Sasha Cagen, the author of books Quirkyalone and To-Do List, has founded (with co-founder Adam Souzis) something astonishingly addictive -- StyleMob. A very nice SFist reader sent us an invite during the "invite-only beta" -- which comes to a close today! If all goes as planned, today will start the "public beta," so cruise on over and join the 6,000 current members.
StyleMob is an online community "for street fashion inspiration" where you can see "how real people put together their outfits." There are all sorts of voting, networking, and community tools. We're confident it'll be a time-suck for fashionistas and not-so-fashion oriented alike.
Sasha took some time out of her hectic schedule (trying frantically to get those last-minute bugs out) and answered a few questions for us.
1) We must confess: we've a total StyleMob addiction. What do you see as the primary appeal/selling point/application of the site? How flexible do you plan on being with your vision? We'd note that when we spoke to Yelp's founders, they revealed that the review aspect was basically an afterthought -- and look at it now!
For us, StyleMob is about fashion inspiration. It's a site where you can find your fashion muses--real-world trendsetters who inspire you to reinvent your own look. It's fairly addictive--once you rate one outfit, you're basically hooked. We're unique among a lot of fashion sites because we're focused on real people rather than celebrities. We're fascinated by the "trickle-up theory of fashion"—the idea of fashion coming from the street. We also like the idea that the site is for anyone; no matter what your budget or body type, you can create a jaw-dropping look. Ultimately, StyleMob can be a whole way of life, it makes you more creative when you get dressed in the morning.