles Fine and a series of photographs of his work.
The sisters’ talents range far beyond graphic design, photography, and writing, however.
Luisa plays for Laguna Blanca’s basketball team, creates stop-motion animation films, plays the piano, takes private French lessons, and maintains high grades.
Fernanda, better known as Fanny by her friends and family, is pursuing piano and French like her sister in addition to her regular singing and horseback riding lessons. “It can be a challenge to balance school with all of my other interests,” Luisa admits. “But while “SiS” is a lot of work, it’s also fun.”
Luisa already had experience with graphic design before the creation of “SiS,” but working on the magazine has allowed her to further hone her skills.
“In order to make every issue of “SiS” new and exciting, we are learning new things,” she says.
The sisters split up the responsibilities of running “SiS” nicely while maintaining their collaborative work style.
Luisa is the Editor-in-Chief and Graphic Designer of the magazine while Fanny works as the Assistant Editor and a model. They both work together as stylists and photographers. “Fernanda is very supportive and offers great ideas, but there are certainly the occasional sister-squabbles that we have, like fighting over who will take the pictures or who will model for the next photo shoot,” says Luisa of working alongside her little sister. Their parents, Kendall Conrad and David Cameron, have supported their daughters throughout the creation of “SiS”.
Creativity and a sense of style seem to run in the family as Ms. Conrad is a handbag designer, and Mr. Cameron is a fashion and commercial photographer. When asked about the future of “SiS”, Luisa said, “I hope that it will have a greater online circulation, and that more people will see it and realize that kids are capable of anything.”
Look for the next issue to launch in July. To read the latest issue of SiS visit www.jumpertailpress.com/sis_winter.pdf