Polyvore Acquired - Tumblr Posts

Polyvore is Dead

 Eleven years ago, on February 1, 2007, a fashion website captivated people into making an account and from that amazing idea, people became loyal and valued members. A website where creativity reigned supreme and fashion is the opiate of choice. That website was called ‘‘Polyvore.” Over time, the fan base for that grew and grew until they decided to modernize by coming up with an app for smartphones as society increased with their usage and convenience. I am proud to say that I am a loyal Polyvore fan, even before I signed up for the website. 

Seeing those beautiful outfits that were created for movies, books, TV Shows, characters, fanfiction stories for OCs, and collections for everything and anything came in plenty: collections on spy gear, princess gowns, Disney Princesses, superheroes, etc. I still remember visiting their website, looking at ‘The Clique’ series outfits and loving every single one that was made.

As I grew up, that passion intensified until I made an account of my very own and I was happy. Now, that joy has turned to despair and disappointment as we say goodbye to this wonderful website that has become not only a part of our daily lives but as an escape from reality from which a world of ‘Pure Imagination’ comes to life. 

Millions of fans have downloaded, shared, created, and enjoyed the fashion app Polyvore, who gave users - men, women, and children alike - a chance to express their individuality and imaginative creativity. An app that I, and countless others used daily for fanfictions, pure enjoyment, and a way to bring a little sense of joy to our hectic, stressful lives. 

This morning, I went straight into the app for some morning inspiration for one of my many OFC fanfic fashion sets, when I found it to be completely closed off. Naturally, I thought they were having some system problems, so I thought nothing of it. Thinking to myself - and those who use the app and/or website - by this afternoon or the evening, Polyvore would be fixed. 

Needless to say, I was thoroughly disappointed with that naïve idea, when all it said was ‘No Network Connection.’ I didn’t know what was going on and, naturally, I panicked. Alright...some of you might think of me as over dramatic and a wuss for that, but I was scared. Everything that I’ve done in the name of self-expression, art, fashion, individuality, creativity, and imagination, was not available for anyone to see, much less me. Even friends and followers who I’ve made and commented on their ‘art’ has been completely shut out from us. 

When I saw the blog post and read that another website company bought Polyvore, I was heartbroken. Having taken a look at the new website, “SSENSE,” it’s without a doubt: a disappointment...with a capital ‘D’. There’s not a shred of individuality, no sense of creativity; just a fashion site to buy things from like Barney’s, Saks, or even Macy’s. The once independent, one-of-a-kind, interesting fashion website has become just like every other fashion website out there: dull and uninteresting. This is a website that people would rather not sign up for, much less buy from it. If I wanted to buy something, I’ll go on the infinite number of websites for different companies and buy from there. 

Honestly, this is what they’ve done to Polyvore. To them, it was a great move, but to the loyal and dedicated fans who signed up for these accounts, made friends, expressed their artistic vision of what they see it as for themselves - and receiving positive criticism for it, nevertheless - it was the single most horrific deal ever made. And I hope someone brings it back because I want to express myself through fashion and Polyvore has always been a way for me to be an artist through that medium. 

In the immortal words of fashion icon, Blair Waldorf: “Fashion is the most powerful art there is. It’s movement, design, and architecture all in one. It shows the world who we are and who we’d like to be.”

And, I, for one, would feel very lonely without it. Share, reblog, retweet, and comment on your feelings about this.

For those who would like to bring it back and fight to keep Polyvore up and running, sign the petition by clicking on this link and make your voice heard: 

https://www.change.org/p/former-polyvore-users-creative-minds-bring-back-polyvore?recruiter=508840244&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_message.nafta_milestone_share_ask_victory.control

Shop Look Isn’t Polypore...but so far: It’s a close second

Today is Day 1 of our Polyvore withdrawal and right now...it’s not going very well. In over a couple of hours: Polyvore has shut down, bought and sold to the highest bidder (by way of SSENSE), and has become like every other website for fashion (and not very interesting about it, I may add). We, the fans and loyal people of the world and interweb, who love and adore Polyvore as much as I do, won’t take this sitting down. So far, Stage 1 has begun: Denial and Shock.

A natural response for Polyvore people who found out that their favorite place to go, the website that made them feel good, a place where they could make friends, compliment, and create entire identities and personalities, is gone. A world where it was bright, crazy, unpredictable, and - above all - special made life beautiful and bearable. The feeling of pride and happiness in the sense of style and preferences is replaced by new feelings: mediocrity and bland. 

For others, it was the only thing that gave them a sense of joy. A way for ordinary people to become different: to become high-end fashionistas and trendsetters without damaging their budget or bank account. It was modest but elegant; innovative and intriguing. A beautiful blend of code, fashion, and the love of the fashion world that made this dream a reality. 

Now, I will be blunt, and you all deserve to know my honest opinion. I am an optimistic person: I firmly believe that good things will happen, that out of a dark world a bright light will appear. I have faith that Polyvore won’t be eliminated or taken down. Some of you might think of me as a naïve person, while others still believe that everything will be set right. Truth be told...I’m afraid. I’m worried that it’s not going to be enough and Polyvore might cease to exist, which is something I don’t want to happen (unless if I have anything to say about it). 

The petition #BringBackPolyvore is going great so far. We’ve exceeded our 5k limit, and it’s on track to almost 7500 signatures. News buzz about our petition is spreading, and everyone is noticing Polyvore. However, if some people feel they should contribute a little more, you can email Oath Inc. (the company that owns Polyvore), and it’s CEO Tim Armstrong. Email the founders and CEO of Polyvore itself. Make your voices heard to him saying that to cancel or remove altogether the Polyvore website and program, is to remove and suppress the creativity and passions of the people. 

Furthermore, with all this talk about a backup website in case, I submit to all of you: ShopLook.io. It’s putting some extra things on its site, but it’s an excellent alternative for Polyvore. Let me explain a few details about the website. 

First of all, it’s cute; A trendy chic cute. It’s pure and bright, has a lot of potential for improvement, and is formatted the same as Polyvore. They are working diligently to make sure that Shop Look has some of the same features as Polyvore did, like the option of creating collections and fashion sets, clipping items to your profile and items list, commenting and liking fashion sets from other users, and sharing them on Pinterest. 

To continue, there are some new features they’re adding throughout the upcoming months: developing a new iOS and Android app for portable usage. Being able to communicate directly with the user and a new thing they’re adding is commission sharing with outfit creators (from what I’ve read on the button that says for ‘Polyvore Users'). Right now, they’re still working on the site so it will take a while before everything is ready to go. The subscription is free, just like Polyvore, and you can follow them on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest to follow what’s going on. 

For the next few days (or however long it takes), fighting for this beloved website is going to be a more significant challenge. But we have to remember that “An honest voice is sometimes louder than a crowd’s. Trust your voice.” - Reese Witherspoon 

To sign the petition: https://www.change.org/p/former-polyvore-users-creative-minds-bring-back-polyvore?recruiter=7034817&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=share_petition&utm_term=triggered

Tim Armstrong:

Twitter: @tim_armstrong (that’s all I could find on him)

SSENSE IS GOING DOWN!!!

I was on the @BBPolyvore Facebook page and stumbled upon this: a photo of a customer complaint from a loyal SSENSE User about how the fashion site handled its acquisition of Polyvore. And from what I’ve read (and hopefully what you’ll read soon) this person is disappointed, disgusted, and disillusioned to this company’s business ethics...and I’m super happy!!!

This is the kind of change we need to expose as well as keep fighting SSENSE from their business ‘plan.’ Right now, we need to stand together - now more than ever - and keep protesting their products, website, and business for what they’ve done to us.

I don’t know when our beloved Polyvore will return or how, but I still have hope that the Polyfam is going to beat this...and I still believe that we will win this fight.

Our petition has reached 11K signatures and is on track for 15K at change.org. Repost this, tweet it, retweet it, show it on Facebook and Instagram, and let the world know: we are never backing down and we will never give up!!

Here’s the petition: https://www.change.org/p/former-polyvore-users-creative-minds-bring-back-polyvore

Read this well-crafted article (and a mention from CNBC) and ask yourself whether or not we - the Polyvore community - should keep fighting for it or not.

Also, on the off chance (still hoping and praying for Polyvore) that Polyvore doesn’t come back, there’s another website that’s almost like our Polyvore, but nevertheless, it's fixing itself to make sure they're giving us an excellent experience, which causes customer satisfaction. I submit to you: urstyle.com

URStyle is a new creative website allows people to make their creations come to life. It is an attractive website for the same thing, coming up with most of the same programs that Polyvore used to have. 

I wish for the collections to be downloaded as well. But not only our collections, but the collections and items that we’ve liked over the years from other people added as well. That would be great...instead of finding every single item you’ve like in the past how many years manually

the one thing I wish I could do is be able to download my collections. I had collections of faceclaims that are now gone.