Pasta is fashion; fashion is pasta.

Earlier this week, Columbia alum Phillip von Borries spoke about his popular website Refinery29, which covers fashion, news, health, entertainment and more. Fashion and Pasta Enthusiast Christina Clark reports.

On Wednesday I went to the fifth floor of Lerner to hear a talk by Phillip von Borries, co-founder of the popular fashion and lifestyle website Refinery29. The talk got off to about a half hour late start, but there was free pasta, so everyone stayed civil. Von Borries opened by referencing his time at Columbia as a GS student and how happy he was to see neighborhood standbys like Absolute Bagels and Koronet’s still in operation. He proceeded to glide through a powerpoint presentation illustrating the company’s story.

After graduating Columbia, von Borries planned to have a career in academia and spent time in Washington D.C. on work related to international affairs. However, he claimed that a part of him was always driven to start something, and he remained connected to friends in the creative world in New York. He eventually moved back to Brooklyn and began to work on a project to support independent designers and boutiques. With his partner Justin Stefano, he used $5000 to launch a website that mapped the best independent shopping destinations in New York. They soon built a following, and to lure people to come to the site regularly they began to add original content. Von Borries cited this move as a major turning point for Refinery29, stating, “content was our currency.”

The site, and its following, grew until it assumed its modern form as the most popular web destination for fashion and lifestyle content. It’s still experiencing massive growth, and Von Borries told us that Refinery29’s premier ambition is to become, “the most important global media brand for millennial women.” Though Refinery29 is determined to dominate the mainstream, von Borries repeatedly stated that the heart of the site was about fostering an independent way of thinking. On Refinery29, he said, “You’ll read an article about braiding your hair followed by an article about Chelsea Clinton followed by an article about the women of ISIS.” He next launched into an explanation of Refinery29’s strategy behind content. Different days merit different emphases, such as Saturdays starting the weekend with light fashion and beauty features and Sunday nights closing it with a focus on news and entertainment articles. There is also a huge emphasis on visuals, and artists often redesign stock images before using them in articles. The strategic use of content and attention to details has helped the site reach over 10 million regular monthly visitors.

At the end of the PowerPoint, a Q&A began. One audience member asked about the evolution of Refinery29’s business model, and von Borries explained that the company had transitioned from ecommerce to native advertising, which is far more lucrative. He told the story of one of their first major deals, when he went to J. Crew and offered to collaborate for a story on J. Crew, rather than merely posting banner ads and other media that is often ignored. Native advertising was rarely practiced at the time, and Refinery29’s method was extremely successful. Today, von Borries said about 10% of the content on the site was sponsored, and clearly marked as such.

Overall, von Borries was polished, engaging, and told an impressive story. Though I had been expecting more information about working in the world of fashion and entertainment, his talk was an interesting peek behind the curtain of web publishing and a Millennial-driven company.

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