Fashion isn’t just spread across the pages of glossy magazines anymore. Like just about everything else – communication, porn, to-do lists and TV shows – fashion has finally gone wireless.
Because it’s super fantastic and a lot of fun, The Fashion Dungjen has also gone wireless and is now posting blog updates several times a week, at thefashiondungjen.blogspot.com.
This may totally seem like shameless self-promotion, and that’s, because, well, it totally is, I’m going to milk my column for what it’s worth.
I am using this week as a springboard to draw readers to my blog, which is, by the way, conveniently linked through The News Record’s Web site. Spectacular, right?
I’ve been bopping around campus, armed with my camera, stalking people for photos to post to the site. I’ve been in bushes, behind poles, around corners and in the tip-top branches of trees waiting for my next victim to come strolling along.
(OK, so I haven’t really been in bushes, behind poles, around corners or in tip-top branches of trees, but could you imagine if I had been? It would be all, “BOO!” “Ahh!” Hilarious!)
But to keep from being completely and totally self-indulgent, I’m also going to use this as an opportunity to highlight some of my favorite and least favorite fashion inspiration sites.
A couple years ago, around the time it was created, I stumbled across StyleMob.com, a site for the fashionable and fashion misfortunes alike. The site allows users to post photos of outfits, articles of clothing, hairstyles and accessories. From there, other users are able to rate the photo on a scale of one to four: not for me, OK, like it
and wow.
The site, though still useful for outfit inspiration, has become more of a place to load artsy-fartsy marginal MySpace-like photos for girls, and guys, who get a little too excited when using Photoshop.
What is neat about StyleMob is the point system. Whenever you post a picture, rate someone else’s photo or participate in contests, you can earn points. If you’re the highest scorer during a month, you have the potential to win a prize.
That’s awesome, I love prizes! Too bad I’ve never won anything. Buzz kill. I’m willing to bet that the reason I never win anything is probably because I haven’t posted anything in about two years. Legitimate, right?
The reason for my dying, or dead, participation on StyleMob is simple: Everyone looks like they’re 15-years-old. There are more awful outfits on this Web site than in Peter Jackson and Courtney Love’s closets combined.
What I love most about fashion on the Web is that most of it is independently generated content, grass-roots material.
Everybody is Ugly (EIU), better known as Chictopia, a San Francisco-based site, is the perfect example.
Though Nylon magazine hates EIU’s name, I think it’s hilarious. It contradicts the majority of the people and outfits posted on the international street style guide. It’s like the big sister to StyleMob – outfits are more sophisticated and put together.
The site itself is a giant blog; users get their own profile to post outfits and write blurbs about what they did in that outfit or why there were dressed the way they were. People can rate the outfit as chic or leave comments.
You can also, like every other interactive site on the planet, add people as friends and stalk their chic-ness.
Lulu, Chictopia’s creator, posts tutorials and has Chictopia.com style celebrities (otherwise average Janes who dress well) post guest blogs on her profile. It’s an instant way to gain Internet-celeb status.
What you will notice about each of these sites and other places where people post pictures of themselves so others can admire their outfit, are the poses.
Several of my favorite poses, as highlighted in a video on Chictopia, are the menstrual cramps – the “model” bends at the waist, bends her knees and puts each hand over her abdomen and squeezes like she’s trying to keep her ovaries from exploding in pain.
The dry shampoo pose is also a personal favorite. For this, put your hands on your head and simply pretend to lather. Generally the head is also tilted to the side and eyes are angled like God himself is admiring your modeling skills.
You never know where I’ll end up next, you know, in a bush or tree somewhere on campus trying to snap a shot of your outfit. Your next presumably fabulous outfit could be the focus of my next post.
The News Record > Sections > Opinion
Fashion blogs make their mark on Web
The Fashion Dungjen
Published: Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Updated: Wednesday, November 5, 2008
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