F5.5G Leap-forward Development of Broadband in Africa The Africa Broadband Forum 2024 (BBAF 2024) was successfully held in Cape Town, South Africa recently, under…
9 apps for serious fashionistas and aspiring trendsetters
The great thing about technology is that it caters for everybody — even the fashion-conscious. If you work in the style industry or are just a serial fashion lover, having an app that informs you of current trends and runway developments can only be beneficial. Fashion apps can help you find inspiration, discover key products, purchase gifts on the go, share your outfits and treasures with others, as well a become a learning tool for the less fashionably informed.
As a not-too-fashion-conscious gal, I dress practically and the idea of a fashion app didn’t even resonate with or appeal to me. But even if you aren’t the most fashionable person in town, these apps can help steer you in a more trendy direction. Some help you organise your closet or give some peace of mind when purchasing that must-have expensive item, while others connect you to a world of other fashionistas out there, or are designed for those of us like me: trying to make an effort.
To make things even better, most of these applications are free and available for both iOS and Android, so rather not fall to the pending fashion faux pas and get connected.
9 apps for serious fashionistas and aspiring trendsetters
Fashion Terms
Fashion Terms (US$0.99) helps you wrap your head around those need to know names for anything fashion-related. Do you sometimes struggle with some basic fashion terminology or get confused with words such as D'orsay shoe, wing collar, boleros? Fashion Terms is style study guide for the ‘fashion uninformed’, explaining the basic fashion terminology, differentiating silhouettes, garments and fabrics.
Fashism
Fashism (free) is the fashion adviser every girl needs. Ever stood in front of the mirror and not sure if your outfit looks fine? Or not sure if you should purchase an item? Fashism is the answer to your dilemma. You simply upload a photo, ask questions and receive answers in real time. The best app to have when in doubt, as the Fashism community will want to help you dodge the ever threatening fashion faux pas. Fashism also includes a share feature that shares to Facebook, Twitter and email.
Netrobe
Netrobe (free) helps you plan and organise your closet. If you have heaps of clothing but struggle to find outfits from the labyrinth that is your closet, Netrobe is the perfect app to ‘virtually’ sort out your clothing. People can take pictures of all clothing items they have and digitally organize their attire into categories, such as dresses, pants, accessories etc. as well as evening wear, beachwear and so forth. This app also features a style-board that lets you style outfits from different items in your directory. Netrobe helps you plan outfits on the go and save them as well as keeps track of your ‘worn history’. This is a nifty app for people on the move and who travel often.
Pose
Pose (free) is for "The Satorialist" or Lookbook.Nu fans who love street style photography. It is a never ending stream of different fashion scenes and genres. The app allows you to upload pictures of your favourite shoes, outfits and accessories. The app is host to millions of fashion lovers worldwide, a hybrid hub of many different styles all in one app, sure to please the most maven fashion lovers. Users are encouraged to tag products with the items brand and price, this informs a shopper of good bargains and price ranges of different brand and designers. With a nifty ‘love’ or ‘share’ feature that lets people give outfit feedback and shares to email, Facebook as well as Twitter.
Snapette
Snapette (free) is a smart application for avid shoppers. With Snapette you are able to take pictures of trendy items or something noteworthy to you as you are shopping. Users are able to tag their best finds and favourite items with the necessary buying information. Snapette is a constant photo stream of items that are ‘near’, ‘hot’ and ‘new’ to you.
Speak Chic
Speak Chic (US$1.99) is a guide to help you with those difficult to pronounce fashion related terms. Whether you nearly bite your own tongue when pronouncing Monique L’Huillier (Moh-neek Loo-weel-yay) or can barely say Badgley Mischka (Badge-lee Mish-kah), you’re in the safe e-linguistic hands of Speak Chic. This app has nearly 300 brands and designer names to listen on audio and helps you with the use of phonetic spellings to help perfect your rolling Rs and trilled Ls. Save them to your favorites menu and name drop as you please.
Trendabl
Trendabl (free) is the latest startup to embrace the power of celebrity influence. Billed as “Instagram for fashion,” users can share photos of outfits and tag them according to label, price, where it’s from, etc. You can also comment on and like things. Its celebrity trendsetters include Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, Harley Viera Newton, Whitney Port and Brad Goreski
The Cut On The Runway
The Cut on the Runway (free) helps you keep tabs on all the latest runway shows and fashion weeks being held across the world. The app gives you the low-down on all current and past fashion shows. Exclusive features include backstage footage, front row seats, and party photos of models, designers and celebrities. 'Hit’ or ‘miss’ ratings meanwhile allow you to vote for your favourite looks and view the top 100 looks.
Cloth
Cloth (free) is an online diary of your outfits, where you can digitally archive your daily looks and able to refer to past outfits. The outfits can be pigeonholed as every day, evening, vacation, work and favourite wear. Cloth's photo editor allows people to enhance photos, add Instagram-like filters and stickers. People can also rotate and crop looks to their liking.
Catwalk - Gabrielsaldana
Image: gabrielsaldana (via Flickr).
