Crowd-curated fashion site features items hand-picked by users

Much the way social discovery site StumbleUpon lets users “thumbs-up” and share the pages they like on the web, so Fashiolista encourages something similar for fashion items. Netherlands-based Fashiolista displays numerous items that have been hand-picked and submitted by regular users using a special “love” button. A million items are “loved” by users in that way on the free site each month, according to a report on VentureBeat, amounting to what’s essentially a community-curated fashion selection. With users in more than 100 countries, Fashiolista also lets regular users follow each others’ votes for a constantly updated dose of inspiration. An iPhone app is available as well from the site, which recently drew a USD 500,000 seed investment from Skype cofounder Niklas Zennström. Advertising and affiliate fees are at the heart of Fashiolista’s business model; premium accounts, contest sponsorships and specially featured items are all among the site’s opportunities for participating businesses. Fashion retailers around the globe: time to get involved? (Related: Click to buy: fashion blog is a street version of shopping mags — A social marketplace for clothes hounds.) Spotted by: John Greene