Social fashion site Chicisimo launches with $800K

The company gets support from Alice.com investor VitaminaK

Social shopping sites and mobile apps are all the rage these days, with services like Go Try It On raising impressive rounds.  Endless.com, Amazon’s shoe-shopping site, got its own iPhone app last October to allow users to shop for and browse new shoe arrivals.

Chicisimo isn’t so much of a social shopping site (yet) as it is a social fashion site, and the company announced Wednesday that it has raised $800K in angel funding from Alice.com investor VitaminaK.

The site, which officially launched today, is something of an online fashion magazine that’s created by the users.  Members post their own pictures and tag the brands that they’re wearing, comment on other members’ outfits, and “clip” their favorite outfits into “sets” that are sort of like fashion playlists for specific looks.  Sets can be categorized around a particular item, like vests, or a color, like aquamarine, and so on.

And what social site would be anything without the obligatory gamification?  Chicisimo members have the opportunity to earn “flower” badges from some of their favorite brands by posting pictures of themselves wearing those brands. 

In time, the company hopes to expand to become a global presence, with outfits from the U.S., UK, France, Germany, Brazil, Italy, Mexico, Poland, and more.

Beyond the “clipping” feature, Chicisimo doesn’t really stand out from other social fashion sites.  Go Try It On already does this, as does Snapette, but both have the advantage of being mobile from the get-go with a stronger social foundation.  Snapette also allows users to browse cute styles and locate them at a nearby store.

Identifying what makes Chicisimo different, co-founder Gabriel Aldamiz-Echevarria said in a statement: “Much more than just another website, Chicisimo is unique because it attracts a high-caliber community of fashion-forward women who daily post hundreds of artistic photos worthy of inclusion in any fashion magazine.”

A company spokesperson says that Chicisimo’s aim is to develop a stronger e-commerce angle, so users will be able to visit the site, discover hot new looks, and buy the items on-the-spot.  I’m told that while the company has plans to go mobile eventually, there’s no clear blueprint for that at the moment.