Online style inspiration communities: Lookbook.nu, WIWT and Chictopia
When it comes to fashion inspiration we’re all a bit sick of flicking through glossy magazines full of ads and unaffordable clothes. Instead we like to see ALL kinds of people in ALL kinds of outfits, which is why we love street style websites (even though some can be a little bit pretentious, we’re looking at you The Sartorialist) and stalking our favourite blogger’s “outfit of the day” posts for inspiration and looks that can actually be recreated without winning the lottery and / or starving ourselves.
But it’s not just personal blogs that are little fashion treasure troves at the moment, there are a number of online communities bursting with style inspiration featuring real people wearing real outfits – and by real we mean they’re affordable and functional.
Lookbook.nu
Founded in 2008, Lookbook.nu is probably the first user generated content network of its kind, encouraging fashion enthusiasts to submit street style photographs of themselves, then share details about their clothes and inspiration with the rest of the community.
Anyone can upload a photograph, as Lookbook.nu is meant to be “the world’s first, truly editorless fashion magazine”.
Even though the images are meant to be of everyday people from all walks of life, the community does seem a little intimidating at times. This is definitely not a network to upload your pyjama shots to, in fact don’t take the mickey out of how serious fashion is in ANY way.
WIWT
Fashion network WIWT (or What I Wore Today) is an evolution of founder Poppy Dinsey’s popular daily outfit blog. So, as well as seeing what she’s wearing everyday, you can now also see what the rest of the WIWT community have on too.
WIWT stands out because it’s a lovely mix of beautiful clothes and slouchy pyjamas, featuring people that look great but don’t take themselves too seriously, which is refreshing in comparison to Lookbook.nu. You’re even encouraged to take your daily style photo with your iPhone as the official WIWT app launched last week.
The WIWT app is available from iTunes for Free.
Chictopia has more than 100,000 users, and aims to connect “style seekers to real trendsetters”.
So instead of just uploading photos of yourself, the aim of Chictopia is to inspire people who look similar to you. Like WIWT and Lookbook.nu, you set up a profile and add your outfits and there’s a real mix of people and outfits being uploaded.
There’s also a Chictopia app available if you’ve got an iPhone, which is much more about browsing other looks as apposed to uploading your own WIWT-style.
The Chictopia app is available for iTunes for Free.
