Less is More For Brittany Bathgate, The Maximization of Detail
photo: @brittanybathgate
by Elena Chen
A couple of months ago, as a rather active consumer of Youtube content, I came across a vlogger/”influencer” by the name of Brittany Bathgate. She specializes in slow, long-form content and previous to starting her Youtube channel had already built an audience on Instagram. It was by chance that I came across her content and now I’ve been completely won over.
The thought to composition in framing her shots, the selective use of music when it is occasionally added, and the understated but fascinating thought process over her outfit choices are the three main factors that make up my newfound appreciation of her work. Her content on Youtube can be broadly categorized into several themes: Fashion & Style, Lifestyle, and Travel. I watch and follow her content for all the themes and all the excluded ones and all those to come and all those that cannot be neatly thematized. Above all, it is the candor seemingly woven into every scene of her videos which moves me. As she discusses recent reads, new perfume purchases, most-worn outfits and furniture updates, what is most inspiring is how effortlessly it seems her sense of aesthetic appears in so many parts of her life. It moves me to want to integrate that sort of approach to my life and to have such attention paid to living with such beauty.
In her “Job History Chat” video on Youtube, Bathgate runs us through the sequence of career beginnings and transitions that eventually lead her to working on social media full-time. Starting off as a sales associate at Zara, she later got a position at House of Fraser and worked up to manager role in the menswear section of Ralph Lauren. After a few years in Australia, she returned to House of Fraser and began working in Visual Merchandising. This job graduated into another Visual Merchandising position at The White Company, and finally transitioned into a full-time position as an “influencer”. Bathgate had built up an audience on Instagram since 2014, upon returning to England after Australia by posting images of her outfits. Her audience grew and she started blogging in 2016. In 2018, she took the leap and left her job at The White Company to work as content creator full-time.
Her style in fashion and content creation has evolved over the years. On her Instagram feed, images of her somber and minimalist style are interspersed with images of waves, flowers, and architecture. What is evident is her ability to make simple visuals impactful. Most posts feature clean and neutral backgrounds. Her most widely used props are light and its respective shadows. Many photos are dim, almost dark, and yet it only highlights what details are most glaringly elegant.
[posts via 2016]
For me, her long-form video content on Youtube is what really fascinates me. I am often crocheting or knitting, and I am often playing one of her videos as I work. They are typically between 30-45 minutes in length and showcase beautifully styled outfits alongside travel destinations, book recommendations, matcha beverage habits and fashion shenanigans.
Her series, “Wardrobe Review”, has been such an insight into how she eyes up details that make up a fashion item or garment. Her “What I Would Wear” series is a personal favorite and really changed my perspective on how minimalist style can be daring and bold. It is in her videos that her thought process of styling is explained and we see how the choice between silver or gold jewelry, the right shade of blue, and the stitching on coats make a difference to an outfit because they all make a difference to her.
Fashion is powerfully communicative and it is clear that Bathgate is in her own right a master of how the devil in the details can complete or disorient an expression of identity through fabric. This is the part of styling that makes it a craft. What is perfectly exemplified through Bathgate’s style, in both fashion and content, is that less really is more.
I see the minimalist aesthetic differently now. I hope that I have given you some motivation to venture in this world and into the work of Brittany Bathgate.
