The Five Newest Apps We’re Downloading Right Now
It’s safe to say that fashion has gone app crazy. Everyone worth their weight in paillettes has some sort of marketing tool on the iPad and iPhone. Fortunately for labels and publications, the public is ravenous for more. And no wonder: The user experiences often are more beautiful than those created for the Web, combining stunning, full-screen imagery with touch screen interactivity and e-commerce and real-time updates.
To keep up with our ever-growing appetite for diversions, several particularly new and noteworthy apps have launched in the last few months. After an exhaustive round of testing, we’ve found five that really wow us—those that feature the richest visual material, the cleanest and most intuitive design, and the greatest utility for those who live and breathe fashion.
1. Stella McCartney for iPad (free)
Photo Credit: iTunes/Courtesy of Stella McCartney
Stella McCartney’s first release for the iPad far surpasses the standards set by previous designer apps. It tells the story of her Spring collection in a linear montage of visual and textual media, made fresh by shifts from elegance to humor, from short films to Polaroid collages and from orchestra music to children’s laughter. It’s also unusually interactive for a fashion app: Plain-looking pendants from McCartney’s premier jewelry collection are made more interesting by the fact that they can be rotated on their chains, while a photo shoot of a lingerie model reading various books can be tapped to reveal the page she is reading. We only wish the app had a table of contents for more convenient exploration, as well as a conclusion slide; it ends abruptly at a showcase of McCartney’s collection for children, spoiling the story effect considerably.
2. WWD Blast for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch (free)
Photo Credit: iTunes/Courtesy of WWD
WWD Blast, a free app released in November for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices, is essential for those who really, really want to keep up with industry news. The app features a streamlined edition of the content found on WWD.com, formatted smartly for each Apple device. There’s also plenty for the casual admirer of fashion, including high-quality footage of runway shows as well as an experimental user-generated section that allows consumers to upload their own images and other kinds of content to share with the world or, well, other users.
3. Boutiques for iPad (free)
In conjunction with the November launch of its first fashion-centric shopping engine, Boutiques.com, Google released an application that brings much of the site's functionality to the iPad. It's particularly good for browsing looks similar to those worn by a favorite celebrity or fashion blogger; users can also explore by style (such as edgy or classic) and designer. While shoppers can't access Boutique.com's multitiered—albeit not particularly effective—ratings system, items can still be saved to Favorites, and purchases can be made at third-party sites directly through the app.
4. Bluefly for iPad (free)
Bluefly released a companion iPad app to its online fashion boutique in December. What makes it different from other shopping apps is the way it combines entertainment with e-commerce. Skip the blog, but check out Bluetube, which contains a handful of videos of mildly famous, yet highly amusing women inside their closets (you’ve no doubt seen the Bethany Frankel one running on TV), alongside other (largely promotional) videos.
5. Mulberry for iPhone and iPad (free)
Photo Credit: iTunes/Courtesy of Mulberry
Mulberry’s flagship apps for the iPad and iPhone, released in late November, provide the full online shopping experience and include a look book, store finder, and access to the company’s blog feed—all pretty standard features among designer apps. What sets Mulberry apart are the backstage videos, engaging short films set to music that underline the sophisticated—yet not impersonal—essence of the brand.
Lauren Indvik is an assistant news editor at Mashable.com.
