Tiffany TseBy Zain Shauk

Life is a fashion show for Tiffany Tse.

The 25-year-old writer for Glendale-based tween magazines BOP and Tiger Beat has long been a fan of colorful accessories and quirky apparel, putting together unique ensembles on a daily basis.

But she recently burst into the spotlight for her personal blog, Style Sophisticate, where she regularly posts images of her fashion creations, sometimes calling them “geek chic” or “sporty and sophisticated.”

Tse, a Glendale resident, was the only Los Angeles-area writer to be chosen as one of eight finalists on America’s Most Stylish Blogger, a contest by AOL-owned Stylist.com and online store Bluefly.com.

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ZAIN SHAUK: You’re kind of part fashion guru, part entertainment writer, part blogger. How does this work?

TIFFANY TSE: I always just say I work in entertainment media by day and blog about fashion by night, because we’re definitely more entertainment- and celebrity-focused at work, but at night when I go home, that’s when I blog about fashion, and on the weekend is when I take my outfit pictures.

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Q: How did you get into fashion blogging?

A: I started the blog in 2007, and I remember I had just come back from teaching English in Japan and I was starting my writing career. A writer’s salary is very low, and I was a freelancer, so I liked clothes and I wanted to started blogging about all the cool clothes I wanted but couldn’t afford on my freelance writer’s salary. So that’s what I was doing, and about a year ago is when I started posting my outfits, and that got a much better response from bloggers because it’s actually showing my personal style and what I wear instead of, “Oh, this is a cute purse.”

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Q: What is your personal style?

A: That’s such a hard question! Everybody asks me that. I would say it’s very fun and young and a little bit irreverent and risky and evolving. Constantly evolving.

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Q: What is it that made you so fascinated with fashion?

A: When I was growing up, my mom owned a boutique, and she’s always been really, really into fashion. She’s my role model. She’s always dressed really well, and she’s always kind of taught me and my sister that what you wear does matter. Not that you have to wear something that’s expensive or designer necessarily, but it just makes a good first impression, and it’s a way of expressing yourself.

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Q: Do you always try to be fashionable?

A: Yeah, I mean, it’s just a natural thing for me. I know some people, they just don’t care as much, and they’ll just wake up and they’ll just put on anything. But for me —

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Q: That’s not you.

A: That’s not me! I do care! And I do put thought into what I wear.

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Q: So how much thought goes into your daily outfit?

A: I mean, it’s not like a life-or-death thing for me if I can’t wear like the perfect outfit, but I do go through two or three changes in the morning, especially if it’s for a special occasion, like a party or something.

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Q: How many followers or regular readers do you have?

A: I’m really bad about the Web-technology side of it, and I need to get better. I’m not really good at trying to market my blog and trying to get more followers. I’m trying to right now actually. I have, officially, about 90 followers [or subscribers], but I know there’s a lot of different people who leave comments on my blog who don’t necessarily “follow” it.

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Q: Do you ever just feel like, “Hey, today I’m just going to wear sweat pants and a T-shirt and just hang around at home?”

A: No, not really. I’m just not that type of person. But I mean, I totally see why other people would love to hang out in sweat pants and stuff. But for me, maybe the most casual outfit would be like skinny jeans and like a cute sweater. But it’s comfortable for me!