E-Bay launches LookBook, a shop-able street-style website

EBay has tapped into the allure of street-style blogs for its newest online e-commerce endeavor, LookBook. its a shop-able style gallery on which users upload snapshots of their outfits, bridging the gap between personal style and retail.

How does it work? Simple, users upload photos of themselves and are encouraged to vote on favorite looks that have been submitted by others. And when you click on a look, up pops photos of EBay finds that are stylistically similar to pieces worn in the photo.

Right now the site is hosting a contest. One of the top 25 voted-on snapshots will score a $5,000 EBay shopping spree; a photo shoot with Lucky magazine’s street-style photographer, Michael Waring; and a fashion consultation with Lucky editor at large Elise Loehnen. (Not bad eh?)

The winner will be chosen by EBay’s “style panel,” made up of Loehnen; Whitney Port, designer and star of “The City”; stylist Annabel Tollman; Meredith Barnett, editorial director of “The Inside Source”; and Karen Bard, EBay trend expert.

Now, more than ever before, fashion is about “creating the look”. Brands like H&M have been capitalizing on this trend by offering ‘fashion at an affordable price’ and Ebay is taking this philosophy to a new level.