From Models to Magazines, Cataloguing the Fashion Industry

by Elva Ramirez, Heard on the Runway

MyFDB’s Dior section, featuring Jessica Stam’s Spring 2007 campaign, MyFDB.com

Do you remember that Dior campaign that featured Jessica Stam in a vibrant pink dress against an abstract background of the same color? What year was that? Answer: It was the Dior Spring/Summer 2007 campaign, which appeared in Vogue’s July 2007 issue.

Until recently, there have been few options for fashion obsessives to track down a memorable ad from seasons past. A new start-up, My Fashion Database, has stepped into the breach. In scope and ambition, its most similar comparison is film database IMDB.com. Like IMDB, MyFDB.com catalogs the fashion industry in multiple ways, from the personal (you can look up model Chanel Iman and find her recent covers as well as her campaign work) to the team effort (it compiles makeup artists, manicurists and hairstylist credits in addition to editors, photographers and brands). The publications section has full layouts of magazines, including ads and editorials, so you can confirm that Madonna’s Louis Vuitton ad ran in the October 2009 issue of Harper’s Bazaar, which also featured a Banana Republic ad and a quirky Halloween editorial.

For all the vicarious thrills of having Vogue, Allure and luxury brand images in one central place, the effort started out as way to help industry people connect, like a fashion industry LinkedIn. The idea came about two years ago when former male model, now MyFDB.com CEO Keith Britton,tried to come up with an alternative to sending out his clips via messenger. The site is backed by private angel investors, but the company is not disclosing amounts invested or citing names. . .