Join My Email Newsletter [news]
Hi fashion & photography lovers,
I would like to invite you to join my new email newsletter to stay in touch with you. I have done some updates to my blogging system recently and also optimized my RSS feed and reorganized the history page in order to make it easier for you to browse through older posts.
Best regards,
Miss Viki
Garmz Review: User-Generated Fashion [news]
Hi, do you know this experience? You have a great idea, maybe one to make big money, and then in your enthusiasm you perform a Web search to find out that the Web is full of genius like you, who have already implemented the same idea ;-)
In the Internet business, it is important doing the right thing right at the right time. Garmz is definitely not the first startup based in Vienna, trying to build a "crowdsourced" fashion online shop, but besides useabrand, also from Vienna, they are still one of the first, worldwide!
The concept is simple to explain. You create the fashion design and Garmz does the heavy lifting for you, i.e. you submit your design (sketches), let the users vote and comment on it and the top voted designs get produced and marketed in the Garmz Web shop. If you are lucky, and your design wins the competition, you are rewarded about 10% of the total revenue of sold items, or about 7 EUR per item, if an item costs 75 EUR.
I see Garmz as another channel for young designers, who do not have an own label or shop yet. What will be risky however is, how to attract the customers on the other side of the equation to the online shop. One thing I like about Garmz is that it wants to give a lot of freedom to the designers and help them establish their own brand. Ideally, the finished piece will wear the label of the designer, not Garmz (not sure, if this will be the case).
Additionally, it could be frustrating for designers who target a special niche, if they never get enough votes to get their design produced. All of these issues can be addressed though and Garmz is also excellent in marketing, having won Maria Ratzinger from Stylekingdom, who writes Garmz Blog.
Related Links
- futurezone: Social-Web-Tool für Modedesigner
- Kurier: Web-Boutique für Jung-Designer aus Österreich
- SKIR: Interview mit Maria Ratzinger garmz.com
- Startup Review by Joao Belo, Venture Capital & Business Analyst
- Techcrunch: Garmz.com launches as a fashion game changer
- Video: DreamA Profile: Garmz.com - Good Morning Designers
- Video: STARTeurope: Interview with Garmz.com
Happy Birthday, Miss Viki! [news]
Zotter chocolate from Riegersburg, Austria
Hi, time is passing by so quickly. It is already one year ago that I launched this Web site and my journey as an art model. Time to look back and forward.
I tried to be a girl and found my love for fashion and art, but also realized that I am still a man, loving women. Everybody is different, but we have also more in common than we might think.
I started from zero, being a computer nerd with glasses, and proved at least to myself that I can be a fashion model :) But coming to here was not easy, it was a lot of hard work and sometimes it was like running the gauntlet (Oops, remember rule 2: be optimistic and fair, but it's true. Still searching for the meaning of life, for love, wondering how to make a living out of it).
I did a lot of photo shoots, fashion shows and even started to make my own fashion videos, but the most important thing for me is that I have learned so much in the past year from you, my peer bloggers, my photographers, choreographers, managers, designers, stylists and models I have worked with. Merci beaucoup to you all and everybody who is supporting me!
What's next? There is still so much to do in the fashion, model, blogging and video front, I would love to explore. So stay tuned and let me surprise you.
AZUBIS 01 Fashion Show In Wittgenstein House [news]
Video credit: missviki.at
Hi, the noun "Azubi" (plural Azubis) is quite an interesting colloquial word in German. First, it is an abbreviation for "Auszubildende(r)", which can be translated as "apprentice" in English. Secondly, the verb form itself is interesting, because it is derived from the transitive verb "jemanden ausbilden" (to teach someone) and is used as a noun with a passive meaning. So a more literal translation for "Azubi" is "someone who has to be taught and trained".
Now, the Azubis (bachelor students from the University for Art and Industrial Designs Linz / Vienna Fashion School Hetzendorf) showed what they have learned in the AZUBIS 01 fashion show and exhibition in the Wittgenstein house, the Bulgarian institute of culture in Vienna.
But unlike other students' fashion shows, where the students basically showcase their own fashion collection, the presented looks were not done by themselves, but were created out of individual students' pieces by Samuel Drira und Sybille Walter from encens Magazine, Paris.
The two stylists came on the invitation of the head of studies Wally Salner and Johannes Schweiger (fabrics interseason) to Vienna and delivered a strong fashion show of uniformly good looking outfits.
Now the fact, that the students were not (fully) responsible for the presented looks is controversial (see articles below) but it is not necessarily a bad idea in my opinion as long as they have enough other possibilities during their studies to express their whole individuality, which I am sure they can and will.
Related articles
A Summer Of Fashion [news]
Hi, it really got hot here in Vienna, about 35 degrees Celsius. If you are lucky you are on a (seaside) vacation right now, if not you can enjoy a summer of fashion in Vienna.
The Vienna fashion icon and founder of the Mother Agency Mario Soldo is back and has organized an 8! week long event of fashion shows, model scouting and public photo shoots. All of this is taking place in the Generali Center on Mariahilfer Street 77 starting this week.
8cht! Weeks
July 12th till September 4th 2010
Generali Center (Mariahilfer Str 77)
Vernissage
every Monday 7 p.m.
Model Scouting
every Monday–Wednesday by Mother Agency
Photo Shooting
every Thursday
Photographers: Steve James Scott, Bernhard Musil, Julian Laidig, Sia Kermani, Wolfgang Steiner, Philipp Moser, Pascale Jean-Louis, and Alexander Hager
Public Fashion Shows
every Friday 7 p.m.
July 16th, July 23th, July 30th, August 6th, August 13th, August 20th, August 27th
Designers: Edith A´Gay, Gina Drewes, Robert Schermann & Brigitte Mair, Daria Kostenko, Isabella Meus, Shakkei & Johann Bernhard, and Fulani
After 8! Party
every Friday 10 p.m. @ Club Take Five (Annagasse 3a, 1010 Vienna)
Designer Sale
every Saturday 12 till 6 p.m.
Fashion Mob
Friday, September 3rd 7 p.m.
— Other fashion events this summer
TOM's CLUB | Dominik Wachta Model Contest
"Niederösterreichs nächstes Topmodel"
Friday, July 16th 2010
7 p.m. @ Lounge am Kahlenberg
Life Ball
Red ribbon charity event
Saturday, July 17th 2010 @ Vienna City Hall, Square, Burgtheater
The Panoramic View [album]
Photos by Dennis and Viktor | Fashion by DEPT
Fashion Shoot With Mel Merio [news]
Video credit: missviki.at
Hi, Mel Merio is a multi talent. She is not only a great singer and moderator, but also a charismatic fashion model.
Two years ago I blogged about Mel's first, trashy but classy music video Hamster In A Wheel and now we both modelled for Angel's new fashion collection :) Unbelievable, isn't it?
Since I love making videos, I also did a short making of video of the shoot with my compact camera.
In this video: Mel Merio, Angel, photographer Elsa Okazaki, assistant Erika Dellert-Vambe, make-up artist Verena Rabl and model Charlotte.
I hope that I can showcase the final pictures by Elsa soon.
Photo by Miss Viki | Fashion by Angel Transformation
A Slightly Different Sneaker Ad [news]
Video credit: Foot Locker
Hi, I have a split opinion about advertising. On the Web I find most ads annoying, especially those that force users to close them or start playing sound out of a sudden, which motivated me to write a computer program to remove flashy ads from Web sites.
However, I appreciate innovative and original ads such as this Foot Locker Spank ad on YouTube. It is a cool and kinky idea without being too offensive while still staying product related ;-)
What is also cool about this form of advertising is that it is spread by word of mouth rather than being the millionth banner on a completely confusing and overloaded Web page. More of this, please!
Musical Victor Victoria Coming To Austria [news]
— So, I'm a woman pretending to be a man pretending to be a woman.
— You know, pretending to be a man does have its disadvantages.
Hi, maybe you have already noticed this poster. The Broadway musical adaption of the 1982's comedy Victor Victoria is coming to Austria.
I still remember the funny restaurant scene for instance, where Victoria, brilliantly played by Julie Andrews, is starving to death and finally goes to a restaurant without having enough money to pay for the meal. There she meets Toddy (Robert Preston), who is in a similar situation, broken and unsuccessful as a singer. But toghether they have a plan and the rest of the plot is best described by the dialog above ;-) It is a nice comedy of mistaken identity.
It is also interesting to note that the movie is actually a remake of the much older German movie Viktor Viktoria from 1933 with Reante Müller and Hermann Thimig in the main roles.
The Austrian version of the musical is now performed by Maya Hakvoort and Alfons Haider as part of the Stockerau Open Air Festival. The premiere is on July 6th. Regular performances are from 13th July till 14th August 2010 in Stockerau, Lower Austria.
At The Imperial Residence [album]
Photos by Ancalimê | Fashion by Roberto Cavalli