tastemakers

Ask Alison: The Shazamification of fashion



MuseStyle

This month’s column from regular DRG contributor, fashion & retail insights expert Alison Bishop explores the latest moves in how taste-making got shoppable…

Since fashion is now shared instantly across social media, it’s no wonder how we shop for it has become more instant too. From Instagram to Pinterest and Tumblr, these platforms have become a visual marketplace for fashionistas, brands and retailers. Most important are the style leaders or ‘taste-makers’ that other users follow – and they’re the ones responsible for a new Shazam-style of shopping.

Snap it, search it, buy it
Just as another season’s month-long fashion week circus kicks off, there is a raft of new apps that target the street-style set with instant-hit fashion, at the click of a photo search. I’m calling this the ‘Shazamification of shopping’, since the practice of snapping what someone is wearing, then searching, then buying it, mimics the music identifying app Shazam. Last year Shazam announced it would broaden its service by recognising content from TV shows, so that when people ‘Shazam’ a show, they can link through to buy items worn by presenters or actors. (more…)



Discoveredd: Curated fashion and style



Do we need any more curation in our lives? It seems the answer is yes, lot’s more. eBay has just launched its new look ‘curated’ interface in the States which will be rolled out internationally over the next three months:

Meanwhile, every other day I’m emailed a press release about a new ‘discovery commerce’-based start-up or an existing site gets a Pinterest-style layer added to it. Well why not? We love discovering new things, especially when there are ‘tastemakers’ involved. I did a bit of tastemaking for Discoveredd last month. The site launched by Oliver Walsh lets you create a profile to add your discoveries to and also has a section called Spotlight where it invites the likes of Caroline Issa, Amanda Harlech, Cozette McCreery (I just discovered she sat for Lucian Freud) and me to share our finds.

Mine are here. It’s actually quite hard to choose your favourite things at any one time (I have hundreds of favourites!) but mine included Bill Bernstein’s photography, J.W Anderson’s shirts,  Dinh Van jewellery, RSVP Berlin, 1STDIBS.com and Agnes B tees.

In fact, the Agnes B tee was a rediscovery. They were my uniform in the 90s and I started wearing them religiously again this summer. Agnes B have carried on selling the same style for years. Here’s me with Corrine Day in my Agnes B tee and a funny hat…

These tees age really well. They shrink slightly so I buy them in a size bigger but even the really old ones are still wearable. But I digress. I think the best thing about sites like Discoveredd is when the curation is ‘meaningful’, i.e, the recommendations are true recommedations that the user wants to share, rather than just streams of ‘I want this’. I find it more useful and meaningful when people recommend beauty/fashion products that they actually use and swear by, or a cafe, book, shop etc that they genuinely love. What’s your view on discovery and curation sites?