Cheryl Shops

I am not naturally a networky person, but lately I've been forcing myself to go out and about and meet other bloggers. And I am proud of myself for doing quite a bit of schmoozing during Fashion Week--it's always nice to run into now-familiar faces when you're out and about attending various press events.

At the IFB conference, I met the cutie Midtown Girl. She and I both taped a video for TheFind, explaining their new ShopLike feature, which is officially launching next week. I'm not going to post the video, because it's embarrassing, but basically, it's a way for you to shop your friends' favorite stores and brands--a more social way of using TheFind's super-awesome search technology, if you will. If you want to ShopLike me, however, you need to become a fan of Cheryl Shops on Facebook, and I will post more about this (including details and a how-to) next week.

I attended a launch event for I-Ella.com, which is a new website that's a cross between eBay and Rent the Runway. You can buy, borrow, swap, sell, or lend items from your closet--the key being that I-Ella is very selective with its membership, so you aren't getting random sketchy people selling knockoffs; ideally, the members are stylish, honorable women just like yourself. And speaking of honorable, a percentage of each transaction goes to a charitable organization (listing an item is free; if it sells, I-ELLA takes a 10% fee, 10% of which goes to a charity). There's a celebrity element as well, with boldface names donating their wares for charity; currently, Whitney Port's castoffs are on sale through October 8. As for the rest of the merch, it is a rather stylish mix, with dresses from 3.1 Phillip Lim, shoes from Givenchy, and bags from Balenciaga, Hermes, and YSL, among others, and prices range from not bad to quite reasonable. (A Balenciaga bag for $750? Yes, please!) Sadly, there's no link that I can share with you, but if you're interested, email me & I'll send you an invite.

While at the I-Ella launch, I met the super-stylish Ehmonie of What's Haute and Liana of Guiltless Purse, which is like manna from heaven if you love handbags--they sell designers like Alexander McQueen and Lambertson Truex on down to Linea Pelle and Botkier, and everything is at least 50% off. It's like a sample sale website in that they have super-limited quantities of everything, but unlike the Gilts and Rue La Las of the world, you don't need an invite to join, and perhaps best of all, shipping is free! As with any sample sale websites, check back often for new products.

I wrapped up Fashion Week at the Style Coalition party at the Hudson Hotel, where, among others, I met Kat from Corportette, which is a great blog for those of you who work in Midtown high-rises and the like. (And, coincidentally, it turns out Kat and I went to college together, although we didn't know each other then--a phenomenon that happens more often than not, considering I went to a mid-sized but well-regarded Midwestern university that tends to produce overachievers. Not that I'm one of them.) I also met Apar From My Nines, which is an incredibly genius website--it shops the sample sale websites for you, telling you what are the best deals, picking out great finds under $100, and allowing you to shop by designer, gender, item, and so on. Membership is free, with no referral required (yay!), but if you'd like to help support Cheryl Shops, feel free to click here. I also super-briefly met Divya from Send the Trend, which is a fun way to shop for accessories--you take a quiz, they match you with items you'll like based on your results, and then everything is $29.99. Easy, right? I'm always interested to hear about new websites and ways to shop--after all, you never know what will be the next Gilt Groupe.

And those are all my new friends from Fashion Week! Please check out their blogs & sites, and of course everyone is on Twitter, if you're into it. Aside from finding out about all these great new sites, I'm just happy to have more friends to talk to at blogger events! Yay for networking!