YouTube Guilty Pleasures
Charlotte Bend and Freya Insoll recommend to us the Youtubers to keep our eyes on, however embarrassing they may find admitting
Sailing La Vagabonde:
Have you ever dreamed of escaping the rat race for an unconventional life in paradise? Imagined a peaceful existence, far away from the hustle and bustle of the traditional city? Well one Australian couple have done just that and thanks to their 350 episodes on Youtube, we can all gain an appreciation for a life at sea, through their channel.
Sailing La Vagabonde started up in 2014 as a means of documenting Riley’s and Elayna’s journey of learning to sail. Their original aim for the channel was purely to allow their family to be able to watch what they had been up to. But since then, they have created a livelihood with over 1.3 million subscribers on Youtube and a whopping 670 million followers on Instagram combined. This level of success stems from their honesty in videos – they don’t make everything seem perfect, they are candid about the ups and downs of life at sea, as the filming of videos is beautiful enough to capture the nuances of their everyday experience.
Using drone shots to capture pans of the ocean, close ups of their child Lenny laughing at waves and even underwater scenes of the couple’s snorkelling adventures, we truly gain an appreciation for their love of all things to do with the ocean. Every single one of their videos is unique yet remain connected as we follow along the couple’s journey alongside them. At no point do you feel intrusive as Elayna speaks directly at the camera as if you are friends that go back years.
Their impact reaches far beyond social media as they recently hosted Greta Thunberg aboard their 15 metre catamaran. Whilst their videos still remain accessible to everyone, whether you see yourself as a keen sailor, or as someone who just looks forward to weekly episodes of escapism where you can catch a glance of a life that differs to your own – Charlotte Bend
ALEXACHUNG:
YouTube, the rabbit hole down which every student inevitably falls during their stress filled twilight hours. Over the past three years, University has afforded me the opportunity to really explore the breadth of YouTube; it’s permitted the delights of Say Yes to the Dress, Vogue’s ‘What’s in the Bag?’ and ultimately, the depths of Architectural Digest online (who doesn’t want to peek at the inside of Liv Tyler’s dreamy West Village mansion?). However, after such a period of refining, I have finally chanced upon my favourite YouTube channel of all time – Alexa Chung’s.
Anyone with an interest in fashion will be more than familiar with Chung’s name; as the It girl of British fashion, a muse to the biggest fashion houses and now the design brains behind her eponymous fashion brand ‘Alexa Chung’, she has well and truly earned her reputation as fashion’s greatest connoisseur. Having built up an A* reputation for fashion know-how, she has finally deigned to bestow us fashion enthusiasts with the fruits of her knowledge through the medium of her own YouTube channel. She creates a variety of content for the channel, having posted jovial challenge videos in which she races to put together 12 (outrageously covetable) looks in as few minutes, hair tutorials ranging from androgynous styling to classic 60’s beehives and even a love-it or hate-it ASMR clip.
A personal favourite from her YouTube offerings is the much loved ‘franglais’ series, in which Alexa meets with various French fashion icons in order to learn how to live a more French and suitably chic existence. In the first episode she meets queen of stylish seduction, Josephine de la Baume, in order to gauge the correct level of sexiness required of a daily pair of pants – unfortunately not Alexa’s relatable usual choice of a multipack of cotton grannypants. She also begins upon the journey of learning to argue like a Frenchwoman, apparently done with a level of dramatic finesse unattainable to your average Brit. Her more informative videos are also worthy of joining any fashion fans to-watch list; Alexa’s recent trip to the Dior Ateliers in Paris provides an otherwise unavailable insight into the daily workings of an haute couture legend, providing many surprising revelations and joy inducing facts.
If you love Alexa Chung, adore fashion and have a few minutes on your hands, it would be wholly advisable to get involved with her channel. If I can get my boyfriend hooked enough to voluntarily watch her videos with me, then it shouldn’t be too much of a stretch for you – Freya Insoll
Header image: Photo by Adrian Dascal on Unsplash
Videos from Sailing La Vagabonde and ALEXACHUNG
