Iqons, the London-based social networking site that aims to be the MySpace of the fashion world, has already signed up several major fashion designers.
The site, which has been up in beta, or trial mode, since October, officially launched last week. Each month, the site features a different “Iqon,” or influential member of the fashion community. Vivienne Westwood, Alber Elbaz and John Galliano plan to join the site and be featured Iqons for a month each starting in March. They will interact with and offer advice to other Iqons members online.
As of December, the site had 1,500 members, with 100 new ones joining daily. Iqons co-founder Rafael Jimenez said the designers are not being paid for their time.
Jimenez said previously that the site was intended to offer professional networking opportunities for those in the fashion business, as well as entertainment for fashion followers. The site’s two founders and its advisory board members have years of experience in the fashion business, and the site has already attracted a large number of members who work in the industry. A search of the site’s membership turned up more than 700 designers, as well as several hundred photographers, stylists and students. Later this year, Iqons will launch a design contest, and the winning entries will be produced and sold on Yoox.
Early on, MySpace became the place for bands to create their own profiles and interact with fans. Groups such as Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Be Your Own Pet have been able to attract large followings online even without being signed to a major label.
Fashion portal Glam, which launched fashion social networking site GlamSpace in September, has also brought designers onto its site, notably Nanette Lepore, who blogged during New York Fashion Week last year and who has a profile on the site. However, most of Glam’s profiles of designers and other prominent fashion-industry people have been created by Glam itself. The company has more than 250 such profiles, which are identified as “Glam Editorial Profiles.” Such an approach may be a first for a social networking site, where usually the goal is to message with and link to other users.
New fashion-related social networking sites and other forms of social media are continually popping up, some with venture capital backing. There is speculation well-funded media companies such as Glam are looking to buy blogs, blog networks and other social computing companies such as bookmarking site StyleHive. Recent entrants include FashMatch, a site where users can play fashion stylist and share outfits created from items online, and StyleSpy, a trend-spotting site where members can vote and rank items or trends from cuff links to Kate Moss’ latest outfit. TeamSugar, a social network associated with Sugar Publishing’s blog network, launched in August. Moli, a social networking and community site that is not yet open to the public will include fashion as well as other lifestyle topics. Other social networking sites devoted to fashion include Shoutfit, ShareYourLook and MyStyleDiary.
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Fashion blogs, another form of social media, are already well established, with many bloggers attending fashion week. Most blogs do not generate an income, but dozens of the world’s most popular blogs are thought to pull in more than $100,000 in advertising a year. Yvan Rodic, who started the Paris-based fashion streetwear blog Face Hunter, said he now has an agent and has received inquiries to do additional projects with advertising agencies, producers, publishers and galleries. Gawker’s first editor, Elizabeth Spiers, recently added a fashion blog to her growing empire, Dead Horse Media. Fashionista is written by recent Duke graduate and blogger Faran Krentcil of Imaginary Socialite fame.
CREDIT: BILL GEORGOUSSIS
A spring ‘07 look from London-based designer Romina Karamanea, who joined Iqons last year.