Friday, January 23, 2009

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."

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