In print | Published September 25, 2008

When I joined the wardrobe_remix group on flickr back in the Spring of 2007, there were already around 3,000 members. In the year since then, the group has exploded, thanks to word-of-mouth press from bloggers and various magazines like “BUST,” which had an article that showcased four popular wardrobe_remixers. The member count has more than tripled to over 10,000, and there are now over 60,000 pictures in the group’s photostream, as well as almost 800 threads in the discussion forum. The increase in size means that you’re far more likely to randomly run into a fellow remixer on the street, or even not so randomly due to the many organized meet-ups in cities all across the country.

So what exactly is wardrobe_remix? It’s a do-it-yourself personal style online community that was started in September 2005 by Tricia Royale (username: bitsandbobbins). The process is simple: you take a picture of yourself in whatever outfit you have on that day, and post it to the group via flickr. Other members can view your pictures and comment on them. The effect is like a keeping a style diary/journal so that you can see what you wore from day to day. Some post daily, and others, like myself, not so often. Besides just being a nice idea, the utility of the group is twofold—you feel some sense of commitment to getting dressed to fit your own personal style in the morning, while at the same time gaining inspiration in getting dressed by the posts from the thousands of other members.

Of course, after a few years, the group size isn’t the only thing that’s changed. There are still a few restrictions on posting: no multi-photo collage shots, head-to-toe shots only, and a limit of 2 posts a day. The newest rule is that you must be over 16 to join and post, which keeps the group at a smaller size than it could be potentially. The most dramatic change, however, may be in the photos that members actually post.

When I first joined, I wasn’t so concerned with getting “great shots." I took photos of my outfits to show what I was wearing, but I didn’t put much effort into making the photos themselves aesthetically pleasing with nice backgrounds and lighting. I’m not sure if this is new in the group’s info, or if it was always there and I just never noticed it, but it suggests that members should use hel-looks.com, a Swedish street fashion website, as a reference point for how their photos should look. While I am consistently impressed with the almost professional/semi-professional nature of the photos now being posted to wardrobe_remix, I wonder if this is putting too much emphasis on the photography skills of the poster. The thing that I had always liked about wardrobe_remix was that it was just you and your clothes, with no need for a photographer in between and that’s what made it different from street fashion blogs and sites that pick out what they think is most “stylish."

Still, the group is extremely community oriented, and founder Royale makes it clear that it is not a ranking community. Even so, Royale has started a separate “wardrobe_remixers of the week” section on her website bitsandbobbins.com where she showcases her favorite outfits of the week. This may seem a bit counter to the non-ranking mentality, but I personally love it, as it gives me an update on who’s posting what in the group when I don’t have time to sift through thousands of pictures a week. It’s also hard to break the non-ranking mentality when it is also clear that some members receive far more attention than others. There are some, like the lovely Liebemarlene (Rhiannon Leifheit) who have exploded in popularity thanks to wardrobe_remix. Her blog receives thousands of visits a day, she has a successful vintage ebay store and has been featured in heavyweight fashion magazines like Marie Claire.

So is wardrobe_remix just going to keep expanding or will it outgrow itself? While some of the most popular wardrobe_remix veterans have now expanded their resumes to blogging and mentions on all sorts of websites and magazines, they have at the same time stopped posting or posting as frequently to the w_r pool. The more well-known members now post exclusively to their blogs, so I tend to check those rather than the w_r pool. As much as I loved looking through the wardrobe_remix photo pool, especially when I found someone new whose style I absolutely adored, looking at individual fashion blogs has given me a much greater source of inspiration. It’s more personal, less time-consuming, and just a little bit easier. Call me old-fashioned, but I still think less is more.

Ming is a sophomore. You can reach her at mcai1@swarthmore.edu.

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