There's something about Nadia Fairfax…

Is it too cliché to call Nadia Fairfax a “pocket rocket”? Perhaps, but there’s just no better words to describe this pint-sized ball of fire. In a world that can sometimes take itself a little seriously, Nadia breezed in with a cheeky attitude that has had the fashion industry completely charmed.

And while she’s quick to downplay the term “blogger”, it was funnily enough on E!’s reality television series Fashion Bloggers where Nadia first began making a major splash on the style scene. Now, she divides her time between New York and Sydney, working on her online portal Fairfax Journal as well as creating branded content (and dabbling in design, more of that later…)

Catching her the evening before recently flying out from Australia, we spoke to Nadia about her current career moves, Aperol Spritz as meditation, and why we may see a return of Fashion Bloggers.

Talk me through life now. What are you up to?
I just got back to Sydney last week, now I’m going to Washington tomorrow – so that’s just a little example! Life is great. Sydney is still my home, but I’m spending a lot of time in New York because I have a love that is there. He is Aussie and works for ESPN, so I’m there a lot. But I do prefer to be here [in Australia]. The more you’re away, the more you fall in love with home. The plan is to come back full-time in the next two years, fingers crossed.

When you’re overseas, are you working on your blog full-time?
I think it’s funny because I don’t know if I can really call myself a blogger – I think you have to upload to your blog really often, almost every day, and you have to be giving people advice on what they wear [to be a blogger], and I hate that. I never want to give anybody advice or tell them how to wear something. If I want to put an outfit together and I like the way it looks and someone emulates it, that’s great – but I don’t want to say “wear a blazer this way or wear it that way” because I think that’s how we’re going to lose that sense of style and freedom that people had in the 80s and 90s. Now it’s becoming so dull… I think it’s really nice to let people make their own choices. You can style the way you like and people appreciate that and that’s great.

So what do you call yourself?!
I don’t know! When I’m asked what my job title is, I say “personality”. I’ve done some TV… I would like to do some design stuff moving forward… I wouldn’t mind trying my hand at acting… you just don’t really know. I don’t really like to put my hand up and say I’m just one thing, we’ll just see what happens.

That’s exciting about maybe moving into design. You’ve done a lot with fashion, and not just to do with the blog…
Yeah, I was the brand manager for a few brands. I worked for a long time with Aje, which I feel like I did so much with – and now it’s become such a big powerhouse, I love that I was a part of the beginning of that brand. When I started it was just Adrian [Norris, Aje co-founder], Eddy [Robinson, Aje co-founder] and I, and I was there for years, so it’s really quite special. And I did really enjoy that part of fashion and working on the other side – I think it’s brought a different element to what I do now, you see fashion from a different perspective. You’re not just seeing it as the creative, you’re seeing it as the client – and I think that’s really nice.

I think it’s sometimes an advantage to have that business head. Sometimes when you come into content creation without that, there’s a piece missing…
Just having an understanding of the designers [is advantageous]. You’re not coming into it in a nasty way or being too big for your boots, you really understand what the designer needs and why they need it and why they’re asking you to do specific things.

I know you’re going to say every day is different, but can you talk me through just a typical run-of-the-mill day in your life?
It is pretty different every day, but there is a lot of computer time, which I don’t think people realise… There’s a lot of admin that goes into what you do – typing emails… boring! But I’m trying to shoot as much as I can and trying to be social and just enjoy life. I’m not a big exerciser, so my pace to relax is having an Aperol Spritz just before dinner. That’s my mediation!

Do you shoot every day?
No, I don’t shoot every day… actually sometimes I do if there’s a lot of jobs! I have a beautiful team in Sydney that I work with. I don’t really like to shoot with anybody in the US because this [the Sydney team] is my family, these are all the people I’ve worked with for so long, and I love them – from makeup artists to studio owners. So I come home and do block work and just roll it out while I’m overseas. And I have to also obey the laws in the US and not work over there! I think it’s nice too, because when I’m away I can really enjoy myself and have the luxury to travel the way that I do… But I do bust my bottom when I’m in Sydney. My poor friends and family.

When you’re in Sydney, are you contacting brands and doing all that admin side of things?
I have a really fabulous manager and she is doing most of that for me.

How many times are you coming back?
All the time, I’m coming back once every 6-8 weeks. So that’s a lot… my boyfriend is missing me terribly!

Something we have to ask… Are you still doing your gymnastics?
There’s a huge part of me that wants to go back and keep training. I can still flip around – like right now I feel like I could do a flip easily, pop these heels off and we’ll have a quick go! But I haven’t really started training properly hard and time is rolling pretty quickly. The Commonwealth Games are around the corner and then it’s the Olympics… so if that is something I want to do – I really have to start making a decision. I would like to go back. I was injured and that’s why I left the Institute of Sport – and that cut my career quite short. There’s something that you miss in performing, but we will see. I’ve found a different way of to perform now! But it is that competing and performance mentality that I miss most of all.

It seems like life is very fun though?
Oh my gosh, so fun – but I think that’s maybe me, not necessarily the job title! I think anywhere you can make fun and have fun – it’s just about being happy and merry and enjoying life. Don’t take anything too seriously! I have all these beautiful 18-year-old interns and everything is so serious for them and I’m like “guys please, calm down, have some fun, be happy and everything else will fall into place”. I’m the worst person to speak to if you have a young daughter and you’re a parent! It’s a different generation now… there’s so much pressure on young kids and I’m not about that.

Lastly, five years from now… What can we see you doing?
I always have trouble with this . I always say “having a baby” and my partner reads these and he’s like “what are you doing?!” I’m not even engaged yet! But in five years, I’d really love to be back home in Australia, it’s the best country in the world. In regards to work, there’s some design things in the works for me, so doing a bit more of that. I would like to do a bit more TV, whether that’s presenting or acting or another show like the documentary series on Fashion Bloggers…

I loved that show!
We will see if we can bring that back. But we’re all overseas all the time – so maybe we can get some new girls together and make it happen. I know so many people loved it. I would really like to do it again, I really enjoyed it… I think when you’re an open book, doing a show like that is quite easy – but it’s difficult for some people. But for me, I loved it!