Brightest Young Things

After STYLE.biting it in November, I held off on actually trying out the ABSOLUTE DELIGHT that is Polyvore.com until this very week. I was knee-deep in Things To Do and desperate to recklessly squander time doing Things That Were Totally Unnecessary - and so began the love affair.

For the uninitiated, Polyvore is a site that "lets you mix and match images from anywhere on the web, to create outfits, interior designs, or any kind of collage;" it really is like shopping from THE BIGGEST CLOTHING CLOSET OF ALL. From Topshop, Target, and Forever21 to Brown's, Net-a-Porter, and eluxury; there are well over a hundred online stores with current pieces uploaded and ready to add to your "collage." It's like online shopping without actually having to purchase anything, although - of course - each item links to its respective page in its respective online store.

Over the last two days I've been trying to come up with a specific reason Polyvore is so addictive (I mean seriously. It's all I can think about at work, and I am surrounded by clothing. My job is to dress forms and make outfits and I am literally distracted by the thought of going home and finding out if there's a Marni tee to be had online). On one hand, it really is fun to pretend you work at Elle and are laying out a trend page with Matthew Williamson dresses and Cavalli bracelets at your disposal, but quite honestly, I just use it to satisfy my outfit jonesing.

At its core, Polyvore is World of Warcraft for the fashion set - a magical place where "skill" is measured in personal aesthetic and your closet knows no bounds. If you can't afford that $400 Stella swimsuit, you can still know the satisfaction of seeing it matched with highwaisted denim remarkably like the pair in your own closet. Throw in some sandals and your perfect-afternoon, ice-cream-cone-on-the-boardwalk outfit is a (virtual) reality - and from there it'll be that much easier to scout like pieces or figure out a way to make it happen with what you've already got. With Polyvore, you can try out knee-high gladiators with a maxi-dress or a black romper with brown wedges and you will love it or you will hate it but you will KNOW, and that is really why I love it so much. You are Cher Horowitz using the computer to get dressed, and don't even try to tell me that is not your eighth-grade dream realized.