Annamarie Ricci from Miami fashion blogger to magazine editor

Annamarie Ricci I’m feeling quite nostalgic today. Nothing like surviving a near death experience. Last week, I had a flare up of asthma. This was one of the worst ever. The flare up was brought on by a cold which developed into bronchitis. So at about 5:30 am, I woke up and couldn’t breathe. My rescue medications weren’t working. Within minutes I went into Status Asthmaticus which is the most severe and often deadly form of an asthma attack. The paramedics were summoned to my home as I was starting to turn colors and lose consciousness. A lot goes thru your mind when you really believe these are your last minutes on earth. True that I feel like I went a few rounds in the ring, but that is a small price to pay. Since this terrifying incident, I have been looking back on my life. I’m grateful for what I have accomplished and for what I will accomplish in the time that God should see fit to give me.
Like I said in a previous post, the scope of my blog is different from the other top fashion blogs in Miami and south Florida. Despite the claim on the internet that Miami only has 26 fashion bloggers lol, Miami actually has more than 26. Miami has so many more diverse and unique fashion perspectives than this. Perhaps these 26 are twenty-somethings and that would come as no surprise to me. The majority of fashion bloggers are teenagers or in their 20’s. It’s easy to look hella good when you’re in you’re twenties. Frankly, there is no excuse not to. Looking great when you get a bit older takes savvy. ..or maybe it takes spackle… When you’re young, everything is in the right place, and you can get away with wearing the most garish shades of eyeshadow. Can’t do that after 30 + That great foundation that you have been using for years, suddenly isn’t your friend. That’s why I am here and that is why I created this blog. I have been a fashion and style blogger for the past 8 years here in Miami and south Florida and that experience has landed me the position of editor in chief of Tropic Style Magazine. Everybody who writes for the magazine is older, affluent, creative, chic, animal worshippers, well educated and well traveled and just all around a great bunch of folks.
Miami isn’t going through any sort of fashion metamorphosis. It has always been a fashion capital of the United States. Modeling agents have known this for decades. Fashion models have always been tailored to the specific markets: LA, New York City, Chicago and Miami. Obviously different looks to appeal to the different markets but Miami has always been a major market. All that has really changed is that the fashion industry has embraced the blogger. In the past, blogs were not considered reputable but designers and manufacturers finally figured out that fashion bloggers have a lot of influence on consumers. And it is wonderful to see that so many varied opinions have gained respect.
I started out as a child model and actress in Illinois. I modeled throughout my life, through college. I attended a professional modeling school. I learned professional make up artistry there and landed a job as a make up artist for Revlon. Unfortunately, it was then that I discovered that I am terribly allergic to certain cosmetics and perfumes and I was forced to quit my dream job after being diagnosed with a chemical form of pneumonia and asthma. So I flew out to Las Vegas with the support of the wonderful Italian family that I lived with while attending college. I stayed in Vegas for several weeks which was the perfect climate to recover from my illness. But the asthma never went away.
Going back to my early modeling experiences, I recently found that someone uploaded a television commercial for P.G Berland’s Paint and Wallpaper City on YouTube. Unfortunately, the commercial they uploaded is the one that shows still photos of their products. The ones that I was in, featured a male comedic actor wearing a suit. He was portraying Al Berland, one of the founders . It was Al and Fred who owned that company. Fred died in 1988 and Al died of cancer in 1994. The actor said “we won’t be undersold. We sell cheap!” and the director told us all to stop and listen when we heard the word “cheap.” This was an all day filming. I was very, very young at the time and so I was right in back of the actor, standing to his left. There were several extras who would portray my father and we were shopping in the store. The commercials were all filmed at their store, at Six Corners in Chicago, during business hours. A section of the store was roped off for the filming so we had one whole isle. Both Al and Fred were in the background pretending to be shoppers. The bloopers were hilarious. We were just instructed by the director to drop whatever we were doing when the actor said “we sell cheap!” I believe it was Fred Berland who was carrying a gallon of paint in each hand and on cue, he dropped those cans on the floor. They made such a ruckus when they hit the tiled floor that everybody including the actor, turned around and looked back to see what happened. Those rogue paint cans rolled across the floor and knocked over the lights and the microphones all came crashing down. I sure wish that I could find a copy of that! My mother worked for this famous Chicago store which lead to her starting her own interior decorating business and that’s what she did up until her death. I lost my mother very early on in life as she died tragically from heart disease and brain cancer. The Berland brothers were truly pioneers. They set the standard for which all other home improvement stores follow today. (Say, FTC, does a paid endorsement from the 80's still apply if the store has long since been closed? Just checking. I sure wouldn't want to be in violation of your disclosure laws-my God how times have changed.) But I digress...often.
My life has been one heck of a ride so far. I have traveled around the world and had the opportunity to know some very famous people like Madonna, The Beach Boys, the Osmonds, Ky-Mani Marley, Lou Gramm and the guys from Foreigner just to name a few. I’ve hung out at some legendary places like the Versace mansion. That’s all quite an accomplishment from a little girl who grew up in a military family of humble means.
These days I teach the young girls how to be fashion models. I teach them everything from how to put together a compelling portfolio, what to carry in your model’s bag, how to develop their own public image and style, how to approach agents, how to develop charisma on the runway. I’ve been doing this privately for a many years and now the time has come to consider opening a public model’s workshop. But, in all honesty, I enjoy working with people one on one. So, even if you don’t really want to become a professional model, or at least decide that you don’t want to pursue it, you still come away with looking like a professional model. And you’re going to learn some of this here on my blog, especially how to develop personal style, what to wear, what to purchase, where to purchase . I could write all day long about my passion for modeling and personal style lol so I hope that you will bookmark my blogs and Tropic Style Magazine.