(All reviews are written by Ernest Schmatolla.)The following are our reviews of new or interesting fashion web sites.
(All reviews are written by Ernest Schmatolla.)The following are our reviews of new or interesting fashion web sites.
FashionLive is a new fashion website edited and produced by World Media Live, a Paris-based company responsible for a variety of journalistic sites among them Sarajevo Online and events related sites on the Cannes Film Festival and the Tour de France. The "first issue" of FashionLive was a "live" broadcast via the Internet of Yves Saint Laurent's July 10 Haute Couture show. In addition, the site will also feature an extensive archive of photos highlighting YSL's 34 year career.
This is a site that anyone interested in fashion should take a look at. Real editorial content and great graphic design marks this site as a winner. Simply the best use of the internet - as it applies to fashion - we have ever seen.
So much for Karl Lagerfeld and his crusade against fashion on the Internet! We can expect to see a lot more of these "broadcasts" in the future. These events may develop into the Internet's version of an "infomercial" -less a news event and more a commercial- that is now so common on American cable TV.
We rate this site overall a "A-".
("A" for content; "A" for design and "B-" ultilizing internet resources.)
An interactive network to allow photographers, stylists, models, hairstylists, make-up artists, studio production services, art directors, and ad agencies to show their work internationally on a contiuous basis by a regular updated bio and work history. Studio Net is nicely organized and we especially liked the very clever animated gifs that link each section.
This site has everything but what it purports to provide - a showcase of top industry resources. There is alot of "virtual" name dropping going on. For example, a search for photographers in the "world wide" data base came up with a total of eleven of the world's best known photographers - and nobody else. But worse, a search for art directors came up with nobody! It will be a long time before Studio Net replaces the "Creative Black Book" or even "The Madison Avenue Handbook" for that matter.
Considering that the Studio Net has been up for a number of months it is astonishing that so little work has been done on the data base. This site is, in our opinion, really just an ad to network the design talents of the company and a vanity publication to promote the image of the publisher thru "write-ups" by friendly editors and "invites" to some additional parties!
Studio Net is a "wish" of what might be - and not what is. It puts a few big names in its indexes and some magazine cover art up and expects that we should all be impressed. It is another example of a "web site with an ego". It places style over content, and image over substance. For now, the "buzz" on Studio Net is it is of little value to anyone in the fashion industry -on or off of the internet.
We rate this site overall a "D".
("D" for content; "B+" for design and "F" ultilizing internet resources.)
July 27 Update: Another 15 or more well known photographers has been added to the portfolio directory. The art director listings have been dropped. There is still only one photo studio listed; less than a dozen stylists and only two model agencies included in their world wide model agency data base. We still rate this site overall a "D".
The official site of the organizers of the Fall'96 RTW shows at Bryant Park is up an running. Fern Mallis, Bruce Rayvid, Melissa McCarthy and company provide fashion victims with show information, chat lines, runway photos, shockwave, and plenty of hype!
This site, was designed by Hurricane Interactive Technologies primarily to promote the corporate images of the "7th On Sixth" sponsors. Little effort was made in providing any information that was not already available online. We found the graphics very confusing but Hurricane cannot be held responsible for the design. They had to work with the "7th on Sixth" logo that - to put it nicely - was a bit of a mess. But some of the links did not even work! Was there anybody around to test the pages? The shockwave was nice but 90% of the users on the internet do not have the program to run it and few will take the time to download it.
Sadly, the very power of the internet was not even tapped into! Hurricane did not work to set up links to and from other fashion sites and the home page was not listed with any of the major internet seach engines. They relied on the "7th on Sixth" sponsors to provide them with links from their corporate home pages and from the listing of the site's URL in the New York Times ads to pull in users. Hurricane was claiming between 35,000 to 80,000 hits a day for the first week. These numbers were total hits. Actual users were probably from 3,000 to a maximum of 5,000 a day. A very poor showing indeed!
It was apparent that "7th on Sixth" could care less how many users actually got on. The purpose of the site was not really to reach people on the Internet but rather to impress their sponsors and the fashion press. Hurricane's booth was the first thing editors saw when they walked into the press room. The computers stood there with the "7th on Sixth" home page blinking like an electronic billboard.
We got the feeling we were at a carnival side show. The smell of popcorn was in the air. There was a lot of digital "smoke and mirrors" going on. Editors were inticed by "virtual hawkers" dressed in black to stop by for a look. Everybody was hustling. Sponsors smiled as they saw their names up on the site, designers impressed seeing their life stories online, Hurricane busy selling web page design, and everybody looked "high tech" and "on the edge". Even we were showing the Look On-Line on their computers for a while. But after a few mean looks we decided to stay away from their area. After all, we were the only fashion site that put link up to their site for the whole first week. So we were definitely suspect!!
The "7th on Sixth" web site is another example of what happens when big money meets even bigger egos. Everybody's needs were being served except for the final users. The site will remain up all year. We will review the site again in a few months. It will interesting to see what they do with their pages. It can only get better.
4/24 Update: We finally can view the site using shockwave. The only problem is the program crashes our computer from time to time. Also the graphic map of the designers in the "ezine" area is missing!
7/24 Update: Hurricane has removed the site. Their new site for the Menswear Shows is now up. We will leave this review up until the next 7th on Sixth site goes up for the Spring'97 Bryant Park RTW shows.We still rate the site overall a "D".
("C" for content; "D" for design and "F" ultilizing internet resources.)
The National Chamber of Italian Fashion, the nonprofit organization that runs the Milan shows now has a their own web site. Complete schedule of shows and events that is frequently updated. Beautiful graphics and real content in real time. Right are target.
We rate the site a B+.
The web site for A/X in now online. Nice opening graphic and clean, modern design. Very "politically correct" looking but the content is so boring! And how about the inspirational message from Mr. Armani: "My clothes must belong to those who wear them". Did he really say that? Then a few sample images of the current collection, list of store locations, press releases, contest to win a jacket and away we go! Sorry, but we expected much more from anything with the master's name on it.
And once on, there is little reason to go back again. If you changed the name from Armani to the "Gap" on this site you would never know the difference. With all the people taking credit for the creation of this site it should have been better. Log on and let us know what you think of. We will publish interesting responses.
4/24 update: We now have a strip tease as the opening graphic. Perhaps next Mr. Armani himself will do a little soft shoe!
We rate this site a "C".
("C" for content; "B" for design and "D" ultilizing internet resources.)
