Fashion sets

Haven't posted in a long time. Here's an update on Polyvore alternatives.
I've created most of my fashion sets on Shoplook. It looks like the website is a work in progress, and many of the features are still in development. Anyway, here are some of my sets:

There doesn't seem to be a lot happening socializing wise on Shoplook, but I'm finding it to be easier to work with. Initially, I had trouble filtering some items by price, but that problem seems to have cleared up. I like the selection of clothes on the Shoplook site. You can see I assembled a bunch of outfits in all different styles. Even though I put some of these outfits in one of the younger age groupings, I think they might look a little too mature, I suppose it depends upon what you're doing when you're wearing them.
Now for some Trendme stuff:

Trendme has been tricky to work with, as of late. They've got a sort of video game scoring system that shows users progress on the site, though I'm having a heck of time getting out of the beginner bracket. Maybe something is wrong with it. I think the max points you can get for an individual action is less than 75, and the max level requires almost 2000000 points, so I don't think gaining the max level title is going to happen for me. I've got almost 25000 tumblr posts, but I don't see myself doing the almost 30000 tasks on trendme to get to the max level.
Making sets is tough, too. I was able to upload some stuff, fortunately, and use them, well, it's been tricky. Some of the item filters hide my items, and I have to turn all of the filters off, then, when I want a public item, I have to turn each filter back on. 
Also, I can't get a copy of my sets anymore, and the links don't seem to work. Oh well. Another hang up: a small wardrobe of affordable clothes to select from.
Here's some sets I made on Urstyle:

I'm still really into the whole boho/hippy thing. Also, in the last set, took a walk down grunge lane. I haven't added or uploaded any items, because I'd need the Urstyle clipper and I'm not sure I want to develop a huge collection of apps on my browser. I finally found the price filter, and it's been helpful selecting items. I like the brick-a-brac stuff too, but I seem to be getting near the bottom of that barrel, and so soon too!
So. That's the latest news from the fashion set world.
I hope you enjoyed this post. I wanted to get a couple other posts up, but they seem to be taking an inordinately long time to get together. Hopefully soon. I'm sure you'll find them interesting, or at least diverting.
Hope your Summer has been a good one.
Catchya later.
Ciao.

Polyvore Alternatives

A little while after Polyvore closed down, I felt like making a fashion set. So. I went online and did a web search to try to find a website like Polyvore. My initial attempts were futile; nothing came up. I didn't search that hard; usually I reserve most of my web browsing for rummaging through the virtual
bargain bins of online clothing stores. A month or so after my first search, I decided to try again, and managed to find some websites and videos that
were talking about alternatives to Polyvore. And, here's what I found: much to my surprise, there are quite a few Polyvoreish websites. Since I wanted to make more fashion sets, and not check the sites out just for a blog post, I signed up to each site, and this post is coming to you a few weeks after I first signed up.
The first site we're going to look at is:
Shoplook.io
Coincidentally, Shoplook was the first site I registered with. If I'm not mistaken, I believe the site has other web extensions besides ".io". Not sure if those are any  different from the ".io" one. I can't say how long this site has been up and running, I don't think it was purpose built as a Polyvore substitute. From what I can gather, the site was originally a sort of data collection site: users would log into the site and indicate their fashion preferences, and the site would make wardrobe suggestions based on the user's profile. After the demise of Polyvore, it looks like Shoplook is trying to fill Polyvore's shoes by adding more features to its site that are similar to the ones that used to be on Polyvore. The website has a blurb stating that it has the largest family of Polyvore users - ex-Polyvore users - on  the web. Anyway, here's what one page of the site looks like after I signed in:

So. Obviously, you can see, that you can upload a profile photo. My status after a few sets is: designer.

Not sure what the grapes doodle is all about; hope they aren't sour. My stats are displayed on this page too: seems I've come up empty. That's not unusual, I've found, on Shoplook. Most of the sets by other people I examined had no likes either. One good thing: soon as I created a set it appeared in the recently published sets area; quite unlike Polyvore where my sets wouldn't come up even in searches. Initially, I had some luck with getting exposed - very little - on Polyvore, then poof! Nothing! Hope things stay good on Shoplook.

In order to create a set on Shoplook, you'll need to click on the clothes hanger icon in the upper right corner; maybe there's another way to get started, haven't found it yet. Next, you're sent to a page like this:

The procedure for creating a set on Shoplook is similar to creating a set on Polyvore. On the right hand side of the screen, there are categories of different types of clothing. Here's where I ran into my first problem. Let's say you need that top I have in my set, so, you go to the "tops" category. Now, once you open up to the tops, you'll find a gazillion different tops to choose from. Sounds great, right?Problem is, it's tough as heck  to filter them down to what you're looking for. I could find only a couple filters: sort by price: high or low, sort  by most recent, most popular, sort by seller; that was about all of the sorting I was able to do. You'll note, just above the table of jeans thumbnails in the pic above, there's a slider on the right side for price. It worked pretty well the first couple times I used it, now it seems to be kaput; it doesn't filter well at all, well, for dresses it wasn't filtering.

There's a Shoplook clipper, too, similar to the Polyvore clipper. I'm happy to report it worked better than the Polyvore clipper the times I have used it. It's available through the Google store and works with only some browsers. 

Rounding up the tour of Shoplook, here's a couple sets I created; here's my first set on Shoplook:

Actually, I think the clutch the model is holding works a little better with that dress than the quilted clutch I picked out; this set was only a test.

Next set I did:

A little Spartan. And here's some of my recent sets:

These were pretty good; I'd wear any one of these outfits.

Overall, my experience on Shoplook has been fairly good. I had no problems with the clipper. The set creation system is a little less versatile than Polyvore's. I don't mind that I haven't figured out how to do transparencies or cropping on Shoplook - if that's even doable there at all.The big problem is sorting through the clothing choices to get what I need for a set. My last months on Polyvore, I always wanted a background for sets; here, on Shoplook, there aren't many background images to choose from.
Here's somewhere else to make fashion sets:
urstyle.com
Urstyle is similar to Shoplook. One difference: Urstyle has a user forum for users to ask questions, give answers, and make remarks. It's separate from most of the rest of Urstyle. There didn't seem to be a lot of ways for users to communicate on Shoplook: you'll note the mail icon and alerts; that seems to be about it; send someone mail. 
After registering on Urstyle, here's my home page, I guess you could call it:

You can upload a profile pic here, too. The little green dot next to my photo indicates I'm online. Choosing a different colored dot means different things: don't disturb, online but hidden, things like that. Right off the bat, I received feedback on my sets; the bell icon and number inside the red circle show I've been noticed and by whom. To get the set process going, click on the "create" icon, maybe there's another way to get there, but that icon takes you to the set creation page. The mechanics of creating sets on Urstyle is very similar to Shoplook. Fortunately, there are more filters to help you find what you need for your set: sorting by colors, a little better on the pricing, also, if you enter a key word - for instance: flares - Urstyle seems a little more responsive to those requests than Shoplook.
My first Urstyle set was this:

That's how it looks on the page displaying all of my sets. Here's an up close and personal view of the set:

Pretty basic styling. Coincidentally, I used fancy borders, similar to the picture frame used in this set, for my first Polyvore sets.
I created another set, too:

Looks pretty nice. Here's one I did recently:

Urstyle has contests, too. The one and only competition I've seen is sponsored by Urstyle; the contest is to use a Urstyle item in a set. The top winners receive Urstyle items as prizes. There appeared to be some kind of contests going on on Shoplook, but I think they've expired, and the Shoplook folks haven't updated their site since then. Maybe more in the future. Urstyle has a clipper too. I might have to do an update about these Polyvoreish websites in the future, because I have not added the Urstyle clipper to my browser yet, so, I can't say how well it works, or not.
Next:
trendme.net
It's much like the previous two:

Trendme has unrelated ads throughout the website, as you can see here.
Here's what a profile page looks like:

You can choose which of your stats you'd like to share with others: private, friends, or public. You'll notice your profile page can be customized with a header photo; not sure I'll do that, maybe I will.

To create a set, just follow the-click-the-icon routine of the other websites, which brings you to here:

Pretty much like the other websites. The trendme set maker is fairly easy to use. Maybe easier than the urstyle set maker. The item selection filters are helpful and there are useful features to arrange the items in the set. Once you're ready to publish, a new screen pops up:

Simply enter the pertinent set info and hit "save" and voila! You're good to go.

Instead of a clipper, trendme has a way to upload images from your computer or from a URL:

Honestly, I like this method much better than an add on or app attached to my browser.

Our final stop on this whirlwind tour of the Polyvoreish side of the web, is here:

Bantoa.com

When I read the many rules attached to this website's requirements for making a set on the website, I couldn't help but think of it resembling a finishing school for "young ladies". To make a set on Bantoa, first you have to apply to be a "trendsetter". The application wasn't as scary for me as it first sounded; I was accepted without any fuss. Trendsetters are the people who make the sets on Bantoa, and those sets are used to promote products and to be examples of good style. Naturally, I was glad to become part of such a well thought of group.

There are a heck of a lot of rules on Bantoa. Of course every website that isn't hosted by your own web server has terms and conditions, but when you make a set on Bantoa, there are extra rules to follow, too:

Once you've figured all of that out, you're ready to make a set:

Items have to be "imported" first to a sort of palette, then, the items can be arranged on the "mood board". A nice part of this website is that you get your own trendsetter channel, and there are various widgets you can attach to your blog - if you've got one - that lead back to Bantoa. Of course, Bantoa is getting some free publicity with those widgets which are almost like little adverts. Not sure if I'm going to add any of the widgets to this board, or even how to do that if I wanted to; next time I bump into my ex Buddy, I'll ask him; he should know.

Back to the Bantoa sets: you'll note that in one of the pics that there are do's and don'ts tips for making a set; Bantoa says it has the right to edit sets so they'll be more aesthetically pleasing, so, not wanting to cause a fuss, I've been trying to do my best to follow their guidelines.

Here's a couple of my sets, brought to you courtesy of URLs provided by Bantoa.

https://www.bantoa.com/en/238147/outfit/first-outfit

https://www.bantoa.com/en/238574/outfit/classic-black

To help you make your sets, and help Bantoa out too, you'll need to decide on some categories before starting work on your masterpiece: body shape, intended gender of potential wearer, age, affordability, stuff like that. Once you've got what you'd like to use, you can choose a limited number of those items to be in your set: three to six; very limited. Also, you must use items on the Bantoa website, no uploads or clippers at Bantoa.

Hmm. So those are websites where you can make Polyvoreish sets. Now, what other features do these websites have? Well, I'm glad you asked. One common feature is a points system. For instance, I receive ten points for each set I create on Bantoa. You get points from all manner of things on Urstyle: uploading images, liking sets, commenting, getting likes for your sets, things like that. Urstyle even has a points leader board, and let me tell you, baby, it looks pretty daunting; by my calculations I'll need to work hard on Urstyle every day for a few years to get close to the top Urstylist points leaders. Of course, they might be doing the same thing in the meantime, so, I might be going nowhere fast. Shoplook has points, too. Not sure about Trendme; I'll need to take a closer look. Now, what to do with all of those points? On Urstyle, point leaders for a certain time period get a prize. I think on Bantoa you get something too. It looks like Shoplook had something going on with the its point system in the past, though now it seems to be in hiatus. I'm pretty sure that on all of these sites, getting more points gets you a title change, from maybe designer to style icon, for instance. If you made a certain number of sets during a fixed time period on Polyvore, you'd get a title too, based on how many sets you made. Of course, there were here titles only, and, nicely, it wasn't tough to get the highest ("Style Icon") ranking.

The final, and most important part of these sites, is shopping. Like Polyvore, these sites' raison d'etre is to link visitors up with online stores and other outlets for shopping for clothes. I couldn't say in a general way what the business model for shopping is for these sites. That's because some sites seem to be working with certain stores, and some offer a limited number of items from stores. Polyvore had a number of programs to help businesses grow: stores could offer contests and they could like or encourage the efforts of set creators as well - those were some of Polyvore's suggestions on their business page. Also stores could become more closely affiliated with Polyvore and their products would be featured at the top of search lists. If someone clicked on an item listed on Polyvore, and they were sent by a link to the site the item originated from, supposedly, Polyvore was charging the stores whose items were clicked on, a fee per click. I uploaded some items from my Pinterest account, and, phew! I wasn't charged.

One thing I miss from Polyvore, and am not getting at these new sites, is a way to link to my blogger and tumblr accounts so my sets are automatically shown on those accounts. So easy at Polyvore! Well, actually, I did have some technical problems once in a while, but, for the most part, it was very convenient. Some of these new sites have Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter buttons, but it's just not the same. For instance, I linked my Shoplook account to my Pinterest account, but when I push the button to send my set to Pinterest, it seems to go off into a nether world; there's no board choice. I'm not sure what happened to those sets. I've got a big collection of big boards on Pinterest, and I guess it's going to take some searching. Ughh! Wish things were more automatic and not so manual. Of course, I do look through and edit at Pinterest because sometimes things do go astray and I like to look at my old stuff once in a while, still...

Well, guess that's about it for now about making fashion sets. Hope this helped anyone out there whose craving to do a set, and just hasn't because of Polyvore's demise and not being able to find an alternative. Or, hope you found today's post interesting in some way. Check back again for more fascinating fashion nuggets.

Catchya later.

Ciao.

Who's your daddy?

A road trip with daddy sounds pretty uncool, and, actually, it wasn't. That is until I found myself waiting in a car parked at the Ann Arbor Toyota Technical Center for hours and hours.
Today's post is about an outfit I mentioned in an earlier post and hinted that I would feature on in a later post. 
So. Going to save what else I wore and did on our little trip for a later post, and focus just on that one outfit:

Pretty simple: just boots, pants, and a blouse. At this point in time, I had decided to step out of the car and stretch my legs, plus, look for that cafeteria daddy had promised would be somewhere inside the Center. Actually, this photo is after I had visited the cafeteria, not found daddy, but did find a couple helpful young guys to get these photos for my blog.
Here's another shot, stretching it:

You've seen them on boots, coats, even blouses, but would you believe double belts are on pants now? Yep, of course these belts are purely ornamental, the skin tightnessish of the pants makes belt(s) unneccessary. As for my boots, they've got a ton of belts on them, on second thoughts, I'm not certain they actually are belts:

Purely ornamental here too. This model is available belt free, too:

 Plus, here's a shot of the sole:

Got a rock and roll thang going on with the crosses on the sole.
Here's another view from inside Daddy's hot rodded Hyundai Velostar. Weird. Drives a Hyundai, works at Honda, and has a meeting at the Toyota Technical Center. Weird. Just weird:

Needed a fresh coat of lipstick and lip gloss. Wee bit of a tight squeeze in the ole Velostar's rear seat, even with both front seats practically in the windshield.
Last shot, a bit of a whoopsie, got caught with my pants down, literally, and that wasn't the only thing down:

Oh well, wasn't too bad.
So. Guess that's the story from the Toyota Technical Center, or was, since these photos are rather old.
Catchya later.
Ciao.

Haight-Ashbury fashion trip

I'll bet you thought San Francisco is most famous for Rice-a-Roni. Nah. There's a lot more too it. So. Today's post is going to be about my exciting trip to
SF- not science fiction, or Rice-a-Roni, San Francisco
Hey, I finally went somewhere interesting.
Before the '60's, Haight-Ashbury was just any old neighborhood. During the '60's it became a sort of Mecca or Wailing Wall for the bohemian youth of the day. Now, the '60's are considered by some to have ended after Kent State, yet, many people still want to keep the groovy vibe alive. I'd always wanted to go to Haight-Ashbury but had never gotten the chance. Even though I'd been to LA quite a few times, San Francisco was too far away; LA is at the bottom of the state, and San Francisco is in the middle, and it's a big state. When the opportunity arose to visit Haight-Ashbury for a day or two, I jumped at it. I traveled with some friends via plane, and was fortunate to stay at a mutual friend's house, not far from the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood.
I was prepared for the trip fashion-wise; you don't need to wear a particular style no matter where you go, but I wanted to have some of my best bohemian duds on hand.
We started off the brisk, late fall morning to fortify ourselves with a hot cup of Joe. After that, we drove around a bit, got to know the neighborhood. Since this blog is about fashion, I'm going to skip over the drive-around-a-bit and get straight to my fashion stops on the trip. The first store we visited was 'The Love of Ganesha'. It's one of the larger bohemian oriented stores in the neighborhood. I believe the name comes from the Hindu god Ganesh or Ganesha. During the '60's, many rock stars, like The Beatles, the Stones, and others made trips to India, and Indian musician Ravi Shankar played at the Monterey Pop Festival. Afterwards, many bohemians followed in their foot steps.
So. Here's some photos from our  first fashion stop on this particular trip, 'Love of Ganesha':

As you can see from the photos, they've got a little bit of everything. Lots of tie dyed and t-shirts. Found some stuff I'd never seen before. The prices are a wee bit expensive. A big part of bohemian fashion today is what could be described, I guess, as the Deadhead look; clothes that die hard fans of the rock group 'The Grateful Dead' would wear; for guys: usually a tie dyed t-shirt and jeans, for women: maybe a tie dyed blouse or tank with a tie dyed ruffled skirt, and low - no, flat - soled sandals. Maybe one of the bags you can see in one of these photos.
Here's a shot of what I wore, while inside the store:

I'm not sure how I'd describe this outfit, a little metalhead, some motohippy,  sort of bohemian. Anyway, starting at the top I'm wearing a fake leather hat; has a nice look to it. A pair of heart shaped sunglasses; these are a little different from the usual heart shaped sunglasses: the edges are straight, all the way around. Next, a fake silk/satin pussy bow blouse with lantern/balloon sleeves. The fake leather gloves have multicolored black/blue/red stripes and dots; a little mod, but, hey, mod is '60's too. For pants: a pair of very tight vinyl pants. The interesting fashion point about these is that, besides the multicolor racing stripes - you'll get another look at those in shots coming up very soon - they have an integrated belt; it's bolted to the rear of the pants and rides in the middle, not very practical, but functional fashion wise. Another interesting feature: they have a zip lock zip; I was worried they might pop open unexpectedly, but the zip lock holds fast. Lastly, a pair of vinyl thigh high boots, with big, partially metal -maybe metal coated, or something like that - heels. Interestingly, they have cutouts framed by either metal rings or crosses; the pattern looks sort of tick-tack toeish. Here's another look at the boots:

The next stop was here:

'Love Street Vintage'. These "vintage" stores are gaining in popularity, or at least, number, back home in Detroit. There are quite a few in Haight-Ashbury, and this one seemed to be fairly bohemian in nature. Of course, 'NastyGal' founder, and, from what I hear, San Francisco native, Sophia Amoruso sort of brought the whole vintage scene into recent prominence. Vintage clothes are basically used clothes, except they're more stylish than sweats and T's and used jeans - unless those are by a famous designer. And, usually, more expensive.
After checking out the vintage stuff it was time for lunch:

Now, I'd done the vegan burger thing back in Michigan, but I was very surprised to see the 'McDonald's'ish scope of 'Veganburg'. It's a pretty big place, and, I think it's a growing chain. It's menu is similar to fast food restaurants in that the sides are sold separately; I didn't see the combos like you'd get at other fast food places. One big diff: prices. Usually for these kind of prices, at a non fast food joint, you'd get the burger, and, the side. The burgers were pretty good, didn't taste like meat to me, but had their own unique flavor.
After lunch, we hit this place:

This bohemian oriented clothing store, 'P-Kok Planet' seems to be oriented towards the rave and night out aspect of bohemian attire. Besides that, it looks like, along with the "Deadhead" look, there are lots of other ways to dress hippyish. There's a little bit of something for every bohemian at this store. Little bit is also literal; it's a small store, and although it's jammed to the gills, they couldn't fit everything in there. I saw some stuff I'd seen before, and some new stuff as well. Price wise, it's expensive compared to shopping around online.
After that, we went to another bohemian clothing store:

There's a high concentration of stores of this ilk in the neighborhood. Maybe you'd think there'd be even more of them, but it looks like that's the way it is. This store, 'Love on Haight', specializes in tie-dyed. I found the prices to be expensive, how much? You ask? Well, some of the items I'd seen online for quite a bit less - talking not just half, like about one quarter the price. I wrote a review about the store on Google and got a response from the store's management that seemed a little terse. It was explained to me, which I had already found out all by myself, that many of the items they carry are manufactured by local artisans, so, that's why they're expensive. Still, uniqueness aside, they're a wee bit pricey. Also, I'm still unsure about the organization they donate money too. They say it's to provide housing to people but it looks like it has a lot of strings attached that makes me wonder.
Before moving on to our last stop on this time trip to the bohemian past, you might have noticed something different about my own clothes in the photo above. So. I've got on a fake velvet jacket with embroidery and vinyl collars and sleeves. Yep, that's real embroidery not painted on. The tapered/cone sleeves come in handy with those balloon sleeves on my blouse. Also, my purse. It has an Asian inspired design on it that I don't think looks at all out of place with the rest of the look; actually, rather complimentary. Also, now you can see both sides of the pants and the different colors of the racing stripes. The whole outfit wasn't especially pricey: about 10 bucks for the hat, two for the earrings, five for the sunglasses. The blouse was $10, the jacket, $20, the pants $25, and the boots the same price. The bag was just $12.
Ok, last stop on this fashion train:

It's another smallish clothing shop. 'Gypsy streetwear' is pretty much like 'P-Kok Planet'; it covers a lot of different bases. Still, it appeared to be carrying some items not found at the other stores. Prices can be tad on the expensive side. One good thing, it's nice to have a good look at the item up close and personal; my experience from buying stuff from AliExpress, Taobao, T-Mall, DhGate, and various online stores, is that the photos don't always tell the whole story, and, sometimes, what you see, is, not, what you get. Not saying all the time, just that you've got to be on your guard.
So. That was a fun trip. It was interesting to see how things have changed, not that I have an earlier upfront experience, just what I've seen in the media. Overall, it looks like the neighborhood is cashing in a little bit on its rep, though, it looks like, fashion wise, things are starting to expand.
I hope you enjoyed today's fashion adventure. There could be a little more like this coming up. Seems, right after visiting the Haight, I took a trip further North to Humboldt county. We visited a couple towns and stayed at a friend's small farm - not Maggie's farm. They grow these peculiar mushrooms there that have long stems and flared tops, and when you squeeze them, this white juice comes out. They've got a nice taste too, and are very filling. Anyway, can't say when that'll be here, but you can always count on this blog for more looks into the world of fashion.
Catchya later.
Ciao.