SE2EP13: Stylebook

"Ship's Log, Stardate 94283.47:

This is a serious report, so listen up.

Water Damage

On Tuesday evening, at approximately 19:00, we experienced a large hull breach at the rear of the station.  Mr. J correctly ascertained that the source of the mild explosion was our water containment system...  Which neither of us has the clearance to access!

We skeptically filed an incident report, but it was addressed immediately with an all-new system.  

Like, super immediately.

The return of (even) hot(er) water was celebrated with facials and bath bombs.

Stylebook

As that incident was resolved faster than expected, I had plenty of time to get back to my wardrobe inventory overhaul.  I was recently introduced to Stylebook, an IOS app, and began playing around with it to see if it would be worth switching away from Google Docs.

Normally, I stick to freemium apps, but this one seemed worth $3.99 from the previews and reviews, and I still feel it was worth it, as I have few critiques.

Here's how it's supposed to work:

• The app suggests that you lay your item flat on a solid, contrasting surface (like a bed sheet) and photograph them.

• When you import a pic, the app will automatically try to remove the background - you can adjust this on a slider, opt instead for custom Tap and Erase, or use a combination of both.

• Then you add your background-free item to the appropriate category in your Closet (and you can rename, add, or delete categories, and sub categories).

• Optional - you can also add notes and keywords for each item, like URL, brand, care instructions, retail price, etc!

• Once your items are uploaded, you can create and save coordinates with them using Looks.

• You can also track how much you wear certain items or plan future coords using Calendar.

And this is one of the intended final products when you use this app the regular way. 

But we just can't settle for the regular way, can we?

So, if you prefer coordinates to floordinates:

• Use a dress form against a solid wall, or hang your sheet behind your dress form instead of laying it flat on the ground/bed.

• You will need to rely more heavily on the custom background removal tools to edit out your dress form, and ensure all photos are taken from a straight forward angle.

• Items are all neat and oriented in collages, and can be easily stacked for paper-doll style collages.

A little tool use on the dress form...

There, much better!

And everything is stackable for paper-doll style collages!

Some other notes:

• Categories cannot be deleted until empty, which I think is a good failsafe and you can easily move items into different categories.

• One critique is that you can only add one item at a time to a Look, making it a bit tedious when you need to select all the items required for a full coordinate...

• Another is that it doesn't handle items that are transparent very well, so you pretty much have to use a white background to photograph them.

The shoes needed to be photographed on a white background.

• But still, it's going to make wardrobe posts a breeze.

• There are a bunch of other features like Packing, and Shop which lets you plug into hundreds of stores (western brands, though), but really that's all just icing on the cake and completely optional.

I'm going to keep importing items into this app in groups until everything is uploaded - it's a lot to do all at once!  This is definitely going to replace Google Docs as my current wardrobe-keeper.

For now - back to bath bombs and face masks!  

Until next time, Bear signing off!"

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