The Situation: There has been much ado about the social graph of late. More than a friend map, the social graph is a foundation upon which there is great potential to build applications and other layers of information. In addition to other innovations, many of us are anticipating the development of the next layer atop our lives: the fashion graph.
The Product: If the advent of photo tagging on Facebook made our personal lives into a virtual People Magazine, the fashion graph will be our virtual GQ or Vogue. Although there appear to be several interesting startups in the space, none has yet emerged as a leader in the race to control the database of what we are wearing, but one intrigues me more than the rest.
Next Steps: Only Luminate has a full-fledged platform allowing any site to tag its own images, link to commercial sites, and earn a sales commission. Let’s not be surprised when that high school cheerleader in Texas finds herself awash in cash and free clothes for her next night out based solely on her influence over her 2000 closest friends on Facebook. Next time you are heading to the mall, don’t look to Tom or Giselle, instead look at what your friends are (or aren’t yet) wearing.
So Meta: The fashion graph, while hopefully trendy, is still just one layer atop a digital foundation. I have long predicted that the next big thing online is bound to be annotation of everything. Unlike a photograph, a digital picture can contain near-infinite layers of tagging, commentary, and commerce. Instead of a 1,000 words, I won’t be surprised if certain amateur pictures end up earning much more than $1000.