This week, we are discussing our favorite Web sites for browsing and gathering inspiration for our own wardrobe decisions. If you’re feeling bored with your clothing selection and need to add some spice, read on for some ideas on where to find some fashion motivation:EG: My current (and usual) favorite site for browsing and getting stylish ideas is anthropologie.com. They have beautiful dresses, delicate tops and shoes, and although their items are usually way out of my normal price range, I often use their outfits for inspiration — though you can sometimes find decently priced skirts and basic tops in the sale section.
Another favorite: Style.com. I don’t really know where to begin with this site. My favorite areas are the Trend Report and Anatomy of a Classic.
AA: I like to go to places where I can see what people are wearing in the cities, because their outfits are usually so bold and unexpected and creative in amazing ways. My favorite site for this is actually a blog: www.thesartorialist.blogspot.com. The blogger is a professional photographer who takes some quite breathtaking candid photos at times, but also catches a few of the most vibrant and brave style moments. He photographs the fashions in all kinds of places — India, Paris, New York and Italy — so the range of innovative ideas is great.
EP: My online perusing tastes are more akin to EG’s. I love looking at online stores! Piperlime.com, a relatively new Gap Inc. addition, is a super source for increasing your shoe knowledge. The great thing about online stores, is that it’s so easy to just browse really expensive stuff that you’d never buy and get ideas about what trends and styles you’d like to hunt for at Target, DSW, etc.
AA: Sites like bluefly.com and Shopbop are also fun to look at — for the exact same reasons that EP just mentioned. They sell upscale designer clothes that you can get ideas from … or that you can see and realize that designer clothes are not all that. Either way, you win — you can find things you like and then use them for inspiration, or see that the absence of designer names in your closet might be a good thing, since some of their clothes are so atrocious anyway.
KW: I find that online shopping can be just as, if not more, depressing for me than real shopping, although I do peruse the websites of my favorite stores so I can gauge when great things will be on sale. My favorite fashion site, however, is most certainly gofugyourself.com and it is brilliant. It is written by two women in their early 30’s and they discuss the many ways that celebrities fail at dressing themselves. The only downside is that there is no new content on the weekends, a fact that I, and a fellow columnist, lament weekly.
The inspiration is out there! If you feel like you need a fashion boost, try one or two of the sites mentioned here — what you find will hopefully send you into a flurry of style innovation.