"What would Eva Chen do next?" was the question many in the fashion industry asked when Chen, Lucky magazine's editor-in-chief resigned from her post earlier this year.
Now we know: Chen is joining Instagram at the end of July as its head of fashion partnerships, officially extending the social media platform's reach to designers and brands -- many of which she already identifies in a popular stream of Instagrams of shoes, handbags and facial-care products. Chen, who has 390,000 Instagram followers, is expected to start at the end of July in the New York office, "joining a very lean team."
Beyond excited to announce that I'll be joining the brilliant team at Instagram as head of fashion partnerships! (Today being #worldemojiday is the best coincidence, yes! ) A photo posted by Eva Chen (@evachen212) on Jul 17, 2015 at 7:00am PDT
The self-admitted "unofficial ambassador of Instagram," used Instagram to confirm her departure from Lucky.
By appointing Chen to spearhead fashion partnerships, Instagram wants to embrace the multi-billion-dollar fashion industry. Models and fashion designers are active on the visual platform, offering quick, friendly looks into their daily lives and offering behind-the-scenes views at fashion shows. Already, the social media platform has become the go-to source for those in fashion, where everyone from designers, stylists, to celebrities have used it to curate their own editorial voices and eyes for style.
"Whenever I see friends at brunch or for a dinner I'm providing unofficial tutorials on best practices and how to make their feeds more interesting," she said.
Her role at Instagram will not involve editorial, a huge departure for Chen, whose resume includes stints at Teen Vogue and Elle, before being scooped up by Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour to run Lucky.
"It's a new position and a natural next move for me," Chen told Mashable. "I'll be working closely with stylists, designers, up-and-comers with fun activations and finding new ways to tell fashion stories."
"This is not an editorial role, but having an editorial eye and ability to curate will be an important one," she added. "It's a partnerships role, but it's not unlike my role as an editor. At the heart of it, it's the love of fashion, brands, stylists and influencers and finding their stories."