The End of The Pretty Secrets

The End of Pretty Secrets

Not all ideas that we concoct in our twenties stand the test of time. While many sartorial choices I made in that era I can still stand by, the name of my former blog I cannot. After 14 years, I am really to say goodbye and announce the end of The Pretty Secrets. The truth is, I have disliked that name almost from the beginning. I began my blog with very little forethought in the era of nonsensical blog names. Titles such as The Blonde Salad and Fashion Toast were of the moment.  By the time I was second guessing my choices, it felt too late to reestablish another name. Classic sunk cost fallacy at play.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

At events people would often call bloggers, not by their actual names, but by their site names. Being introduced to new people was fraught with dread. Constant anxiety red-faced torturous embarrassment. (Did I mention I’m a highly sensitive person?) The worst was when someone would get the already awful name slightly wrong. I was left to decide whether or not I should even bother to correct them with the proper name as that might imply I thought it was a good enough name to correct in the first place. The Pretty Little Secrets variation came up a lot, thanks to the popular show (that began after my blog) Pretty Little Liars. Then in 2011, the name was used as a lingerie brand. To be fair, that makes a lot more sense than a blog that rarely featured things that would be considered “pretty.” Finally, the nail on the coffin last year was a suspense/romance novel called…. you guessed it… Pretty Secrets. Seriously though, you need to check out the epic art on the .

In Birmingham, England on uni exchange in 2009 when I started The Pretty Secrets

The Beginning of Sandy Joe

The last couple years I thought I was done blogging because nothing was pulling me to continue. Eventually in mid 2022 I realized that it wasn’t me, it was the site. (As well as the influencer industry as a whole – which I explain in Proof of Life.)  I had grown out of both the bland design and the name. So in October, I bought the new domain, Sandy Joe, and began my plot to move virtual house. It was time to rip it up and start again. This site has taken me nearly 5 months to create and build as I did most of it from scratch by myself. It turns out that if you have patience and are willing to watch a million videos + go deep into reddit forums, building a blog is totally possible. Though I will say the process was not without equal parts rage inducing issues and euphoric victories.

THE GREAT MIGRATION

My intentions are to move the majority of my old blog posts over here as I continue to resize photos (so the pages will load faster than before!) When I began blogging, none of it was done with foresight or intention. The entire site was haphazardly put together – I was simultaneously building the road as I was driving on it. Structurally, it was a big ol mess as you can imagine. I finally put the time into learning about seo/sitemap structuring in hopes of making this space MUCH EASIER to navigate and find the information people are looking for. With that said, there will probably be a few 404 not found pages until all the posts are up and live again. Thank you in advance for your future patience on that!

LOOKING BACKWARD WHILE MOVING FORWARD

I know the saying goes “don’t look back, you’re not going that way.” But in this case, I want to look back while moving forward despite the contradiction it creates. My youthful enthusiasm when I first began blogging is a place I’d like to return to. While this process has been daunting as hell, there was a silver lining. Sifting, archiving, and organizing all my old content made me feel inspired again. I was surprised at how much of it I still loved. Yet another good reminder that if you stay true to your own style and interests, your work will never feel cringey (to yourself at least!) I want to fuse my love of art, fashion, and history into this space that started as an escape from being abroad in art school. 

The End of Pretty Secrets

EARLY POSTS FROM THE PRETTY SECRETS

ORLEBAR POINT

photographs + sketchbooks + art – sandy joe karpetz