Since this was my first interview ever, I wanted to do it right! I dusted off my tape recorder (yes, I have one), got my pen (rollerball) and paper pad (yellow & lined) and watched some Diane Sawyer interviews online to get some tips and master the art of the thoughtful head nod without being spastic about it. I was now ready to do my research!

I got my copy of Like I Give a Frock, grabbed a bag of chips and dove into both the chips and the book which I quickly became enamored with. The illustrations are gorgeous and the accompanying quips are smart and funny. I fell in love with Michi!

I then wondered how would I interview a drawing? Would I be speaking to a blue screen? How do you hold a tape recorder up to someone who wasn’t there? Luckily I remembered the Wizard of Oz, you know, “man behind the curtain” thingie, except this was more like “peeps behind the curtain”… Michi is the creation of Chloe Quigley and Daniel Pollack and is illustrated by Kat Macleod. I got my questions ready, put fresh batteries in my tape recorder and was set for a very lovely afternoon with the authors of Like I Give a Frock.

Below is the supercute interview with the authors. Hope you like! Wanna win an autographed copy? Just leave a comment and you’ll be automatically entered to score one of two signed copies of the amazing book Like I Give a Frock! We’ll pick two peeps at random one week from today. In the meantime, don’t miss out on getting to know these fashion forecasters from the Outback (No Rules, Just Right!)

What part of Australia are you from?
Chloe: We’re both from Melbourne and we met when we used to work in advertising, freelance. I was freelance, and he was not. And that was about 8-9 years ago.

How did Michi start? Through emails right?
Daniel: It was actually before. We started with text messages. Just between both of us. Chloe and I are quite obsessed with the weather. You can’t email when you have to be obsessed with the weather because it changes all the time. So we would send messages to one another just giving out weather reports so we can decide if we could go to the beach. Michi is our fashion and weather forecast stylist. So we do a weather report on our newsletter since it was mostly because of the weather that it started.

So then how did it go into shopping tips? I saw today there was mention of a puffy jacket and swine flu. (Laughter) I have some B12 or B6 if you want it…
Chloe: I’ll take all of it. (laughter)
Daniel: We kind of thought it was funny because we put little tips on the end of the text messages and then we got someone to make an email for us and we sent it out to 6 friends in one day and just thought if they like it they would pass it on & they did. So it just got passed on and it got a bit crazy after that.
Chloe: Yeah and now there’s 20,000
Daniel: So we started off doing Melbourne and then last year we started doing an international world Michi post and we do Sydney and last year released the book in Australia and then in the states last month.

How did you name Michi?
Daniel: She’s a combination of both of us. It was like having a child almost.
Chloe: Yeah, baby names.
Daniel: We basically were looking at baby name books. And we looked for something that sort of… We were trying to design some kind of person who was perfect in the fact that she was maybe half French, half Japanese.
Chloe: We were really conscience of having a name that didn’t mean anything to anyone yet. You know if we called her Karen or something they might have a preconceived idea of what she was like. We tried to find a name that was ambiguous and we could make it anything we wanted it to later on.
Chloe & Daniel: And she’s a red head.
Daniel: We didn’t ask for her to be a red head, she just ended up being red, like the artist ended up making her red.

Who is the artist?
Daniel: Kat MacLeod.
Chloe: She’s fantastic. She’s amazing. She’s clever. Kat MacLeod’s amazing illustrations are clever combinations of watercolor and fabrics. When you look through the book you can see the detail.

Chloe, what’s the one item that should be on everyone’s wishlist?
Chloe: Hmmm good question. I have no idea. We’re in a different season in Australia… We’re going into winter as you’re going into summer. We are about to be in winter, so as far as I’m concerned it’s winter. I am obsessed with navy at the moment. I can’t get enough navy blue or petrol actually. That petrol blue. I seem to be just gravitating towards that strange petrol blue at the moment. There’s a lot of it here.

If you had a time machine, which style era would you visit first?
Chloe: Seventies. I’d be in seventies for sure. I would like to think I would be in cotton mumus. Early seventies!
Daniel: I’d go fifties. Although I don’t think I could be bothered with all the suits, though I like the idea of it. I’ve been watching Mad Men.

SPEED ROUND:
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE DRINK?
Chloe: Brandy and Dry
Daniel: Chocolate Milkshakes

WHAT’S YOU FAVORITE COLOR?
Chloe: Navy / Indigo
Daniel: Navy

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE PLACE TO VISIT?
Chloe: New York
Daniel: Byron Bay Beach - NSW Coast of Australia… SURF!!

WHO’S YOUR FAVORITE SMURF?
Chloe: Papa Smurf
Daniel: Daisy Smurf (she’s the only girl)

WHAT’S ONE THING YOU WOULD NEVER WEAR?
Chloe: Mustard (the color)
Daniel: Toupe

Thanks SO much to the two cutest Aussies ever! We loved spending the afternoon with you at Store Cute and can’t wait for you to come back! If you wanna check out more pics of Chloe and Daniel shopping at our store, just click here. And don’t forget to check out the Michi Girl site and sign up for your must-have fashion and weather forecast!