Amanda Del Duca is Fueling a Slasher Girl Revolution in Berks

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In Miami, a 3:05 cafecito is like a right of passage, whether you're sipping a plastic, thimble-sized cup at the office or you've ventured out to the nearest ventanita. Knowing that, we thought an afternoon pick-me-up would be the perfect chance to get to know some of our city's most stylish and talented players. Welcome to A Cafecito With, where we let you sit in on our quirky conversations with our friends in Miami's fashion scene.

When it comes to Miami's fashion world, let's just say Amanda Del Duca reigns supreme. She's a fashion writer turned stylist turned fashion blogger turned entrepreneur. It's an overkill on the slash key but, hey, that's exactly where the inspiration for Slasher Girl, Del Duca's edgy venture into the online retail space, comes from.

Latex skirts, strategically sheer swimwear and minimalistic, yet bold ensembles are carefully curated from independent brands from across the globe on the recently launched Slashergirl.com. Couple that with Del Duca's knack for producing Vogue-worthy, editorial shoots for both Slasher Girl and her style blog, Capture Fashion, and we have a site that can give Nasty Gal a run for its money in a few years. We sat down with her at Havana 1957 at the corner of Española Way to talk about her new venture, Miami's blog scene and why people should ditch the stillettos for Berks. 45 minutes and a Cuban Coffee later, we might admit we agree.

What inspired the idea behind Slasher Girl?
A lot of the clothes that I was wearing on [Capture Fashion] wouldn't ship to the U.S, so I thought, I can't be wearing all of these clothes when no one can find them. I started the store and once I decided to start it I realized there's so much more to this. I want to do interviews, I want to create this whole community of Slasher Girls.

What is a Slasher Girl?
A Slasher Girl, when it really comes down to it, is someone who's passionate. I was just thinking of all of my friends, all of these bloggers, all of these women I'm inspired by and I was noticing that they don't have one title. They do a lot of things. They're a mom, they're a chef, they're a mixologist, they're a DJ at night, they run a blog. Maybe they have a pizza or food diary. Whatever it is, they're taking their passions and taking them to the next level. I think it's really cool when you don't have to define yourself by one thing and when I found these girls I'm like, alright they're doing all of these different things. What is defining this type of person? That's passion.

So if a Slasher Girl is someone who merges two passions, what are yours?
I'm a creative director, a buyer, a founder, a blogger, a stylist, a writer.

What are your favorite pieces on Slasher Girl right now?
I love all the Minimale Animale swimwear right now. I think it's just so Amanda. It's a personal favorite, but I really like the latex pieces because they were the first things that I picked out on Slasher Girl.

If you could shop at only one store the rest of your life, which would it be?
Slashergirl.com!

Who is your blogger crush right now?
Margaret Zhang. I. LOVE. HER. She's a student and a blogger who creates amazing content that is really editorial and her photos are really beautiful. I just love her.

Who would play you in a movie?
David [my Boyfriend] just asked me this the other day. I took so long thinking about it and I have no idea, but I really like Amber Heard. I love her. I don't know how much she looks like me, but I love her.

When you're posing in front of your camera, what are you thinking about?
No one will remember how silly you look. Everyone will remember how great the image is.

How do you feel about the Miami blogger scene?
I love it! I think it's great. The more girls talking about fashion, helping each other out and representing the city makes me happy. I think that we have a really fun community of bloggers around here and I want to introduce them all to Slasher Girl. I think when I was just a blogger before, a lot of people didn't come up and say hello and that's maybe because you're considered competition? I've never considered anyone competition, not because they're not on my level but just because, dude, there's enough room for us out here. Magazine subscriptions you have to pay for. Blogs are free.

What is your ultimate piece of selfie advice?
Lean into it. If you're gonna do a selfie, do a selfie. Don't try to be nonchalant about it. If you did your makeup and you look awesome that day, post it.

What do you wish people wore more of down here?
I think more appropriate footwear. High heels are amazing and I love them, but… Collins is really long and so is Ocean Drive. It's a long way to walk in 8-inch heels. I think there's a happy medium and there's a lot of great flat footwear out right now and I think that Miami should probably take a little look at it. Miami's a great city to walk around in and you don't want to be in six-inch Louboutins. I just want to give [those girls] my Birkenstocks and be like this would look so great with your outfit. It would lend a little bit of effortlessness to it and you're going to be able to walk.

It's 11pm on a Friday night. What are you doing?
I'm probably prepping for a shoot. I always shoot on Saturday mornings, but if I'm going out I'm probably finishing dinner and heading to either the Freehand, the bar at the SLS or Bardot…Truthfully though, me on a Friday night I'm prepping looks, I'm getting ready for a shoot or I'm doing a spray tan.

What's your sign?
Scorpio

What are your thoughts on clubwear?
Again, lean into it. If you're going to wear leggings to LIV on a Sunday, it's the place to do it. Everybody's wearing tight little stretchy spandex outfits, but I think the most important thing with clubwear is to just make sure it fits. No one is going to check you in the back to see if it's a size large or medium. No one cares. Just make sure it fits and have a good time.

Where do you see Slasher Girl in five years.
In five years? We'll definitely have Slasher Guy by then. Next year, later in the fall, we're going to do a bunch of exclusives. We're going to have some cool collaborations coming up so five years? Who knows! Maybe a flagship. I would definitely like to have a Slasher Girl line around the five year mark. Maybe three years? I'm really excited about the future of Slasher Girl and I think that everything we do we're going to try and do it with the highest amount of quality and respect for the people we're trying to reach as we can. But yeah, a flagship would be really cool. Something in Miami.

Describe your life right now in a hashtag.
#Sweaty, #Sleepy, #Happy.
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