Fashionably Digital

It took the fashion industry a while to catch up with digital trends, but they're finally catching on - and fast.

Take, for instance, Uniqlo, a forward-thinking Japanese clothing company. They recently launched Uniqlooks, an online fashion community that allows fans of the brand to upload photos of themselves wearing their own stylings of the company's clothes. It uses the street style appeal that has taken the blogging world by storm and socializes it, putting the trend-setting power in the hands of the consumer.

Speaking of street style, have you seen this Intel campaign?

I was thrilled when it launched with a documentary about Scott Schuman, author of The Sartorialist and undisputed leader of the street style community. But as much as we the people love the democratization of fashion, there are those who are less excited about it. Namely, Olivier Zahm, who said to WWD, "This is why the industry is going in a vulgar, common, bad direction — because of the direct access that doesn’t come with an education, reflection, understanding.”

As a graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology and a bit of a fashionaholic, I am inclined to disagree with Mr. Zahm. I think just like every other industry, it's healthy for the people to have some say in what becomes a trend and what doesn't. Designers don't like to have their work criticized (and who can blame them?) but it's for the best. It's forcing them to be held accountable for the quality and originality of their work.

And now for Fashion Week. For anyone who's been living under a rock, New York Fashion Week came to a close on Feb 17th. It was so fun for me (who basically lives online) to be able to follow all the coverage from my home bases: Google Reader, Twitter, Facebook.

1. Google Reader: The Fashion section of my blog reader was, for one glorious week, my busiest section and the coverage was deep because bloggers are finally being recognized as press and getting invitations to fashion shows! 
2. Twitter: It was also great to open up TweetDeck and see #NYFW all over the place. I've never seen a more heavily discussed Fashion Week on Twitter. *Side note, I had to double check every time I clicked on a #NYFW link to make sure it didn't actually say #NSFW... 
3. Facebook: As an FIT grad, Facebook was especially fun for me because so many of my former classmates were at the shows, posting photos and updates in real time. Lucky me :-)

So I don't have time now, but I'm going to follow up with a "Fashionably Digital: Post Deux" about fashion apps and online communities. I have a few in mind, but if you have any you'd like me to check out and possibly cover, please let me know in the comments!