How to Shop Online for Fashion

JEN:  Hello, and welcome to a fashionable howdini.  I’m Jen Goodkind.

JAYNE: And I’m Jayne Chase, and we’re the co-hosts of Fashionable Life Radio.

JEN:  We’re going to talk to you today about navigating through all those fashion websites out there. We’ve done a little editing for you, and we’ve honed down to some of our top favorite websites.

JAYNE: That’s right, and one thing that we’ve talked about on the radio show all the time is Net-A-Porter. This is our number one website. Not only is it our number one website, it is our bible. We don’t go to this website just to shop, we also go to it to see how the designers are putting their styles together.

JEN:  But, if you do have to do some shopping on the internet, nothing is more exciting than coming to your door and seeing a Net-A-Porter box waiting for you to unwrap. As you can see from this box in front of us, this is the most beautiful packaging you’ve ever seen. No matter what you buy, it comes in this incredible box that can be reused for everything from accessories to makeup, whatever you can stuff in there.

JAYNE: That’s right. It’s just a really nice way to pamper yourself. The great thing about this site, really, is that from A to Z, every designer is listed. They also have a magazine on the site that you can go to. It really is a trend-forward site.

JEN: So if you’re in the market, you want to buy a little something for yourself, and you’re looking for something that’s perhaps a little pricier because it is designer-driven, Net-A-Porter is the site for you.

JAYNE: And you’re buying my holiday gift there, right?

JEN: Of course I am.

JAYNE: Of course she is.

JEN:  Absolutely.

JAYNE: It’s Net-A-Porter.com.

JAYNE: Well, the next thing we wanted to share with everybody is a more celebrity-driven site. It’s called WhoWhatWearDaily.com, and actually the way we look at it is, it’s kind of like a magazine. When you click on whatever it is that you like, that a celebrity is wearing, it gives you a where-to-go to buy that: both the high version and the low version — meaning a higher price point or a lower price point.

JAYNE: That’s right, and this website was started by two fashion editors, so they really have a great editing eye, and you can see what your favorite celebrity is wearing. Then click on the site, like Jen says, and go shopping for yourself. It really is a very very good, edited site. WhoWhatWearDaily.com.

JEN: It’s also a free subscription. So you’ll get weekly subscriptions and updates, and you don’t even have to click on it; it’ll be right there waiting for you.

JAYNE: The other one that we really love, and we get little memos from them every single day, is a new site that is called ShopItToMe. What you do is, you log on — it’s a free subscription — and you click on all your favorite designers. And once you’ve done that, they then start to send you, every day, e-mails about the sales that that particular designer that you’ve checked on is having. And so you get a little picture of a great Diane Von Furstenberg dress that’s for sale; and then you can just click on the site right away, and buy it.

JEN:  So basically it’s like having your own stylist online. It’s a great resource for jeans. They have every brand imaginable, and it’s definitely worth waiting until your special favorite brand goes on sale.

JAYNE: That’s right, because the e-mail keeps coming to you as the sale item continues and no one has bought it, so you can follow the price along the way. When it hits rock bottom, that’s your time to buy. So it’s an eBay for fashionistas.

JEN:  Finally, we love ShopBop. Aside from which, it’s fun to say. ShopBop has everything from designer merchandise to contemporary sportswear to accessories. Also, it’s what we would call an easy-to-navigate site.

JAYNE: That’s right, Jen. And also what’s great about this site is that they run sales all the time. So it’s a really great place to go to really catch that great bargain.

JEN: The reason we love the easy-to-navigate part of it is because it’s easy to go to either category, trend, or designer and find exactly what you’re looking for. It’s a very very popular site. It’s probably one of the biggest sites on the web. Again, when you get that package in the mail, it’s packaged beautifully. The customer service is really really good, and we love the fact that when you buy something off of any of the sites we’ve mentioned, the customer service dimension makes it easy. If you have a return, an exchange, whatever your issue is, all of them are right there to serve you.

JAYNE: So what have we learned today from our web shopping experience? These five websites are not only very easy to navigate, they run sales all the time, they’re always on the trend. And you can always find something to buy, no matter what the price point, no matter what you’re looking for. Whether it’s casual or dressy, these websites are the place to go on the internet.