Meet Victoria Hoff

“Victoria Hoff is an editor and writer. Born and raised in the New York City area, she spent her years at NYU interning for publications like Vogue and Elle, before joining the Elle.com team full-time. After two years writing about news, beauty, fashion, and wellness for the site, she decided to take the leap and move to LA last fall, where she now works as the News Editor for Byrdie. In her spare time, you can typically find her hunting for vintage records and t-shirts, hiking, dabbling in photography, brewing kombucha, and generally embracing her new status as a Silver Lake cliché.”

♫ listen to victoria's playlist | ⌨ last google search

Kimono: Vintage, Jeans: Vintage, Levi’s: T-Shirt, Everlane — *Kimono: Vintage, Jeans: Vintage, Levi’s:* *T-Shirt, Everlane*

on her morning routine

I have miraculously evolved into such a morning person—it’s my favorite time of day, and usually when I’m feeling at my best. I wake up around 6:30, and immediately make some coffee and a green smoothie. I might write for a few minutes or do a few yoga stretches to wake myself up, and after I finish my smoothie and coffee, I’ll sip on a huge glass of lemon water.

on moving to la

I remember telling one of my best friends that the only way I would ever consider moving to LA is if “a place like Byrdie was hiring.” I knew I wanted to be a beauty editor, and was a fan of the brand. Literally the next day, there was a job listing on the site. I applied, and within a few days I was offered the position. Leaving my dream job at ELLE.com was one of the toughest, most terrifying decisions I’ve ever made—there was a lot of angst, a lot of tears. I’m still so proud of myself for taking that leap. It was ultimately the most gratifying and self-validating thing I’ve ever done.I arrived in LA a couple months later with my pared-down life crammed into two suitcases and moved it all into a little studio in Silver Lake. Aside from my co-workers, I barely knew anyone. 10 months later, I’m feeling very settled and happy—I plan on sticking around for awhile. I of course miss little aspects of NYC (as well as my family and friends) every day, but I travel back regularly enough that I haven’t really been homesick. I think what I miss most is just the beauty of walking around the city—you experience, witness, and discover so much just by getting yourself from point A to point B. No one really walks in LA. But it’s so beautiful here, and in a lot of ways, the vibe isn’t that different from NYC. It’s a little more laid-back, but I’m still surrounded by very hard-working, very smart, very creative people. And I definitely don’t miss those New York winters (or the humidity).

on her personal style

I buy most of my clothes vintage or secondhand—aside from the budget and eco-friendliness of it, I love the thrill of the finding an amazing piece that no one else has. Other than that, my favorite brands definitely have more of a minimalist, comfort-driven aesthetic. I’m a big fan of labels like Black Crane, Base Range, Caron Callahan, Jesse Kamm, Everlane, Ryan Roche, and Miranda Bennett. You can usually find me in vintage denim and a t-shirt.

““A friend gave me a copy of Rupi Kapur’s Milk and Honey shortly after I move here. Her words are so deeply, heartbreakingly relatable. I find myself going back to those poems again and again—they become even more beautiful every time I read them.””

— on Rupi Kapur's Milk and honey

on working at vogue and Elle

My experiences at Vogue and Elle were both extremely valuable, but for very different reasons. I was in the fashion editorial department at Vogue, so it was my first real glimpse of what it takes to put a magazine together, and I was so humbled to be up close with some of the biggest names in the industry. It was not glamorous, but I learned so much. I remember assisting on my first photoshoot with Tonne Goodman—it was just a quick editorial on lingerie, but it felt like magic. Most significantly, I made my first industry connections at Vogue. So many of my fellow interns have gone on to do amazing things and work for top-tier brands and publications, and a few of us are still good friends. It was the first time I understood that forming your own little community makes negotiating this crazy industry so much easier—and so much more fun. As for Elle, I was 14 when I first decided that I wanted to work there. And as tough and demanding as it was, it exceeded every expectation. When I started as an intern, the dot com team was about three people, and I was brought on staff just as they hired a new editorial director (the amazing Leah Chernikoff) and relaunched the site. It was amazing to be a part of all this, and to watch the website grow into the tour de force it is today.

on her beauty routine

In the morning, I just use a little bit of French Girl Facial Toner to “cleanse” my face, followed by Odacité’s Oleosomes cream, which I usually mix with a couple drops of face oil and cream foundation—that way it’s more of a tinted moisturizer. Then it’s just brows, a few dabs of RMS Beauty’s “Un” Cover Up Concealer here and there, some mascara, a little highlighter. At night, I’ll take it all off with Eve Lom’s Cleanser (the best) and maybe do a mask, before sleeping with an oil, KYPRIS Moonlight Catalyst Skin Care Serum, or balm. Right now I’m loving Mahalo’s Petal Mask, which looks beautiful on my vanity, too. Other than that, it’s definitely worth noting that I am a fragrance junkie. I am not the girl who wears one signature perfume and that’s it—I love linking scent to memories and mood, so I have dozens of bottles for every occasion and season. I definitely gravitate towards earthy and really unique scents—lots of D.S. & Durga, Byredo, and local indie brands. I’m very big on focusing on ingredients, as well as the knowledge that wellness is beauty. I follow a plant-based diet and self-care rituals like yoga, meditation, and journaling are important to me—it all makes me feel my best, which in turn is absolutely reflected in how I look. On the flip side, I don’t think a lot of people realize that what you put on your body is just as important as what you put in it. Our skin absorbs so much, and it doesn’t make sense to eat organic or clean if you’re then going to use skincare or makeup with a bunch of chemicals. It’s also a matter of being kind to the environment. Really, I just encourage people to be really conscious about their decisions, and to approach beauty in a holistic manner. And vanity isn’t mutually exclusive from this—these habits have made a huge difference for my skin!

““I’ve always loved writing and was always did well with it growing up, but I never seriously imagined that I would pursue it as a career—I’ve written essays and journaled for years, but only privately, for my own personal catharsis. I did know I wanted to work in the fashion or beauty industry, but saw myself in a more visuals-oriented position, like as an art director. I even went to school for graphic design at first. But then I started interning in different editorial positions, and about two weeks after my internship began at elle.com, I realized that this was exactly what I wanted to do every day.””

— on her love of writing