Modelinia: Fashion, Beauty and Lifestyle Tips from Models

After attending the Metropolitan Museum's Model as Muse exhibit, I decided to check out Modelinia for fashion and beauty advice to add some glamour to my look.

Modelinia is rich in video content from the sources themselves. The Beauty Secrets features first person interviews with makeup and skincare tips for every look, from punk rocker Agyness Deyn to girl next door Miranda Kerr. The Fashion section offers style advice for women on every budget; they showcase runway styles but also overall trends. There was even a Shopping Challenge that gave a model $60 and 10 minutes to put together an outfit. Modelinia also features behind-the-scenes footage, model blogs, slide shows, and access to the lesser known aspects of models' lives. The site provides fun interviews with models about their personal lives and charitable works.

As a marketer, I was particularly interested in the clever, unintrusive advertising. Although it's hard to tell if the product placement in the videos was sponsored, the beauty section certainly provided endless opportunities. The ample focus on Victoria's Secret models, many of whom were interviewed in Victoria's Secret stores, showcased an easy but subtle way to promote an advertiser without overdoing it. Even the pre-roll video ads from Maybeline were kept short.

Overall, Modelinia provides engaging content in a way that seems fresh. Given how unoriginal the initial idea was- using models to promote fashion and beauty trends- that is no small feat. Fashion magazines should take cues from Modelinia for their websites.

American Apparel Finds Models on Chictopia

Retailer American Apparel recently partnered with fashion blog social network Chictopia to launch a new ad campaign featuring members of Chictopia.com modeling American Apparel clothes. It is the first time a major brand has used fashion network blogs to discover models. The campaigns will run on Chictopia's website as well as the girls' individual fashion blogs which independently receive hundreds of thousands of pageviews a month. The models wear a combination of American Apparel and the company's vintage line California Select.

"Instead of trying to tailor the ads for consumer, we're using that consumer in the ad." said Mae Kaufman, the American Apparel photographer who shot the ads. "All the girls had strong, individual styles that they were able to translate into fun, wearable outfits."

American Apparel, who is well known for refusing to use airbrushing in their advertisements, and Chictopia are showing that traditional media beauty standards are obsolete and inefficient.

"It's the future of fashion, where style is set for the people, by the people," said Chictopia CEO Helen Zhu. "There will always be value to runway models and glossy prints, but people most often look to real trendsetters amongst their community for fashion inspiration. Some of Chictopia's trendsetters have over one thousand fans watching their daily style blogs, and our site receives over four million pageviews per month from fashion enthusiasts. We are happy to be working with American Apparel, a leader in recognizing the value of true fashion influencers."