Wonder Woman of the Week: Florrie

Like with many of the women we spotlight on this blog, this week’s Wonder Woman is a multi-classing career lady with skill sets abound in both music and fashion. She’s a clothing and fashion model and a multi-instrument musician that can drop a full album by herself. Her work in both fields transcends genres and reaches out to a large audience as a role model for young models and musicians alike. The Wonder Woman of the Week is Florence Ellen Arnold aka Florrie.

In 2016, reporter Alexandra Pollard took a trip to her local record shop with multi-instrument musician and songwriter Florrie. The musician began her career in music at seventeen when she began playing drums- the instrument for which Florrie is best known. The teenager started playing drums for her high school jazz band credits her style at the instrument to Chet Baker. Florrie took up guitar shortly after, focusing her style on Jimi Hendrix and Chuck Berry. [1]

Florrie hit the music scene in 2010 when she released her first EP Little White Lies. Since then, the singer/songwriter/guitarist/drummer/probably a million other music related careers has been working in on more albums and EP’s. The success of the album fell heavy on Florrie’s drumming however and rightfully so. The instrument is the oldest musical tool in the artist’s repertoire. Florrie credits her success to her drummer influences like female drummer Sheila E of the White Stripes. But devoting her life to just playing a hundred different instruments is only half of Florrie’s life. The musician is also a full-0time model and fashion expert who- while designing her second album- was also active in the fashion world. In 2014, Florrie cited Christopher Kane as the designer to know for the year and worked with designers Miu Miu and Prada for the season. [2]

On the topic of creating albums, songwriter and multi-instrument musician Florrie reported in an interview she treats the feat like piecing together a puzzle. After five years of electronically produced music, Florrie released her first physical record in 2015. The move came after a full year on tour as a songwriter-for-hire for a handful of other bands and musicians and came about largely as a return to her own music. Producing her first record was no small feat though. Releasing music online allowed Florrie to experiment more and take more chances with her sound, but Florrie stated her record would need to be more concrete and required more care. [3]

Later that year, Florrie merged her two careers when she took a major role in the “H&M Loves Music” campaign. The fashion company had been up to that point merging music and fashion in their own right and after picking up model/musician Florrie, the campaign took off. Florrie’s work in fashion had gradually built from sheer accident, but progressed as fashion labels funded Florrie’s musical projects. The two careers bled into one another as Florrie advanced in both careers and are now largely merged as Florrie often plays gigs at fashion shows and advertises clothing in her music videos and tours. [4]

Florence Ellen Arnold sings, drums, and plays guitar; along with several other instruments. She’s a fashion model and a songwriter. Along with all of these, Florrie is a role model in the worlds of fashion and music as a talented musical performer and a strong force in the modeling world. Her music alone is enough to inspire, especially considering she performs all of the vocals and instrumentals in all of her songs. On top of this feat of a full-time music career, Florrie doubles up with a career in the fashion world as an expert and model able to cite trends and predict upcoming designers.

Pollard, Alexandra. “In the Record Store: Florrie Picks Her Favorite Vinyl+Books.” Gigwise; 13 April 2016. Web. 26 April 2017.

Darwin, Liza. “The Insider: Florrie.” Nylon; 27 August 2014. Web. 26 April 2017.

Anderton, Joe. “Florrie Interview: ‘Writing songs is like putting a puzzle together.’” Digital Spy. Hearst Magazines; 25 February 2015. Web. 26 April 2017.

Klein, Alyssa Vingan. “Meet Florrie, Star of the New H&M Loves Music Campaign.” Fashionista. Breaking Media Inc; 15 January 2015. Web. 26 April 2017.