A sampling of shoppable street and Fashion Week photography on Kaleidoscope.

Ryan Junee, one of Inporia’s co-founders, explains that the company’s vision “is to create an entirely new way of shopping for clothes online, by being inspired by outfits from people around the world and then being able to very easily buy the items in those outfits.  This is much more akin to how people discover new fashion in the real world, as opposed to typing keywords into a text box and hoping something good appears in the results.  We’ve settled for this ‘old way’ of shopping for far too long.  It was invented by engineers at Amazon, and has served us well so far, but it’s time for something better.”  Are you intrigued yet?  We certainly are.

The app just launched for Android and will be available on the iPhone soon.  Combining a homepage of both street style photography and editorial fashion, Kaleidoscope lures in users with high entertainment value.  Then it gets down to business by making that entertainment totally shoppable — clicking “shop this look” breaks down an outfit’s components and brings in a range of similar items from across the web.  Though they aren’t official partners, clothing and accessories are linked to from retailers like Net-a-Porter, Shopbop, Asos, and Bergdorf Goodman.  Lest anything sell out, the app’s technology is set to update product listings accordingly.

A corresponding widget is also in the pipeline.  During Fashion Week, the widget will offer a real-time, shoppable feed of pictures of the shows, the attendees, and the parties.

Here, street style broken down into shoppable categories.

While the app will continue to prioritize editorial and street photography as the first thing users see, in the near future Junee says that they’ll “also allow brands to sponsor certain outfits and products so they appear higher in the list of results (but only if they are relevant to you – we definitely do not want Kaleidoscope to become spammy or look like a store catalog).”  In addition, the Kaleidoscope experience will continue to be refined and personalized so that users will eventually be able to see outfits specifically tailored to their personal style.

With myriad fashion-tech hybrids emerging, we asked Junee what goes into making this kind of start-up successful.  Junee pointed out the simultaneous importance and difficulty of building “a team who understands the subtleties of how the fashion business works, and also has the technical chops to build complex algorithms using machine learning and computer vision.”  Having such a team in place, and predicated on a cool one-stop shop for efficient sartorial inspiration, we’re definitely impressed — the relatively young Kaleidoscope could become a major player as mobile shopping continues to take off.

After the meteoric rise of sponsored editorial retail during the last few years, brands have weighed in and declared the experiment a success.  From major luxury conglomerates to quirky, high-end individual labels, those who’ve launched magazines or elaborate editorial sites, all seemingly unintended to sell anything, seem pleased with the decision — and not just because their publications look so good.

• Nowness, the online magazine from LVMH, has over 300,000 registered users.  Some of the site’s videos have been viewed over 1 million times.
• Net-a-Porter uses its seamlessly integrated editorial component to track what readers liked or passed over — and then what they eventually bought.
• The jeans brand BLK DNM introduced an art and photo publication, Gazette, and reports that putting out 5,000 copies of the mag is more cost efficient than repeated seasonal advertising campaigns.
• Even better, the Gazette is pay-what-you-wish, with proceeds donated to charity.  Now how’s that for positively contributing to a brand’s image?

We’d also like to point out the contrast between, say, the inviting, extensive site A Bullseye View, from Target, versus the sleek look of The Window, from Barneys New York, versus the quiet cool of publications like Oakazine, put out in print (albeit not recently) and online by Oak, the edgy New York boutique mini-chain.  While these editorial components couldn’t be more different from one another, each is successful because it perfectly encapsulates what the parent brand is about.  And as fashion brands continue to launch such content, that particularity seems to be the key to their effectiveness.

Disclosure: Like the retail editorial mentioned above, The High Low is also sponsored by a fashionable corporate parent; in this case, Liz Claiborne Inc, which will become Fifth & Pacific Companies in May 2012.

The all-white tote, produced in collaboration with Vodafone, can charge iPhones, Androids, and Blackberries for up to two days.  To give the bag itself some juice, there’s a removable, magnetic cable that attaches outside the tote and must be plugged in.

Well, this seems to be a prime example of fashion meeting function.  Will Nicoll’s tote be the “It” bag in the show’s front rows next season?  It would certainly keep busy editors from the annoying experience of a dead cell phone on the go.

This River Island dress, trending on social style site Svpply, is suitable for more than one season.

1.  Textured skater dress on Svpply:  Now trending on Svpply, this half-sleeved, swing skirt dress ($53) can be paired with tights now or worn bare-legged later.

The Finch briefcase is one of the cooler examples of the genre that we’ve seen.

2.  Finch briefcase on Of a Kind:  Besides working to get you to the office now, Ernest Alexander’s waxed canvas and leather bag ($225) will be great as an overnighter once it’s warm enough to get out of town.  The bag only comes in a limited edition of 30, so pick one up soon.

Thakoon’s crocheted sweater is surprisingly useful for more than one kind of weather.

3.  Crochet sweater on L-Atitude:  Global shopping site L-Atitude just brought out a whole range of Thakoon’s line for spring.  Our favorite piece?  This pretty crocheted sweater ($235), which can be worn layered for warmth, or worn on its own in better weather.

We’d like to layer this Sara Berman suede moto jacket over Thakoon’s crocheted top, above.

4. Edie Suede jacket on Lux Fix:  The British luxury goods site introduced a temporary mini-boutique of leather goods, from the designer Sara Berman, this week.  Our top pick is this biker-esque suede jacket ($378), which also comes in black and khaki.

And to complete the outfit, don these leopard print skinny jeans by Current Elliott.

5.  Current Elliott leopard jeans on Wear Ever You Are:  Wear Ever You Are, which scours global e-commerce for great style, put together a fashion editorial this week to get readers ready for spring.  Among the choice looks were these pale gray leopard print skinny jeans ($262), which are too cool to pass up.

After his Fall 2012 show yesterday, Oscar de la Renta introduced “The Board,” a creative new concept to get your input on his design process.  Anyone can join the online pinboard to post aesthetic ideas they think would suit the label.   The haute fashion house’s creation of The Board follows the increasing popularity of their resident tweeter, OscarPRGirl, on the social pinboard site Pinterest.  (She’s at 5169 followers, and counting!)

Having just launched, The Board doesn’t have any contributions yet, and there’s no telling to what to degree the collective public thought process will make it into de la Renta’s next collection.  That said, this is a pretty amazing way for a designer, whose name is practically synonymous with “the establishment,” to reach out to his fans and supporters.   And after it gets underway, we imagine The Board could be a pretty cool go-to source for sartorial inspiration in general.

You can look but you can’t touch — Glamour’s new Apothecary Wall is totally virtual.

The “store” is, in fact, a virtual display, set up outdoors with scan-able 2D barcodes that correspond to a smartphone app.  Scanning any code on the Glamour Apothecary Wall lets passersby purchase products from brands like C.O. Bigelow, John Frieda, Elizabeth Arden, and Versace.

Right now the initiative is limited to beauty items (most of which are from advertising partners of the magazine) but if the wall’s a success, we hope we’ll soon see shop-able, outdoor 2D venues pedaling clothes.  After all, a virtual store on a wall comes with pretty low rent.  And as Glamour has already enabled smartphone-based e-commerce in several of its physical issues, they’d be the perfect publication to set it up.  Their current virtual shop — which is only up until next Tuesday — might be meant to cater to Fashion Week attendees, but we imagine the wall appeals to a pretty broad spectrum of smartphone-wielding consumers.

One example of a user-generated Stylmee virtual boutique.

Stylmee stands out from its online commerce curation brethren through the high-tech world it invites users to create.  Imagine if the brands you followed on Lyst, or the fashion you kept track of on Pinterest, could be coalesced into an entire 3D store experience.   Even better, the “store” is run by you — to get started, choose a blank 1000, 2000, or 3000 square foot space and start decorating.  Sharing, of course, is a key feature of the app, and players can take a break from building their own virtual boutiques to visit friends’ and other community members’ shops within the Stylmee “city.”

The Stylmee city, which looks a lot like the created setting in a video game.

And to keep the city from getting boring, boutique “owners” are in competition with one another.  When one member “loves” another’s item, that user receives Stylcash, which is how one’s store “makes” money.  To get started, users open a 1000 square foot space, and can make in-app purchases — with real funds — to upgrade to a bigger store.  (This may or may not suit your online shopping style.  It’s a feature reminiscent of online gaming that’s pretty unrelated to the fashion industry.  And after all, Svpply and Pinterest are free, even if they lack a cool 3D storefront component.)

However, putting aside the minor start-up costs — a new storefront is a few dollars, at most — Stylmee has the potential to take off.  Its gaming aspect is reflective of the real world — all user boutiques start off in a virtual version of Sydney, Australia, and as they level up, their stores are transplanted to increasingly important global fashion cities.  And the app is accessible without opening a virtual store at all, but of course, to fully engage with it, creating a boutique is imperative.  What do you think?  Would you curate your style and keep track of brands you like via a Sim City-esque online setting?  And even more importantly, would your friends?

Céline’s luggage tote is the bag of the season.

1.  Céline luggage tote:  WWD just declared this number the “It” bag of Fall 2012 Fashion Week.  The $2500 item might be ubiquitous now, but we’d like to point out that it started taking off in the front rows of the shows in September.

This bright bag proved popular during the Spring 2012 shows last September.

2.  Cambridge satchel:  Though the Céline tote was beginning to make an appearance, last fall’s shows were undoubtedly ruled by the very functional, super bright, and far more inexpensive (it’s under $200!) Cambridge satchel.

The Proenza Schouler PS1 in black, a go-to bag if ever there was one.

3. Proenza Schouler PS1:  The PS1 was the editors’ It bag of choice during the Fall 2011 shows of February last year, though we’re sure the classic-looking, pricey satchel will still be found on stylish arms this week.

A green Givenchy Nightingale bag, spotted during the shows in February 2010, by the fashion blog Natalieology.

4.  Givenchy Nightingale:  This convertible satchel-tote also made its presence known among the attendees of Fashion Week during the shows last February and the year before (when the photo above was taken).

Linda Evangelista carted a YSL Muse tote around Paris Fashion Week, helping the item achieve instant must-have status. Photo courtesy of Life.

5.  Yves Saint Laurent Muse:  When YSL debuted its Muse bag in 2006, the purse became an instant classic.  It probably didn’t hurt that Linda Evangelista toted a brand new, sage green version to Paris Fashion Week that very February.

So, any thoughts on what might be the next big “It” bag of Fashion Week Spring 2013?  Or does the fact that the bag changes almost every season dull your interest?

Some lucky strangers will be getting sweet Valentine’s Day cards in New York and Miami this year, courtesy of Juicy Couture.  The label teamed up with 60 Thompson and Hotel Victor, in SoHo and South Beach respectively, and asked guests to write a love note on a blank card for a stranger.  Those who took the brand up on the offer were invited to bring their note to the nearest Juicy Couture store and trade the card in for a special goodie bag.

Having collected the strangers’ love notes, Juicy Couture will have male “cupids” deliver the missives at random to the public in New York City and Miami.  Even better, one lucky recipient in New York will receive a $500 gift card to Juicy Couture and a two-night stay at the Hotel Victor in Miami, while a Floridian winner will receive the same gift card and a two-night stay at 60 Thompson.

Most important, however, is the fact that for every card written in both cities, Juicy Couture will donate $1 to loveisrespect.org.  The online organization seeks to bring together Break the Cycle and The National Dating Abuse Helpline to engage, educate, and empower teens and young adults to prevent and end abusive relationships.  And on a day meant to celebrate love, shouldn’t bringing awareness to its often preventable dark side be an important component of the holiday?  Paired with a sweet note from a stranger, Juicy Couture’s approach smartly combines a lighthearted touch with a serious commitment to the issue.

According to WWD, reaching $25 million in sales is a key number indicating a brand could go from fledgling design house to becoming a major corporate fashion player.  Of course, having a clear focus to sell to consumers, and working with efficient margins, are also earmarks of a label’s lasting success.  As yet another New York Fashion Week rages around us, what other factors, besides the $25 million magic number, contribute to a brand’s longevity?

• Buzz:  Well, of course.  Newer brands with a lot of publicity might only need one salesperson to deal with orders.  But the more low-profile a young company is, the more people it needs booking orders (and that gets pricey).
• Capsule collections: For younger brands especially, bringing in revenue from design fees for one-off lines with bigger retailers is invaluable.  Think Jason Wu’s recent collection for Target.
• Licensing:  Once a line hits the $25 million sales mark, it might be well-known enough for the designer to broker a lucrative licensing deal, usually starting with fragrance.  Other areas to license out one’s name include jeans and bags.

After capsule collections and licensing, what’s the next step into the big leagues?  That’s usually where private equity comes in.  Jimmy Choo, which was bought by a private equity firm in 2007, is a perfect example.  It has grown into a global brand, and was sold in 2011 to the luxury goods group Labelux.  To gain interest — and investment — from a private equity firm, fashion houses might need to make it to around $60 million in total sales.  But if they reach that and get the support of a major backer, growth can often continue unbridled.