As geeks, we’re not always known for our fashion sense beyond our closets full of ThinkGeek t-shirts. In fact, I’ve always been pretty certain that somewhere around middle school there was a class in “How To Be A Girl” that I neglected to enroll in. Then along comes motherhood to stretch everything in new directions and leave your body looking like someone else’s and your closet full of things you used to love to wear. BeauCoo is a mobile app with a new website that can help you figure it all out.
BeauCoo launched last fall with an iOS-only app that was intended to help women of similar sizes connect and share fashion information while shopping. Today the style lovers’ social network is opening more broadly with a web-based platform.
Their mission isn’t to help the geek population become more fashion-friendly, even if that’s the potential I see in it! It’s an even more noble purpose, particularly useful for the postpartum “whose body is this?!” problem: sharing body-positive information to make the shopping experience less torturous for those of us who don’t look like catalog models. That is to say, pretty much all of us.
“Society has women thinking there is only one body type to aspire to–when in reality there are many and they’re all to be celebrated,” co-founder Victoria MacLean said. “Women need to actively see other women their size looking beautiful. BeauCoo is all about women inspiring other women. To be #BoPo [their hashtag for “body positive”] is to believe in yourself and love your body–no matter the size.”
Here’s how it works: Login is currently Facebook-based, which they use to confirm that you’re a woman–or at least that you say you are on Facebook. Once you cross that low hurdle, you’re asked for your measurements, which BeauCoo assures you are kept confidential and can be changed later.
That’s it–you’re matched with people who have similar measurements, and you can see the outfits they’re trying and posting. Click Fit Match at the top (the tape measure will turn pink) to see those who match your measurements rather than all users. (As you might expect, this entails a lot of camera-in-dressing-room-mirror shots.)
You can tag other people’s outfits with “like” or “want” and see size and brand information:
The one big shortcoming, which is a problem for any new site–I’m a fairly average size 8-10 or so, but I did have many matches yet under Fit Match. I hope to see that grow after today’s web-based launch.
When you upload photos, you’re also offered the option to tag the brand on Twitter, which has the potential to lead to some interesting brand-customer interactions in the future from the more social-media-savvy brands out there. There’s also a rewards system in its infancy that BeauCoo hopes to spread to more retailers. For example, you may find that after you’ve uploaded a certain number of pictures from your favorite store, they’ll push you a 15% off coupon through BeauCoo–maybe even while you’re still in the dressing room.
The BeauCoo blog is a good starting point when you have no idea where to begin. It has posts like “In Priase of Petite” and “So Shoe Me: Heels” on specific style topics to get your creative style juices flowing. Have (more) fun shopping!
