I recently went to lunch with editor of Drapers, Lauretta Roberts and Keely Stocker, the Digital Content Manager of the Drapers Online website.

For those of you not aware of Drapers, it’s a weekly fashion retail industry magazine being a must-read for everyone in fashion, from the up-and-coming to the retail elite.

I have written a blog for Drapers since last summer, and was on the judging panel of the Drapers Etail Awards which took place earlier this year.

The awards will be back next year, and I am told it will be much bigger as the January event was sold out and there were a huge amount of entries; proof that the e-commerce sector is booming, and a testament to Drapers that such an industry accolade is so sought after.

There may also be new award categories too, which is great, as it opens up options to online retailers.

I asked Keely if there would be a separate navigation tab on the Drapers Online website for E-Commerce, as it’s such a popular area, and she said it was being looked into.

Lauretta mentioned there is a Drapers conference dedicated to online retail planned for October, which is around the same time we should be hearing about the next Etail Awards.

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What did you think of Online Fashion 100?
A great idea. My mum couldn’t understand why I wasn’t at number one though!

Who in the list would you most like to be stuck in a lift with?
For stealing style tips, definitely Natalie Massenet. I suppose with net-a-porter as your own private wardrobe, it’s not difficult to be well-dressed, but she always looks so effortlessly chic.

If I’m going to be there for ages, probably Maria Milano; we’re old friends, having sat next to each other for three years when she edited GQ.com and I edited Glamour.com, so always have plenty to gossip about.

You worked with My-Wardrobe on a trends channel, would you like to work more closely with retailers on content in the future?
We’re always on the hunt for new partners and have done some great partnership work this year with Wallis, Uniqlo, Lastminute.com and i-escape.com, to name just a few.

Carla Bevan is the editor of MarieClaire.co.uk

Some say in a recession sales of shoes, make-up and accessories grow faster than that of other fashion items. Do you believe this theory, and is it impacting your content plans?
Yes, definitely, it’s far easier to update your wardrobe with a few well-chosen accessories, than expensive top-to-toe outfits.

We’re ensuring we include plenty of shoes and bags in our ever-popular Buy of the Day slot and our What to Wear This Week feature. Having said that, our readers seem to love reading about dresses, too, right now.

If you could choose a fashion blogger to do your job for a day who would it be?
Tavi, of tavi-thenewgirlintown.blogspot.com - she’s ace.

Visit the Marie Claire website

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I recently met up with Imran Amed, editor of The Business of Fashion, for lunch at Dover Street Market in Mayfair.

Imran featured in Online Fashion 100, which I am pleased to say he was very happy about.

If you haven’t read his blog (unlikely) it’s a well respected and highly refined comment source on the global fashion industry – just in case you didn’t take that away from the Ronseal title Business of Fashion.

Go read it.

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Mademoiselle Robot on negative blog comments - a must-watch.

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Why I made certain choices… all explained on my latest Drapers blog, ‘Online Fashion 100: so far, mostly good’.

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”INSPIRATIONAL, INTERESTING AND INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE IN THE ONLINE FASHION INDUSTRY.”

Online Fashion 100 has been published online by The Independent.

You can download the full ‘Online Fashion 100’ eBook here.

Online Fashion 100 includes forewords from Nicky Hambleton-Jones and Dawn Bebe, as well as comment from Caprice Bourret, Nick Ede, Jonathan Gabay, Way Perry and Romeo Pires.

Remember to leave your comments about Online Fashion 100 here.

Sponsored by Schway.

UPDATE: There has been a lot of demand to download the Online Fashion 100 eBook, so if you have problems drop me an email - leon[@]reallycontent.com - and I shall send it to you as an attachment.

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What’s really best for brands that want reach, Network Buys or Influencer Engagement? Click to read my article on NMK

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Last week I was shown a demo of an online fashion television platform which will revolutionise the way the celebrity driven market buys clothes online.

The technology behind it is remarkable, and cleverly marries content with product in a way that just isn’t being done by anyone.

It was all very fitting as in the same week The Money Programme on BBC Two focused on the changing face of television in the digital age, with commentators calling on the government to allow product placement to offset a fall in advertising revenue.

Cadbury’s product placement in Kate Modern on Bebo

Whilst product placement would be a large revenue driver I think networks are still missing a trick with online retail.

TV stations have the opportunity to drive huge amounts of traffic to their websites where they can promote product from online retailers and take a commission on sales.

As the content they use to promote retailers would remain static and live forever it would provide them with a drip feed of ongoing revenue.

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A few years ago I worked with the guys at Search Engine Marketing agency Weboptimiser on campaigns for clients such as Jobserve, Nestle and Bourne Leisure.

It wasn’t unusual to do a bit of a tidy up when we were expecting clients to visit, but last week the team must have had their work cut out in preperation for a visit from Gordon Brown.

OK, so he’s not royalty and neither is he the most charismatic leader, but still, the most powerful man in the country.

A great coup for a great company.

And it’s a good thing when the most powerful man in the country takes time to visit a search engine marketing company, something to be celebrated by the whole industry - especially when few people outside of media actually know what it is (see recent research on said matter on blogstorm).

Don’t worry, Gordon hasn’t given up the day job - much as I’m sure he is interested in title tags, URL rewrites and link reworking, he made the visit to the company to discuss the new loan guarantee scheme of which Weboptimiser, as a small business, benefits.

With Jonathan Ross using Twitter and Gordon Brown swotting up on search, it looks as if social media marketing has just gone mainstream.

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“The bigger the star the more money you’ll make” – that’s what celebrity photo agency Big Pictures, founded by Darren Lyons, says of its brokering service.

Register with the website, upload the photo and within 48 hours you’ll be told if your snap can be sold to a tabloid or magazine.

Every single person with a camera phone is a potential paparazzo. A nightmare for many celebrities, but a blessing to publicity hungry.

A new service called Demotix, which works on the same principle of citizen journalism, wants to be to The Telegraph what Big Pictures is to Heat.

The only difference is the photos on Demotix are publicly available to view. It’s much more of a social network.

I first heard of the website after reading a review of it by Mike Butcher on the popular Tech Crunch UK – a review which provoked a pretty contentious discussion.

So when I was given the opportunity to interview Turi Munthe, the founder of this controversial, exciting and innovative start-up, I had to say yes.

Click here to read the interview.

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Charity is already a very personal thing, but it seems to be getting even more so.

Waitrose is a brand that has understood this well. At the checkout customers are given a green token to place in a box of their choice – each representing a different local charity.

Cancer Research UK is a charity that is close to many of our hearts, but even they are having to tap into this choice trend, by launching a new website MyProjects.

Charities might not be businesses but they do have competitors, and Cancer Research UK is fighting for your charity pound by allowing you to donate specifically to a project of your choice.

Wayne Cornish from the charity brought the website www.cancerresearchuk.org/myprojects to my attention.

It contains videos and content about each of the six projects - leukaemia research, prostate cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, bowel cancer and cancer nurses – as well how each project is progressing towards its fundraising target.

The website is still in beta, so it seems there are more developments to come.

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Gigi Morley, former National Lottery presenter, is now a style queen making waves in fashion.

She’s writing a book on her favourite subject, accessorising, and fronts a series of style videos for Virgin Media’s Living website.

The features were produced by Gigi’s company Rocks, Frocks & Cocktails with Chuffed Productions and Philip Levine. My friends Rebekah Roy and Zoe Lem were also involved in the project as stylists.

Called Living Loves Fashion the short four minute videos feature up to the minute style tips and trend news.

Online content has come a long way, and as a female focused channel it’s important that Living continues to invest in high quality fashion content and features like this.

It’ll be interesting to see if Living works more closely with production companies to produce interactive video content, like My-Wardrobe.com’s videos where you can click to product within video content.

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Two experts in online advertising Simon Stone and Fiza Khan, and the IAB, give me their opinion on advertising in catch up TV services.

Read the full article on the IAB website.

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A couple of weeks ago I went to the launch event for the new Karaoke Box in Smithfield, London.

If you haven’t yet had the chance to experience a night in a private karaoke booth you’re definitely missing out.

It’s an opportunity for you and your friends to lock yourself away in a room equipped with microphones and a choice of 5,000 songs.

You pay a set fee, based on the size of your party and the hours you sing the night away.

I feel there would be an opportunity for more revenue to be generated by recording booth sessions (with permission of course) and allowing partygoers to watch themselves, or see photos, online the next day.

It could also act as a viral marketing tactic.

Everyone loves putting up party photos on Facebook. Karaoke Box could offer visitors the opportunity to find their photo on the website and easily put them into their Facebook profile, complete with Karaoke Box branding embedded on the photo.

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A couple of weeks ago at the launch night for RAW at London nightclub Jalouse (in support of Cancer Research UK), I saw an example of an established profession using the internet to generate revenue.

On arrival at the private members club, frequented by celebs including Sienna Miller, Ronan Keating and Leonardo DiCaprio, attendees were photographed red carpet style by Pictures Inc, and given the option to purchase the print outs on site; just like when you get off the Log Flume at Alton Towers.

But if you didn’t want to run the risk of losing your print out on the way home, you could always log on to the Pictures Inc website the next morning and purchase the photo online as an A4 print out or get it made into a key ring.

The internet means photographers can generate revenue after an event.

Paul Martin from Pictures Inc says the practice is a double edge sword, whilst many partygoers like to see their photo online, only a few go on to purchase.

I think Paul is correct, but quite possibly polite in his observation. I would go as far as saying it’s simply modern day narcissism in action.

The kind of narcissism that would lend itself to sending to friends, posting on Facebook, or embedding into a blog (who would do that?).

This ‘self gratifying viral’ behaviour can be used to the advantage of sponsors whose branding appears behind most photos (in this case The Fashion Crowd and Jalouse) – it’s like making a celebrity out of every individual. Perhaps this is the way to fund event photography, in addition to merchandise?

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