October is when the powers that be in the world of fashion descend upon our fair city, under the guise of Fashion Week, in a dizzying display of models, booze & bootie shorts, with the telltale agenda of informing us of what to wear next spring. In the spirit of Citizen LA (promoters of true innovation in LA) we are giving the whole scene a big “fuck you” and instead, introducing you to a completely new, exceptionally innovative, new runway: LOOKBOOK.NU.
Twenty-something girlfriend/boyfriend duo Yuri & Jason dabbled in everything from retail to art to engineering to break-dancing before putting their heads together, quitting their day jobs and giving birth to LOOKBOOK.NU. A photo-based website where members post, scour and “hype” images of what fashionistas are wearing each day, LB has become an online fashion phenomenon, a must join for kids allover the world. After launching in April 2008, the “invite only community has grown to almost 10,000 registered members from over 50 countries spanning 5 continents,” boasting “ a readership of over 200,000 unique visitors per month and generating nearly 4 million monthly page views.” When prodded about this wildfire-like expansion, LB’s Yuri states, “To be honest, I never dreamed I would see styles from such places like Slovakia and Bangkok…the idea of people posting pictures of their outfits online is nothing new. We simply aimed to make it more organized and more international than anything else out there.” In that, they more than succeeded, and humbly so. We dig that.
If you haven’t visited LB yet, get on it…but read this first.
JNF: You describe your site as “an international social experiment in style.” What does that mean to you?
LB: The way I see it, our entire site is a sort of “experiment” to see if the collective tastes of a talented and diverse community could produce a more compelling style gallery than any one fashion editor or photographer could himself amass in either printed or digital form.
The main thing that sets us apart from other style-sharing websites is that our gallery is socially sorted; meaning the entire community collaboratively determines which looks get front-page exposure by adding “hype” points to looks they like. Each hype point awards “karma” to the person who posted the “look” and this simple system of mutual reward allows us to showcase the most interesting looks at any given moment. It’s like tapping into the collective wisdom of thousands of creative people to determine the best in international street fashion.
JNF: You really have created a unique “community”. What do you think being a part of LB means to your readers?
LB: What I hope it means to our readers is that each of them is participating in a movement to change the way fashion is consumed by the masses. They no longer have to be satisfied with consuming spoon-fed trends and unattainable ideals portrayed by magazines or entertainment…now they can see fashion come to life on real people, and actively participate in it themselves.
JNF: We love you guys because of that. You are defiantly making a statement that real fashion comes from the streets.
LB: …I definitely agree! On the streets is where fashion comes to life whereas high-end fashion is often limited to a more narrow set of lifestyles and people. I like to think that there is something a bit more authentic about drawing inspiration from diverse and real people rather than just following traditional media outlets which tend to highlight the same repeated trends until the next one comes along. Fashion is about self-expression and I think you need to free yourself from what’s been deemed cool and hip, in order to truly find your own unique style and in that way find your place in the world.
JNF: So we must ask, since you are at the forefront of all of this – whose streets are at the top?
LB: In Europe, the Swedes are my number one, hands down. They seem to just really understand fashion. In Asia, Singapore’s got it going on. And I’d have to include the United States of course, for all its diversity.
JNF: What is your definition of good/bad style?
LB: Good is when you inspire, bad is when you’re not yourself.
JNF: Your site’s members seem to break all the “fashion rules” and you often prod your own stylists, in your interviews, to give you their take on rules, so we ask you – fashion rules: yay or nay?
LB: I actually think there should be no rules! People break them anyways. Trends break them anyways.
JNF: Your site is based on being open to all style mindsets…but is there any trend you are seeing around that you wish would just go away already?
LB: I am not a big fan of: excessive (head to toe) American Apparel, elastic headbands (I think braids, strings, and fabrics do it better), frames with no lenses, and Kanye shutter shades…sorry Kanye!
JNF: I give you “hype” for that answer. Just as Kayne has inspired many a hipster to buy shutter shades, LB is an inspiration to many people, but in a better way! What inspires you?
LB: People.
JNF: What about LB – what was the inspiration behind that?
LB: …I would say the major inspirations for LOOKBOOK were street style bloggers like the famous Sartorialist and scene photographers like thecobrasnake, both of whom were very fascinating to me when I first discovered them. To me, the rise of so many blogs dedicated to showcasing real, accessible fashion from everyday people made an important statement—for practical fashion inspiration, one should look to the streets and to parties, rather than the runways or pages of glossy magazines.
JNF: LA is lucky enough now to be the first site of LB hosted parties. How did we get so lucky?
LB: …Why LA? Because it’s the fashion capital of the US, sorry New Yorkers! Honestly though, I think LA has one of the most eclectic fashion scenes anywhere—our Los Angeles group on LOOKBOOK http://LOSANGELES.lookbook.nu) can attest to that.
JNF: What’s next LOOKBOOK?
LB: Keep doing what we’re doing. Growing the site, listening to feedback. We hope to get a printed LOOKBOOK published later on. Oh, and our server costs are not cheap, so we are going to begin selling ads to help pay for our massive internet bills. We are building a sponsorship and text ad system designed especially for independent designers and shops that we support to promote their products to young fashion lovers all over the world.
JNF: Let’s close with a bit of wisdom from the powers that be at LOOKBOOK.NU. What you got?
LB: …my best word of advice: wash your jeans inside out and very sparingly if you want them to last.
Stop by LOOKBOOK.NU to see what all the hype is about and while you’re at it, visit us at www.citizenla.com to get more on this interview or drop us a line at jones@citizenla.com.