Polyvore: Making Dreams Come True

When we were little it may have been Duck Hunt. Later, it became Madden. In college, it was Grand Theft Auto and as of the late, it’s been Guitar Hero and Rock Band. We’ve always been around video games, and sure, we’ll partake for a round or two (usually for flirtatious purposes) but we never connected with them the way the boys did.

It’s probably because those weren’t our dreams. We didn’t want to shoot things or become pro-athletes or rock stars, we had no interest in picking up prostitutes and later lighting them on fire. We wanted to create, make things pretty. Dress things up. But nobody was out there selling us a dream about how fabulous we could be (although we did live vicariously through Jem). That is, until now.

I randomly stumbled upon the site Polyvore, and although I doubt its business plan would ever describe it as such, it’s basically a video game for fashionistas, both the actual and the aspiring.

If you ever wanted to be a market editor, art director or just a hobbyist at putting things together, this is the place for you. I can’t tell you exactly what the purpose of the site is and how they make money, but that is not my concern right now.

What I do know is that they have developed a technology which allows you to create editorial-like fashion spreads by simply pointing, clicking, dragging and resizing. You can do so with their set of stock images or import your own. Each image is attached to the retail site from which it came (Net-a-Porter, ShopBop, etc) and after you have created your commercial collage the items appear on the side bar for purchase.

You can also export these creations, which they call a “set,” to your Facebook or MySpace accounts and share them with friends outside the Polyvore community, which consists of 3 millions users, average profile is 21-year-old female (shocker).

Many of the sets are very impressive! I was confused at first because I couldn’t possibly believe they were user-created, but that’s actually the beauty of the site. The only thing that might be more fun than creating your own set is being inspired by the work of others! No, forget that, creating your own set is way more fun.

Final Word: The image attached is my first attempt at creation. And while clearly I did not miss my calling as an art director, my picks are so DMoney. Try this out for yourself and leave the weblink to your set in our comments! So fun. You may never leave your desktop.