Telephones stopped to be just communication devices a long time ago. The ubiquitous internet and millions of apps, games and gadgets available in the AppStore and Google Play caused that mobile phones and tablets became the centre of entertainment, work tools, source of knowledge and inspiration and the way to share our creativity and experience.
I use many apps on a daily basis at work, to create my blog and for my private purposes. Of course there are pros and cons for everything and despite the increasing popularity of portable devices there are still many opponents of the galloping tech progress. I thing that there is no way to avoid the development of technology so why wouldn’t we draw the best out of it to make life easier and stay up to date? The first advantage of this, from the top of my head, is the fact that I don’t need to carry around a heavy wastepaper in my purse any longer. I buy a few magazines every month. Every one of them weights a bit (if we’d take the adds away the situation would be completely different, but let’s be honest, we’re not living in a perfect world;). We tote these papers from home to work and back because sometimes there’s not enough time to read something at home, so we’re thinking that maybe at lunch time we’ll finish an article, afterwards we need to go somewhere so we’ll take a look at the magazine in the traffic and so on… On top of that there is the question raising: what to do with magazines we’ve already read?
Unfortunately I tend to collect them for years. You never know when you’ll be needing to go back to some article. On the other hand why litter the valuable storage space at our homes with unnecessary stuff? We usually don’t have enough space for the important stuff (like shoes;) anyway. The virtual issues of magazines are the perfect solution in a situation like this. First of all the downloadable version is usually cheaper than the paper one, all your journals are right there, at your fingertips, your bag doesn’t gain even one gram of extra weight and finally all issues are being archived in your app, so you can browse through them whenever you like and there’s no need to keep special space on your shelves just for that. Not to mention the saving of trees.
What other attractions did engineers plan for fashion lovers? Loaaads of them :) The internet and virtual shops are packed with fashion related apps. Most of them are free, because they work in a similar way. Different apps serve different purposes and are dedicated to different target groups, but it all brings to allowing sellers to reach customers and advertise their products to them, finally: sell them. I have chosen a few popular fashion apps and tested them. Some of them I liked and use on a daily basis, some are just fun gadgets and others are completely useless to me, but it doesn’t mean that someone else won’t find them useful.
1. ASAP54
I actually put a lot of hopes in this app as I happen to notice well dressed women in the streets much more often than handsome men ;). I often feel like asking someone: where did you get this?, but it’s not always possible. ASAP54 is supposed to be a solution to that kind of problems. By using this app you can shot a new or upload existing photo of a piece of clothing that you hope to find and the app will search the internet for you and find the same or similar one. It sound promising, but the results aren’t always satisfying. It’s all based on the photo and two additional criteria that you need to choose from fixed menus. First you choose a main category: coats, sweaters, pants, dresses, bags, accessories, tops, skirts, blouses, flats, heels and jewelry. Than you need to narrow the results down by choosing additional info, for instance length of the skirt or sleeves. It seems like the photo is necessary mostly to define exact colour, because the app cannot recognize what kind of style are you looking for. If you search for a military inspired, A line, green midi skirt you’ll get the results in all possible shapes and forms without a guarantee that among of them you’ll THE ONE. The bright side is the fact that ASAP54, unlike other similar apps, responses immediately. For instance The Hunt will help you to find the exactly same piece of clothing, but it will take longer, since you’ll have to wait for a reply from other users who will recognize the brand and give you a hint where you can find this particular item.
2. Chicfeed
This app is as simple as it’s only possible. It simply gathers style pictures from a few popular fashion blogs, including LookBook, Chictopia, Cherry Blossom Girl and Jack and Jill Blog. It is a source of inspiration and actually nothing more. You can pin your favourite pics on Pinterest’s wall or share on Instagram or Twitter. It’s worth to have it at the fingertips when the crisis comes and you are standing in front of your open closet and feel helpless.
3. Closet
The name is a hint: it’s a virtual wardrobe. It’s all about uploading pictures of your clothes. You can create catalogs and assign categories to them. The app is combined with a calendar, so you can plan your outfits for particular days and it also remembers what and when you already wore. It doesn’t sound like a lifesaver to me, especially that the free version allows to upload only 30 items, for more you need to pay for an upgrade to the PLUS version. It might be useful to those who struggle with shopping and making decisions. When choosing new clothes you can quickly browse through those that you already own and decide if there’s something that will go with the new buy. Also you can show the picture to the shop assistant and ask for help. “I have this black tunic and I’m looking for a pair of trousers which will work with it”. Easier to show than to explain :). Another useful option is packing assistance. I usually pack kits when traveling. I avoid putting random clothes into my suitcase, because I don’t like to find out at my destination that I have too many clothes with me, but nothing really belongs together. By using Closet you can create a list of items, or even a list of sets which you want to take with you on holiday.
4. Covet
Covet is a popular game based on creating virtual looks with clothes, jewelry and accessories of real designers and brands. You need to attend particular cultural and social events. Every event costs you some amount of tickets, but you also earn money for showing up. This (virtual) money might be spent on clothes. Before participating in an event you need to style a look suiting the occasion. The outfits are subject to other users’ judgment and depending on voting results you can win extra cash or clothes. The best Coveters have also a chance to win real clothes for themselves.
5. EmotiKarl
It’s just a funny gadget which is an enhancement to a basic keyboard. The app is similar to Emoji, but it only offers emoticons with images of Fashion King, His Majesty Karl Lagerfeld, his cult gloves and famous catkin.
6. Vogue Collections
It’s a real pocket archive. One of my favourite and most useful apps. Great tool for those who follow fashion shows and like to stay up to date. You can find the pictures of all silhouettes presented on the catwalks of big and smaller maisons in this app branded by the most influential fashion magazine. And the archives go back 10 years!
And my absolute number one, intentionally left for the desert…
7. Polyvore
For me Polyvore is actually one of my work tools. The users of this app can create and share collages similar to fashion magazines’ pages. There are thousands of clothes, accessories, shoes, home amenities and even furniture of different brands from all over the world available to style looks and interiors. You can enhance the image with various backgrounds, textures, shapes, frames and even journal articles. A huge advantage is the ease of searching for particular pieces. You can look up your item from fixed drop-down menus, by categories or key words. Than you can narrow the results down by applying number of filters, like colour, brand or price range. Instead of searching through dozens of shops and online catalogs you can easily look up desired clothes in Polyvore and by clicking on them you’ll be transferred to the online store where you can make a purchase. For me, a big fan of online shopping, it’s a perfect solution.
I use many apps on a daily basis at work, to create my blog and for my private purposes. Of course there are pros and cons for everything and despite the increasing popularity of portable devices there are still many opponents of the galloping tech progress. I thing that there is no way to avoid the development of technology so why wouldn’t we draw the best out of it to make life easier and stay up to date? The first advantage of this, from the top of my head, is the fact that I don’t need to carry around a heavy wastepaper in my purse any longer. I buy a few magazines every month. Every one of them weights a bit (if we’d take the adds away the situation would be completely different, but let’s be honest, we’re not living in a perfect world;). We tote these papers from home to work and back because sometimes there’s not enough time to read something at home, so we’re thinking that maybe at lunch time we’ll finish an article, afterwards we need to go somewhere so we’ll take a look at the magazine in the traffic and so on… On top of that there is the question raising: what to do with magazines we’ve already read?
Unfortunately I tend to collect them for years. You never know when you’ll be needing to go back to some article. On the other hand why litter the valuable storage space at our homes with unnecessary stuff? We usually don’t have enough space for the important stuff (like shoes;) anyway. The virtual issues of magazines are the perfect solution in a situation like this. First of all the downloadable version is usually cheaper than the paper one, all your journals are right there, at your fingertips, your bag doesn’t gain even one gram of extra weight and finally all issues are being archived in your app, so you can browse through them whenever you like and there’s no need to keep special space on your shelves just for that. Not to mention the saving of trees.
What other attractions did engineers plan for fashion lovers? Loaaads of them :) The internet and virtual shops are packed with fashion related apps. Most of them are free, because they work in a similar way. Different apps serve different purposes and are dedicated to different target groups, but it all brings to allowing sellers to reach customers and advertise their products to them, finally: sell them. I have chosen a few popular fashion apps and tested them. Some of them I liked and use on a daily basis, some are just fun gadgets and others are completely useless to me, but it doesn’t mean that someone else won’t find them useful.
1. ASAP54
I actually put a lot of hopes in this app as I happen to notice well dressed women in the streets much more often than handsome men ;). I often feel like asking someone: where did you get this?, but it’s not always possible. ASAP54 is supposed to be a solution to that kind of problems. By using this app you can shot a new or upload existing photo of a piece of clothing that you hope to find and the app will search the internet for you and find the same or similar one. It sound promising, but the results aren’t always satisfying. It’s all based on the photo and two additional criteria that you need to choose from fixed menus. First you choose a main category: coats, sweaters, pants, dresses, bags, accessories, tops, skirts, blouses, flats, heels and jewelry. Than you need to narrow the results down by choosing additional info, for instance length of the skirt or sleeves. It seems like the photo is necessary mostly to define exact colour, because the app cannot recognize what kind of style are you looking for. If you search for a military inspired, A line, green midi skirt you’ll get the results in all possible shapes and forms without a guarantee that among of them you’ll THE ONE. The bright side is the fact that ASAP54, unlike other similar apps, responses immediately. For instance The Hunt will help you to find the exactly same piece of clothing, but it will take longer, since you’ll have to wait for a reply from other users who will recognize the brand and give you a hint where you can find this particular item.
2. Chicfeed
This app is as simple as it’s only possible. It simply gathers style pictures from a few popular fashion blogs, including LookBook, Chictopia, Cherry Blossom Girl and Jack and Jill Blog. It is a source of inspiration and actually nothing more. You can pin your favourite pics on Pinterest’s wall or share on Instagram or Twitter. It’s worth to have it at the fingertips when the crisis comes and you are standing in front of your open closet and feel helpless.
3. Closet
The name is a hint: it’s a virtual wardrobe. It’s all about uploading pictures of your clothes. You can create catalogs and assign categories to them. The app is combined with a calendar, so you can plan your outfits for particular days and it also remembers what and when you already wore. It doesn’t sound like a lifesaver to me, especially that the free version allows to upload only 30 items, for more you need to pay for an upgrade to the PLUS version. It might be useful to those who struggle with shopping and making decisions. When choosing new clothes you can quickly browse through those that you already own and decide if there’s something that will go with the new buy. Also you can show the picture to the shop assistant and ask for help. “I have this black tunic and I’m looking for a pair of trousers which will work with it”. Easier to show than to explain :). Another useful option is packing assistance. I usually pack kits when traveling. I avoid putting random clothes into my suitcase, because I don’t like to find out at my destination that I have too many clothes with me, but nothing really belongs together. By using Closet you can create a list of items, or even a list of sets which you want to take with you on holiday.
4. Covet
Covet is a popular game based on creating virtual looks with clothes, jewelry and accessories of real designers and brands. You need to attend particular cultural and social events. Every event costs you some amount of tickets, but you also earn money for showing up. This (virtual) money might be spent on clothes. Before participating in an event you need to style a look suiting the occasion. The outfits are subject to other users’ judgment and depending on voting results you can win extra cash or clothes. The best Coveters have also a chance to win real clothes for themselves.
5. EmotiKarl
It’s just a funny gadget which is an enhancement to a basic keyboard. The app is similar to Emoji, but it only offers emoticons with images of Fashion King, His Majesty Karl Lagerfeld, his cult gloves and famous catkin.
6. Vogue Collections
It’s a real pocket archive. One of my favourite and most useful apps. Great tool for those who follow fashion shows and like to stay up to date. You can find the pictures of all silhouettes presented on the catwalks of big and smaller maisons in this app branded by the most influential fashion magazine. And the archives go back 10 years!
And my absolute number one, intentionally left for the desert…
7. Polyvore
For me Polyvore is actually one of my work tools. The users of this app can create and share collages similar to fashion magazines’ pages. There are thousands of clothes, accessories, shoes, home amenities and even furniture of different brands from all over the world available to style looks and interiors. You can enhance the image with various backgrounds, textures, shapes, frames and even journal articles. A huge advantage is the ease of searching for particular pieces. You can look up your item from fixed drop-down menus, by categories or key words. Than you can narrow the results down by applying number of filters, like colour, brand or price range. Instead of searching through dozens of shops and online catalogs you can easily look up desired clothes in Polyvore and by clicking on them you’ll be transferred to the online store where you can make a purchase. For me, a big fan of online shopping, it’s a perfect solution.
