I wonder if the master himself updates his diary - probably not, because Hedi Slimane, former head of design at Dior, might be too busy. Although i really would like to know the photographers behind, today i don´t really care about the “who”, ´cause the “what” strikes my eyes. The daily updated Hedi Slimane Diary is a real treasure chest for black-and-white lovers and for me, the site became an institutional starting point for my working days.

Photos via Hedi Slimane Diary

Don´t worry - there´s some help out there! Mary just recommended and i acclaim: with fashionweek.unlike you´ll be in the know. Get the schedule, read some insider reports and find the kind of information you´ll need for your ultimate fashion inspired Berlin trip. Enjoy!

Screenshot from fashionweek.unlike

Since days, flags that become skirts, capes and turbans shout on me. I get visually molested by awful boring shirts with country names. I am traumatized by ridiculous headpieces that transform human beings in walking advertising spaces for breweries and ban every spark of beauty.
Germany is in the European Soccer championship fever - and for the first time in my life, I also became a soccer junkie since the quarter finals. But, as a stringent denier of flagdresses, flag make up, flag branded masks, crowns, heats and tricots, the big question is: What to wear?

After a long search, I finally found an option. And fortunately - a great one. Schalala is a fan-scarf remix project that was born in Berlin at the beginning of the year. On a virtual platform, the unconventional soccer fan will find a huge archive of international soccer fan scarves that can be virtually cutted, recomposed and recoded. And the best thing is, your personalized soccer scarf doesn´t have to stay a virtual product. After your creating process, Schalala offers you a free knitting pattern to download. Great idea. Unique option. A real alternative.

Photos via Schalala

“Laufsteg” is the German word for catwalk. And who would have imagined that myspace has it´s own catwalk?
For me it´s the news of the day and i´m stunned to see my pic in a feature about my blog on the main site.

Who would have imagined that there´s a myspace catwalk that likes What´s Wrong With The Zoo?

Screenshot from MySpace/Laufsteg

Styleshake - the virtual dress design studio. Design your dress with Styleshake and wear it within 10 days. The site has already a cult status and fashionistas from all over Europe give exciting credits. Quality, fitting and materials - there´s no reason to NOT getting an unique dress by Styleshake. Design it online, the professional Styleshake tailors will sew it and within ten days you´re ready to impress. Prices are so moderate that it´s an attractive alternative even for H&M/Zara generation and with a clever design, the site works so intuitive that 95% of visitors start to design dresses.

Photo credits: Styleshake

Imagine, you´re standing in the metro, the guy behind you levels his mobile phone to the back of your T-Shirt and thereupon you get a chit with his number. Uuuhhh! Either, you´re one of that 5% of extraordinary stunning human beings that just have to be THERE to bring people in ecstasy OR you´re wearing a T-Shirt by Emma Cott.
Due to innovative technology it is possible to encode information that have been compressed in two-dimensional Barcodes (called mobile codes) with a simple photo mobile phone.
In Japan - it´s already all the range. Soon in Munich too. The Munic Label Emma Cott is new, fresh and technically ahead. In the own online-shop T-Shirts with coded Messages are sold for an acceptable price and everyone is invited to submit new Messages that could be coded and printed on T-Shirts.
Although I have absolutely NO desire to transmit coded messages to the outside world, and although Messages like „You are next”, „love me”, and “I love BCN” are THE disincentive to me, the basic idea seems worth mentioning. With intelligent and creative Slogans - I guess it would be a funny gimmick.

Photo credits: Emma Cott

We already read about it: more than 2 months ago “ilikemystyle.net“, a so-called social web platform was launched by author Adriano Sack and art director Judith Banham.
Unfortunately, after visiting with full of expectation i come to the sad conclusion that a brilliant idea is no guarantor for a fantastic product. The project is presented as “a social to network that connects people who love fashion. A community open to everybody “. The fashionably web-user is friendly invited to upload photos with own style-creations, to commentate photos from other community-members, to evaluate and forward the pictures and to “connect”.
Meant as advancement of the Streetstyle Blogs - great idea but poorly converted. While “connecting” is only possible by commentating and not by interlacing, the community-members can´t communicate on a direct level. Perhaps, this is volitional and part of the concept. But that the moderately elaborated navigation does not steer and simplify makes the whole thing rather annoying and exhausting.

Perhaps (from my point of view) the lacking rush of users has a lot to do with a lukewarm level of so-called stylespiration. The highlights are rare and stand beside vacation pictures with air mattress or v-Neck Sweater night shots. Who wants to get inspired by that? The philosophy behind ilikemystyle.net, that selection automatically emerges in a community where everyone can cheer and criticize everyone as desired doesn´t come out.

Like De:bug author Jan Joswig already wrote (unfortunately only in German) - the possibility that everybody comments everybody doesn´t lead to a new form of critique but rather to offenseless backslapping-.

My tough criticism at the technical concept doesn´t change the fact that i like the idea, the philosophy and the design. I doubt if ilikemystyle.net will manifest itself as active, professional community but there´s no doubt that a s slowly growing group of people will use it for jaunty leisure fun and for petting their narcism. Nothing wrong with that.
Apart from the name, fashionfreax.net leaves already in the test phase a very professional impression. Fashionfreax.net, the second European Community, which went just online, is operated by visual.labs GmbH out of the hessian Wächtersbach.
Probably, there´s not too much fashion inspiration over there, but apparently one know´s about professional web conception and conversion. The self-called “freax” that love to inspire with a platform for everyone that is interested in fashion and style, new ideas and innovative labels convince not with the name, but with a professional setup and a wide variety of interactive and informative tools.
With various search functions the user cannot only find photos and styles, but also fashion schools, studios, showrooms and shops. The blogger girls “Les Mads” link their blog to the news-section of fashionfreax.net and guarantee fresh and hot info´s about the fashion front and the “events” section contains info´s about European fashion fairs . The profiles of registered users give information about age, fashionable and media preferences, favored outfits and uploaded pictures.
While zapping through the stylephotos that are already online, there´s a remarkable amount of professional young-designers photos (which reminds of iqons.com) - mixed with private shots, fashionfreax.net offers an inspiring and interesting style-standart

I am pretty sure, that the two platforms will not be the only European fashion communitys in 2008. For now, I wish ilikemystyle.net and fashionfreax.net a positive increase in their first period of prosperity.

Credits: Fashionfreax, I Like My Style