All the Celebrity Style News That’s Fit to Click
Psst! Did you hear? “Jerry Seinfeld was a less-than-satisfied shopper when he dropped by the new Steve Madden boutique in the Beverly Center. He started picking up the chunky loafers and lace-ups, only to have a clerk tell him the store does not sell men’s shoes. Seinfeld launched into an impromptu performance. Holding up a loafer, he whined, ‘It’s a guy’s name on the store. A guy’s name on the shoes. Why doesn’t he make shoes for guys?’ ”
These crimes of fashion and more are revealed at FashionDish.com, (https://www.fashiondish.com) a Los Angeles-based Web site launched in November by former People magazine staff writer Anne-Marie Otey. The Web site, the first to focus on Los Angeles and its celebrities--fashion’s new supermodels--offers the scoop on who’s wearing what, who’s buying what and who got what for free.
The site also provides coverage of parties and film premieres, and photos of the best- and worst-dressed celebrities. FashionDish.com began offering for sale clothing and accessories by two L.A. designers this month.
Otey’s is one of a growing number of sites to combine fashion content with commerce on the Web, according to Evie Black Dykema, an Internet-strategy analyst with a Cambridge, Mass., research firm, Forrester Research Inc. “It’s a great way for retailers to communicate brand identity to target markets.”
Jewelry and hair-accessories designer Tarina Tarantino, one of the designers selling her products on FashionDish.com, agrees. “The Internet is a powerful tool for reaching the younger audience. It’s their shopping mall,” she says. Having just started selling on the Web, she said it is too early to gauge shopper response.
New York City-based NYStyle.com (https://www.nystyle.com), launched in 1994, was one of the first sites to merge fashion with online shopping. “In the beginning, each designer and retailer wanted their own site,” recalls co-owner Pat Bates. “But now, the concept of a ‘magalog’ online is valuable to both advertisers and designers.”
Ernest Schmatolla has also been online since 1994, with his New York-based fashion Web site Look-online.com (https://www.lookonline.com). He believes 1999 will be the year for fashion on the Internet. “About three years ago, we were the only site to cover the New York shows. Now, 70 to 80 different sites are covering them,” he says.
While Lookonline.com and NYStyle.com were scrambling to post photos of designer collections showing in New York this week, Otey is staying home to focus on L.A.’s red-carpet runways at awards shows here such as the Grammys next week.
“Celebrity fashion has gotten so popular in the last few years, and L.A. is where the awards shows are,” Otey says simply.
Designer Tarantino echoes that sentiment. “L.A. is the fashion center of the universe because, let’s be honest, it’s all about getting stuff on celebrities. When Ashley Judd and Minnie Driver started wearing my designs and mentioning my name, things took off.” Tarantino’s bug-shaped barrettes first landed on celebrities at the MTV Movie Awards and were the hot accessory of 1998.
Otey, 34, is a New York native who began her journalism career at Elle, Artforum and the Nation magazines, then traveled to South Dakota to take a job as a reporter for the Argus Leader. She followed her boyfriend, Mike Walker (now her husband), to L.A. in 1994, when she began freelancing for People. She worked the style and party beat, and helped to develop the magazine’s popular Style Watch column into a weekly feature.
Last year, Otey suggested People editors combine the Style Watch and Insider columns to create a larger weekly celebrity style spread. They didn’t go for it. Otey believes her proposal may have been too similar to People’s hugely successful sister publication, In Style, which is aimed at readers who love to read about and emulate celebrities and their style.
Then, Otey had a revelation--over a $100 rice cooker. “I was so proud of myself that I made enough money to afford a $100 rice cooker. On the other hand, it was totally absurd. I remember leaving this fancy Japanese cooking store thinking, ‘There has to be more to life than expensive rice cookers and comfortable five-figure salaries.” In September, she quit People and started working for herself.
“On a salary you’ll probably never reach the highest level of your dreams professionally or financially. As an entrepreneur, there is a chance you will lose everything and make nothing, but you could also make quite a lot if you put your energy into it,” she says.
Believing the world didn’t need another magazine, Otey chose the Internet format with funding from private investors interested in online selling. “We looked at other fashion sites on the Web and none were tying in celebrities. Their coverage is divided. They have entertainment, who won the Golden Globes or who was nominated for a Grammy. And they have fashion, which is what pants are ‘in.’ At FashionDish.com, we tie the two elements together.”
Since her husband owns a radio telemetry systems company, he was able to provide much of the technical and small-business know-how for the site, which is run out of the couple’s Long Beach home with the help of freelance photographers and writers. FashionDish.com is getting more than 10,000 hits a week from as far away as Saudi Arabia and Bosnia, and just scored its first national advertiser: Bebe, a San Francisco-based specialty chain.
Otey hopes to soon expand editorial content by including letters to the editor and longer features. She is also working with members of the Coalition of Los Angeles Designers, a collective of L.A.-based fashion designers, to find more clothes and accessories to sell on the site. Her challenge will be to stay current, which is crucial to the success of any fashion site.
