BLIPPY AND THE LUXURY SOCIETY - THE FUTURE OF FASHION NETWORKING?

Posted by the Fashion Junior at Large

Fashion went crazy for online media last year. We had bloggers sitting shoulder to shoulder with Anna Wintour on the front row, labels striving to build their online reputation (as exemplified by Burberry’s Sartorialist-style Art of the Trench website), and designers ‘tweeting’ to legions of the devoted. So what’s next?

Well, in 2010 a new breed of social networking site has emerged. One that, unlike say Facebook, provides a format that seems specifically tailored to the fashion industry. 

One example is Blippy – the Twitter style website that automatically updates your status every time you use your registered bank card, or ‘social card’ as it’s known. For example: ‘Esme Benjamin spent £1550 at Chanel’ (Now that would be a purchase worth blipping about. As things stand it’s more likely to read ‘Esme Benjamin spent £4.50 at Tesco Express’). It’s basically an ode to that very naughties philosophy ‘you are what you buy’;  a textbook example of conspicuous consumption if ever there was one.

 

Positioning itself as Blippy’s polar opposite is The Luxury Society. A social networking site co-created and edited by businessoffashion.com’s Imran Amed where, as the name denotes, those who work in luxury industries can hobnob and trade ideas in an exclusive virtual environment. The website is closed to non-members (when you count top execs from the world’s most desirable brands among your members it’s important to keep the riffraff out). Click through and you’ll be greeted by a sleek grey log-in page with a small golden key symbol. It’s the virtual equivalent of passing a fashion week after-show party that you are not invited to.

Both sites are in the beta (invite only) stage at the moment, but they are certainly interesting ideas, no? On one side you’ve got a social-networking website encouraging you to share your spending habits, on the other you’ve got one promoting secrecy and exclusivity. If Blippy and The Luxury Society are indicative of the future for fashion and social networking we’re in for a fascinating and innovative 2010.

Picture credits:
"I Shop Therefore I Am' courtesy of Barbara Kruger
Blippy courtesy of paulstamatiou.com 
Luxury Society courtesy of blog.halogennetwork.com