Although the colorful leaves scattered across campus by mild gusts of wind have indicated the end of summer for some time now, a sudden decrease in temperature has recently re-emphasized the change of seasons and also the need to consider wardrobe content.
While some students dread the chilly walks to class, others welcome the change for new style opportunities. For these fashion-savvy students, Stylitics.com is holding a world-wide contest called the Most Stylish Student. The winner's virtual closet will be displayed among celebrities, bloggers and style icons of "Featured Closets," a new feature of Stylitics to be added in mid-November.
"Being featured is a kind of a big deal," said Jessica Novak, marketing manager for Stylitics. "We've roped in several major influences such as famous celebrities and bloggers, as well as CFDA."
According to Novak, some of the notable style influences featured by the Stylitics contest include Kate Voegele of One Tree Hill; Steven Kolb of the Council of Fashion Designers of America; Alana Kelen, head of styling for MTV networks; and Samantha Lim of Fashion Indie.
Novak said that because the winner will be featured as the first and only non-celebrity, non-blogger in an elite group of celebrity and blogger style experts, as well as being featured as a shopping influence among peers, the position of Most Stylish Student is highly desirable--especially to those interested in social media and fashion.
The contest began on Thursday, Oct. 25 and was originally to continue through Sunday, Nov. 4, but has been extended until Friday, Nov. 9 due to Hurricane Sandy. College and high school students are invited to enter the contest on Stylitics.com by creating an account on the social virtual closet site, which serves as a platform for those interested in fashion and personal style, to earn style points by acting as a virtual stylist to build a virtual closet and creating outfits from it.
"As a student in the Apparel Merchandising and Design Association, I definitely have interest in the contest," said Clare Kmieck, second year graduate student in consumer and design sciences. "I think the university should conduct a similar contest on a smaller scale because other students that aren't involved in AMDA, but are interested in fashion, would be interested as well."
From 10 of the top 100 students with the most style points earned by the end of the contest, style experts will vote on the winner based on volume and content of the contestants' virtual closets. However, all those that finish in the top 100 will be granted exclusive early access to the new "Featured Closets" to shop, share and explore actual closets of celebrities and style icons.
"Points are earned by engaging on the site," Novak said. "The winner definitely has to have a full closet that their friends want to see."
Novak said she expects the top 10 to have at least 50 items and 5-10 outfits in their Style Profile.
A Style Profile is built from individual articles of clothing and complete outfits that can be added to the virtual closet by uploading a photograph from a mobile device or using the iPhone application, scanning the website catalog of style history, or pasting the URL of findings from other websites. Each item added to the virtual closet can then be sorted by item type, brand or specific location of purchase; as well as by color, style, price and frequency.
Chelsea Madkins, senior in apparel merchandising and Auburn ambassador for the Stylitics brand, said she thinks that stylitics is a fun way to organize apparel. She said that the contest allows contestants to showcase individual style while exploring the trends in apparel that other people find eye-catching.
"Social shopping is such a big thing these days and Stylitics is not quite a shopping site, but it allows you to sort of shop for inspiration," Madkins said.
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