Earlier this week fashion blogs and even business sites were buzzing about a new outfit creation called Couturious.com. Okay they weren’t buzzing, but they mentioned it. The site is made by the people behind polyvore.com and like.com and it seems they were trying to combine the creative drive of Polyvore with the super cash cow element of Like. Not a bad idea… too bad it was a complete rip off. If you’re into styling (and spending all day online) they way I am, you already know about Looklet.com. And if you know about that you’ll recognize how similar the concepts are.

Before I jumped to any conclusions, I reached out to Olle Hemmendorff – the creator of Looklet – to find out if perhaps he had collaborated on this new venture. No, he didn’t.

I’ve heard plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery. But i’m not flattered. Apart from the glaring lack of original ideas, i also think couturious doesn’t show much of the quality or attention to detail, essentially the LOVE we’ve put into Looklet. I hope others recognize this as well.

WE recognize, Olle! I’m sticking with Looklet.

When I first discovered Polyvore.com, I was completely smitten. After spending hours on made-for-kids dress up sites, Polyvore was heaven-sent. Nowadays I’m far to busy to spend so much time with it, but it’s still a favorite. Enter, Looklet.com. I came across the site while reading one of my blog buddies Glowing Doll. I’ve only just registered but I can see already it has the potential to be a new, time-consuming love e-ffair.

The key word here is potential. I definitely love that you can see the looks you create on “real” bodies, which makes a look that might look drab on the hanger look fab on the model. I also love that you can see your look from the back as well. On the downside, the selection is poor. One of the best things about Polyvore is that if you can’t find what you’re looking for on the site, you can go grab it from somewhere on the Web. Looklet is in Beta and I’m guess they will broaden there selection, but they will never be able to offer the self-stocking the way that Polyvore does. The site is also still quite buggy, but that’s understandable for a new venture. All in all it’s a cool site, but it can’t replace my beloved Polyvore.