Eddie & Angelee
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For our inaugural Valentine's collection, we're thrilled to feature Eddie and Angelee Fortuna.
From their wildly popular style blog to their pioneering attitude towards Dallas' thriving Downtown environment, we couldn't think of a more fitting couple to feature for our first Valentine's release.
Read on to hear their thoughts on style, developing your own publication, Downtown Dallas' cultural resurgence, and more.
Matt Alexander: Before we dive in, tell us a little bit about yourselves.
Eddie & Angelee Fortuna:We’re just an old married couple living in the heart of Downtown Dallas. We’ve been married for four years, but we’ve been together since our college days at Texas Tech University.
Together, we run a fashion blog, HIS+HER which we first coined during our wedding planning process to graphically represent our union.
For the last three and a half years, we’ve enjoyed working with each other and other brands/individuals to develop and represent our personal styles.
Matt Alexander: How did you both stumble across the prospect of running a style-centric blog together? How has that impacted your relationship?
Angelee Fortuna:It actually began as an effort to develop my portfolio as a stylist.
I had previously worked on the Visual teams for two major retailers and wanted to continue down that path. When we started the blog, we actually focused on styling and photographing our friends. Coordinating schedules became difficult, however, so we figured: “why not style ourselves, and post that?”
Eddie Fortuna:Working together on the blog has somehow made us even closer as a couple than we already were.
We’ve been together for a long time — and have always had a lot of common interests — but to have something we both started and continue to build together has been really special.
Matt Alexander: You both have careers beyond your independent efforts. Do you see that changing in future? Or do you enjoy the blog (and the like) more as a side-project?
Eddie & Angelee Fortuna:Working on HIS+HER as a side/passion project has allowed the blog to be virtually all fun. Of course, running and maintaining the blog takes a lot of time and effort, but we really do (still) enjoy the excitement of the styling, photographing, and editing processes.
We’ve always been open to the idea of taking on the blog full-time, but thankfully, we are both really happy in our careers right now and are focused on growing in those realms too.
Matt Alexander: You’ve both worked with a lot of brands in the US and abroad. At the same time, you both seem to have cultivated a very fixed sense of style. Has that been a difficult tension between your personal style and those that you want to work with?
Eddie & Angelee Fortuna:Thankfully, because the blog is still just a side project, we have the ability to be selective with whom we collaborate.
We’re obviously grateful for anyone willing to expend their time and/or resources on us, but we try our best to remain true to our individual and collective style.
Not having to pay the bills with the blog definitely eliminates the pressure of compromising that.
Matt Alexander: You’ve chosen to live Downtown Dallas for the past few years. How has it changed in the time you’ve been there? And, as an extension of that, how do you expect it to continue to change over the coming years?
Eddie & Angelee Fortuna:When we first moved downtown, there was already a good foundation of residents, but the neighborhood has definitely grown (and continues to grow) during our time here.
We’ve seen the emergence of The Joule Hotel and all that has come with it (e.g., CBD Provisions, Midnight Rambler, Weekend Coffee, etc.) and the arrival of some exciting new neighbors (e.g., Forty Five Ten, Le Labo, etc.).
In the coming years, we hope to experience a continued growth of resident population and look forward to witnessing the redevelopment of some of the major downtown properties like The Statler and 1401 Elm.
We love living downtown and don’t plan on leaving anytime soon, but would love to see some of these major renovation projects come to fruition sooner than later.
Matt Alexander: As this is our Valentine’s special, what advice, as a happily married couple, would you provide to our audience ahead of the romantic day?
Angelee Fortuna:Make Valentine’s Day special in your own unique way. With so many other people celebrating the holiday on February 14 too, it can feel overwhelming or even forced.
For instance, Eddie and I celebrate our Valentine’s Day on January 4, because that was the date we first said “I love you” to each other. We both end up enjoying the holiday much more (it’s a lot easier to find a table at our favorite restaurants) and it feels more special with our own spin on it.
Eddie Fortuna:Valentine’s Day is all about love, and that’s great, but something that often goes unsaid and unacknowledged in relationships is how important it is to LIKE each other.
The majority of your time as a couple is spent during ordinary moments, so on top of the underlying love, it helps tremendously to actually get along with your significant other. I can’t tell you how many Friday nights out we’ve skipped and instead lied on the couch reminiscing to 90’s R&B songs!
--------You can follow Eddie and Angelee individually or together on Instagram. And don't forget to bookmark their blog.
