Street style focused fashion communities where anyone can post pictures of their coordinated outfits for others to admire and emulate have become a popular way to share looks online. fbFund winner Weardrobe has seen success with this model and was recently acquired by Like.com. Polyvore also offers users a way to curate their own looks. Chicisimo is entering this space as an alternative user generated, social platform for personal fashion.
The site, which is focused towards female fashion, allows users to upload a photo of an outfit, and then tag the look with the brands she’s wearing. Other users can vote for their favorite looks. Chicisimo aggregates the tags for each brand under a devoted page to show collections for each designer or brand.
The site also has a Digg-like feel, with the most popular looks, according to votes, surfacing on the front page of Chicisimo. And you can follow certain members of the community whose looks you admire. You can also explore community looks by colors, countries, brands, and clothes.
Started as a blog, Chicisimo quickly grew into a community says co-founder Gabriel Aldamiz-Echevarria. The site also plans to add the ability to post video to the site.
As I’ve said in the past, the biggest barriers to street style community sites is gaining a loyal user base and driving traffic to the site. However, brand partnerships, such as the deals that Polyvore has been able to make with the Gap and others, can bring traffic and even new users to these communities.