Fashion Flocks To Facebook

Ever since MySpace struck gold with the music industry, the fashion set has been scrambling to find an online niche of its own. Many style-centric networking sites have cropped up over the years—Iqons.com, Fashionising.com, Stylemob.com and even a MySpace Fashion portal—but none has caught on in a major way. Instead, fashion types are coming together online through the ultra-populist Facebook.

The industry's adoption of Facebook as its own virtual cocktail party has been outed to the masses thanks to the UK's Grazia magazine, which has launched a weekly web feature detailing the fashion cognoscenti's movements on the site. In a recent post, for example, Fashion News Editor Melanie Rickey's breaking stories included "...Dazed & Confused's creative director Nicola Formichetti is in LA...Burberry's head of PR Justin Cooke is at home playing with the baubles on his Christmas tree...Milliner Stephen Jones just made friends with Anthony Haden-Guest and Dita von Teese!"

Although it's only natural that fashion types, like everyone else, would adopt the site for personal purposes, many businesses are proving it's just as effective as a marketing tool. "We were already on Facebook, and thought it would be an easy way to communicate with people that might be interested in OLIVIER BORDE [GARDE-ROBE] and to find people that might appreciate what we are doing," says Olivier Borde, designer of the emerging menswear label.

"I think it's better than fashion-specific networking sites because you can communicate and interact with people that aren't specifically in the fashion business, and therefore it's open to everyone to discover," he continues. "We've left the group open for our contacts to invite people, and it's turned out to be a really organic, word-of-mouth growth process."

We've scoured the site to bring you our top five fashion pages on Facebook—key examples of how fashion brands can use the site to build their businesses—and to add a few more faces to their friends lists.

Marcelo Burlon Enterprise:
This Milanese PR and events planner brings together the city's fashion and nightlife scenes to glamorous effect. Join his group to score party invites for the likes of Alexander McQueen, Maison Martin Margiela, Givenchy, Kitsune, and Calvin Klein—and then stop by the next day to see if you made the photo gallery cut.

Item Idem:
Parisian conceptual artist, retail designer and JC Report favorite Cyril Duval blurs the lines between art, fashion, design and commerce in projects including Bernhard Wilhelm's Tokyo flagship boutique. His Facebook group, which has nearly 500 members, provides news about new projects, event invites, video and photos, all in a more mainstream—and accessible—way than his ultra-cerebral website.

Balenciaga:
This isn't an official page, but its 23,000-strong member base is unbelievably active. A lively discussion board features topics ranging from the price of this season's knee-high gladiators to rare pieces that are up for sale, the playlist from the autumn/winter '08 runway show and hundreds of product, celebrity and runway photos.

Garde-Robe:
For such a niche menswear brand, designers Olivier Borde and Heath Callender have managed to build up an impressive base of more than 1,000 fans. Regular posts update his friends on recent news, event invites and behind-the-scenes video from a runway show.

Milk Studios:
Not only does this bi-coastal studio's page regularly update listings of gallery shows, video and event photos, while providing information on studio spaces in New York and LA, but it also features a discussion board where Studio Manager Marcus Montenegro urges members to air their comments, concerns and compliments for the space.

—Erin Magner