Katie Cassidy and Tomboy KC Katie Chats about Blogging, Why she hates fringe, and her love of Kitties

Recently on a chilly fall night here in New York I had the pleasure of sitting down with Katie Cassidy who took time out her super busy schedule to chat with me. Many of you know that she is an actress and is currently staring in the CW hit Arrow, and that she has also had recurring roles on Impastor, The Flash, Gossip Girl, Melrose Place, as well starring in movies like When a Stranger Calls, Click, Walk the Talk and Taken among others. And you probably also know she is the daughter of pop star and actor David Cassidy and model Sherry Williams. But what you probably don’t know is, that she also has a blog.

Her blog is called Tomboy KC and she founded it with her friend Lindsay. I am very impressed with her blog, much like some of my  other favorite blogs Garance Dore and The Every Girl, it is a blog that is about more then the look of the day. It is a well rounded source of information for women by women, and covers everything from fashion and beauty to travel and career. Plus it is super cool looking.

And Katie Cassidy is not just another pretty face. But an interesting, talented, resourceful, introspective person full of ideas who is happy to share them with her fans. Plus she loves cats, so I have to love her. So please, grab a cup of coffee, pull up a seat and read on…

With a full-time acting career your plate seems pretty full what inspired you to start a blog with your friend Lindsay? And I love the tagline in your manifesto “We believe a style blog should be more then a place to brag”

Thank you very much. Honestly Lindsay and I have always bonded over fashion, it is just something that we love. She use to have her own blog and one day she’s like, you know what? We should start a blog together. And I was like OK. And basically we are doing what we did then, we are just writing it down now.

Allie: I love the design too, it looks great. And I like that you feature different people and topics. Kind of like a really cool online magazine.

Katie: And that is one of my favorite things that we do too, I love profiling different people. I just think it’s cool and it is not necessarily anyone who is in the public eye. It could be anyone, and if we dig their style or we think they’re cool or interesting we will ask them, can we profile you? And usually people are really excited to do it. So yeah it has been really fun.

Allie: Yes I find that to be the case too, that is what I aim to do with my blog eventually. I am not only into appearing on my blog in outfits. I do some of that, but it is not predominately what I like to do. I think it is more interesting meeting other people and writing about them or fashion.

Katie: Yeah I totally agree with you, it has always been this on-going joke, because you know I would love for it to be a place where all we do is feature other people. The What Katie Wore section is not necessarily my favorite, but Lindsay likes it, and I understand from a business perspective where she is coming from. And a lot of people want to see what she and I are wearing, what we are doing, and you have to sort of know who your readers are, and it is just a lot of fun. So yeah.

What do you find the most rewarding about blogging and conversely the most challenging?

Katie: Honestly, rewarding I guess is having other people interested, and hearing how many other people like it, read it, identify with it and just being real and being up, and being ourselves and other people liking that, and having a place where people can sort of be themselves and not really care what other people think, and just sort of do your thing.

And I think it is challenging, well for us we are out of different locations, Lindsay is in Texas and I am in Vancouver shooting the show and I think that is the most challenging part. Creatively I’ll have ideas and she and I will get on the phone, brainstorm, talk and stuff like that, which is what we do anyway because she is one of my best friends. You know it is hard being in a different location, and I wish I was there more, so I could focus more on it.

Allie: Yeah blogging is a time consuming endeveour for sure and I have full time job too, and once you make that commitment if you want it to succeed you have to stick to it.

Katie: Yeah it is a lot, and I have to say, if it weren’t for Lindsay I don’t think I would be able to handle it by myself. Because being an actor I can not do it daily.

Allie: Oh yes being an actor that is even more intense, it is not a 9-5 schedule.

Katie: Yeah and we are a night show too, so a lot of times we will shoot nights, so my schedule’s flipped. Lindsay is my saving grace, I love her dearly.

Did you ever consider a career in fashion? Or did you always know you wanted to work in the performing arts?

Katie: I have always wanted to work in the performing arts, but having said that, I have always wanted to get involved in fashion and eventually maybe one day design. I think that is just a part of being creative and goes hand in hand with the performing arts as well. That whole idea of creating and designing and sort of putting your own touch on to something. Yeah, I definitely have always wanted to do that.

And on that note, what do you think it is about fashion and style that we as women are so attracted to?

Katie: I think that it is a reflection of who you are as a person. I mean this is my opinion, but you know what you wear is your personal style, and we say this on our manifesto page. Your personal style is just that—personal. It is another way of expressing yourself and I feel that as women this is important to us. As creatures as human beings, I think that we just find another way, or at least for me, another outlet and go with it.

Every little detail, but when I put on the wardrobe that’s part of the transformation. Clothing yes, is all about transformation and it plays a huge part in what I do.

Allie: Yeah I definitely agree, and transformation and the sense of transformation.

Katie: Oh yeah absolutely, I was justing saying this, I had an interview earlier with wardrobe, and clothing is a huge part of what I do as an actor. When I’m playing a character, having to know the character so well, to know exactly how they would dress, down to the underwear. The film I am doing now I was like I need to be in boxers, boxer briefs and they need to be white. Every little detail, but when I put on the wardrobe that’s part of the transformation. Clothing yes, is all about transformation and it plays a huge part in what I do.

I know you have a bit of a tomboy style and may not follow trends, but what is your favorite trend at the moment and is there a trend you could live with out?

Katie: I can not stand fringe, well actually I take that back. Lindsay loves it, and she tried to get me to wear it and I am just not into it. But then I did get this really cool Zac Posen cross body with fringe. Fringe when it comes to accessories I am cool with. And I actually love this cross body, it’s beautiful.

And then trends that I love…well I recently just wore it in New York at NYFW. It was literally this brown pajama, the pajama look, which is awesome cause I’m like great, I am comfortable and this is also so chic.

Allie: Yeah, and flats and the pajamas. And I like the trend of things becoming more non body con, and flats, so woman do not always have to be in heels and body con outfits. Because that is not for everybody all the time.

Katie: Yeah I always run arounds in sneakers and baggy jeans. But you need to know how to mix it up. Sometimes you can wear a pair of pumps with baggy jeans, it just depends on how you do it.

And finally how did you get involved with Hot To Adopt?

Katie: Well I love love cats, and animals in general, love them. And then I heard that there were over three million cats in shelters across The States and that was just so sad to me, and I have a cat of my own and it just kind of broke my heart. And I told my manger I wanted to get involved and she reached out, and it just sort of organically happened. And I feel like cats are all the rage these days. I have a clutch that I just got with a cat face on it, and I have this Stella McCartney kind of like bomber jacket, but the print has cats all over it, I love it.

Allie: Yeah I think that is the goal of Hot To Adopt, to dispel the crazy cat lady stereotype and show that it can be chic and cool to like cats.

Katie: Yeah I know it is terrible that there is this crazy cat lady stereotype associated with it. We’re smarter then that. It’s like come on, modern day, lets not stereotype, they’re cats. They’re so sweet and yeah so it just kind of organically happened.

We chatted a bit more about how cute the cats were at the event, and how I had my eye on Emilio. And then Katie was off to her waiting car, to whisk her off to set, to spend the rest of the night shooting. Yep Katie is one busy, chic cat loving young woman. Thank you Katie!

And guys be sure to check out TomboyKC, trust me you will love it!

Images via TomboyKC, photography by Sukiylynn, Michael Stewart and Stephen Bimson