Dec 23 2015 update:
A site representative has addressed issues I had brought up in this post in the comments. Please be sure to read it to complement what was mentioned here. Thank you to the reviewer for addressing the issue.
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I happened on this site via Pinterest the other, called MyStyleRules.com. I’ll let their short promo video summarize what they’re all about before offering some comments after having tried it out. I also have lots of questions for anyone who wants to try and answer them.
Seems like a really neat idea. Give them your basic shape based on relative proportions of your bust, waist and hips, generic clothing size you most frequently wear, adding those 3 measurements if you want, then height, age and race. Then you get not only fashion advice for types of garments, but actual garments of that type you can buy with a click!
But hold it a minute here. Who has made garments with just 3 measurements and have it fit well most of the time? And remember, these measurements are optional to your profile. You could use the site without it! I have my doubts about how well things might work there.
Doesn’t weight matter? One might think your generic clothing size will factor into the equation to maybe compensate for that, but that not only varies brand to brand, who said that size fits you well in the first place? You could be getting clothes that fit worse given how “rough” those very few other bits of info about you are used to create the virtual model of you.
And what does age and race have to do with any of this? If they have algorithms to figure out your probable shapes on your race and age, there’s a decent chance that’s not very close to the real you. People of all races and ages come in all shapes and sizes. They already have your shape and possibly measurements. Are they going to scale it back or enhance it some if you are of a certain race and/or age? If it’s for fashion advice, then that’s racist and/or snobby to say maybe you’re too old to wear this or, God forbid, too black or white to wear this. I know it wouldn’t be that crude but insinuation is still racist. I hope there is nothing like that on the site, and I know its makers will claim that. I can only hope they’re right but what does race and/or age have to do with this?
Doesn’t bra cup size matter? It might if they need age to recommend against stuff that might accentuate sagging, lol. They don’t require an under bust measurement. How do they know cup size cause surely that factors into some garment sizing. Again, I don’t buy using the formula off your typical size given, which brings up another question.
One size only? I know lots of people who take a certain size for tops, a different one for bottoms, or different sizes for different garments.
Overall, I have a lot of doubts about how good this virtual model of you is. However, there are some good things for this site. Just maybe not the clothing size recommendations.
The style recommendations are great. There are certain clothes that go better with certain body types. So long as you give them your body type to some reasonable degree, which it can get from the slightest amounts of info you give it, you should be able to get good recommendations. I’d just take this list and go shopping for fit rather than take my chances shopping online from their site, as nice as some of the clothing options are.
They also have a list of stuff not to wear with your body type. That’s good to know, too!
Maybe the best thing I think I can get from this site, though, is the verbal analyses of garments. I can get guides and recommendations for styles to fit body types. However, how to deliver the critique and summary in “fashionista”, that’s a little harder to find online. Just going through the garments and listening will give you a good flavour fairly quickly to speak some decent “fashionista”.
The downloadable PDF guide with each garment to write out in more detail what the verbal summary said is also nice. You don’t need to download them all. Just as you go deciding what style to buy or make, listen and download to read a few choices at a time to build your fashion styles education like I will be enhancing mine. Just remember, though, these are recommendations and guidelines. They’re not even rules, which are made to be broken, especially in fashion. 🙂
So overall, I wouldn’t use this site for what it was designed. However, there’s still a lot of good stuff for which I’ll use it as a reference in the future.
Thanks for reviewing our site, http://www.mystylerules.com. We appreciate your honest review and feedback.
I would like to address a couple of points that you raised, specifically about race, age and model/size determination concerns.
As to race and age, we ask those questions so that the user can access a model that is closest to their body. Our models have different skin tones and different attributes associated with aging. Additionally, recommendations are different for different age groups. It has nothing to do with racism or ageism. We simply want the user to have the best experience possible.
As to bust, under-bust, etc. This software is extremely sophisticated as to algorithms. As long as the user chooses the correct body type, the system takes care of the rest.
We have opted not to suggest to the user which size is correct for them because there is no standard sizing regulation in the garment making industry. Every company has it’s own sizing criteria. We think our users have enough shopping savvy to know what size they wear and trust that they will buy the size that is appropriate for them.
Thanks again for the review!
Suzette
Thank you for addressing those issues, Suzette. Readers will be able to see your comment to know. I will put a note in the post that you had addressed issues mentioned in the comments so they will know it’s there.
Minh