A year on Polyvore, a look back.
The other day on Polyvore I realized I've been an active member for over a year or thereabouts. I came to the realization when I saw on my profile that I'd been a member for one year, duh.
If you have studied this blog carefully, you may have noticed the plethora of Polyvore sets and ephemera.For those less studious or who are still in the dark, Polyvore is a brand/store referral website.It's a bit like Lyst with one distinguishing feature: visitors to the site may use the Polyvore set
system to arrange photos of products and see how they look. It helps a bit to see how different items
look together before buying. If a visitor to the site likes what she has created, the  photos have links to outlets selling the items.
Of course you don't have to create a set to find something to buy. The other feature distinguishing Polyvore from Lyst, is a bit more community involvement. Logged in visitors to the site may distribute their creations - sets - to other visitors through groups, contests and the oft chance that one of their creations is noticed by the Polyvore staff and highlighted. However, distribution comes at a price: the set's creator relinquishes ownership of the 'set  upon publication, so essentially works created on Polyvore become part of the public domain. The other community involvement
aspect of Polyvore is that visitors may contribute links to products by "liking" items they find on the web with the Polyvore button, which later pop up in her item list and Polyvore's item list.

So on this one year anniversary, how does Polyvore look to me? Well, when I first started on Polyvore I couldn't get enough of it.  I was making 5 to 10 sets a day. Now, not so much. So why the big change? Maybe I'm just burnt out. Burnt out from entering so many contests! I must have entered 200 - 300 contest by now! A year ago I thought to myself eureka! Here's a way to get some discounts by winning a contest, but, no, the best I could do was place third - just third ?! - and then the contest organizers - PPZ - never paid up. I received an email with instructions on how to receive the prize, I followed them, and nada.Makes me wonder about the legitimacy of these so called contests. 
Next, I've found interest in my work is directly proportional to my work output, so the more sets
I made the more interest I would receive. Sounds great, huh? Just make more sets and get more likes, yeah, exceptI'd have to make sets 30 - 40 hours a day - impossible - to be a top contender. Now, I wouldn't be the one to say my sets are the best on Polyvore, so what should I expect? Well, there's that old ownership snaffu/clause reering it's ugly head again, and in spite of the fact that I have not garnered that much appreciation I've noticed my sets have had - well, let's just call it "influence" on certain things; it might be a good idea that my finger is pointedin a vague direction on this matter. Let me think, if they sucked so bad, why use them for a basis for something else.Maybe someone else is burnt out too.
You might think my experiences on Polyvore have made me bitter: little acknowledgment for effort, no payment for success, and imminent failure always looming on the horizon. Nah, from the start I never expected Kering to contact me about designing for Gucci, or Conde Naste to offer me an editorial position at Vogue. I still make some sets now and again and still enter the contests - the studious will correct me: I enter the contests ONLY, wistfully thinking I have a shot at winning, probably not, but what the heck. The thing is most of the stuff in the contests is the stuff I'm buying, and if I see a bargain, I'll buy it, even if it's from a company that sponsored a contest
I did not win. Social media hasn't given me the ability to have a true conversation with the women I would design for - if I could; it's the fun factor.
A final comparison between Lyst and Polyvore. As stated earlier, both of these websites main purpose in life is to be a conduit through which commerce flows. Is one better than the other? Right off the bat I can tell you I almost never use Lyst, since most of the stuff they hawk over there is way, way, way out of my price range. As for Polyvore, in spite of the fact that many of the businesses affiliated with it are also members - they get the "official" stamp you know -it's tough to find stuff on it. The items uploaded - I guess they get to upload directly -by those companies aren't
their full merchandise line; just stuff they're promoting I suppose. Next, many times an item is listed either as not in stock, or in stock yet the opposite of either is true. Finally, searching for an item is frustrating, the search lists cut out shortly and are incomplete; I look for items in my item list and can't find them in a general search.
The one saving grace is that many companies seek out Polyvore to promote their goods, so their exposure has lead me to new opportunities.
So there you have it, a bit scathing one might say - really?!, yet the old adage of ignoring leading to a honest sideline bears true.
Check back again for more exciting fashion epistles. More good stuff is on the way.
Catchya later.
Ciao.