Photo: Courtesy of Wikifashion

In this net-obsessed time in history, the web’s become an unquenchable beast, and it’s time to take the bull by its horns, fashion lovers. Ford Models said it best when they tweeted: “At this point if you’re in fashion or follow it and not on the Twitter, then have fun hanging out with stegosaurus & triceratops…”

The same can be said about the ever-developing blogosphere, and Wikifashion is on the verge of being your one-stop, tell-all fashion site. Modeled around our favorite go to source of info (for every project, test or paper) Wikipedia, Wikifashion allows you to catalogue your favorite brands, fashion designers, and shows from season to season. Free of bias and advertising, this site is a breath of fresh air.

ELLEgirl caught up with Madeline Veenstra, creator of Wikifashion alongside co-creator and favorite technie Coen Hyde, to chat about the site’s beginnings and its well-deserved future.

ELLEgirl: What inspired you to start Wikifashion? Why the “wiki” aspect—what intrigued you about Wikipedia to incorporate it into your site? And how does this site work?

Madeline Veenstra (MV): I started it while I was studying at university. I’d often look to Wikipedia for information about fashion. It didn’t really have the information I was searching for, so my boyfriend (who is a programmer) and I built Wikifashion. The wiki aspect appealed to us because this seemed like the quickest way to collect the most information about fashion, by having the entire fashion community helping out. The site works just like Wikipedia, although it’s not part of Wikipedia, we simply use the same technology as them. Users can edit or create any pages that they like. Contributors can write about anything to do with fashion—their favorite brand, lipstick or even the history of Coco Chanel.

EG: How do people contribute to the site? Is there a fact checker?

MV: Anyone can contribute to the site; they can do this as a guest or by creating an account. Then they can search for the page they’re looking for. If it’s not on the wiki yet they can create the page, or edit the existing page. It’s pretty important to make sure that edits are unbiased and referenced properly, so I often look through new edits and correct anything that doesn’t look quite right or needs to be tweaked a little.

EG: What are some things you guys are working on as we speak?

MV: At the moment we’re working on a forum. We’re really excited to introduce this for our contributors to communicate with each other. We think that this will help them to teach each other and new users the wiki syntax and how to use the site. We’re also working with fashion schools to get more students involved with the site.

EG: Wikifashion is in its beginning stages. Where do you see this site going? Where is it headed?

MV: Ideally we’d like it to be the ultimate fashion resource. We’d like existing brands to add their new collections to the site each season and for emerging designers to be discovered. We want Wikifashion to become the place to find any information to do with fashion.

EG: What first got you interested in fashion?

MV: While I was completing my dual degree at university, I worked in fashion retail for five years. This really sparked my interest in new season collections, different designs, and how trends emerged.

EG: What’s the most interesting thing you learned from Wikipedia?

MV: We learned the power of user-contributed content. The fashion industry is notorious for being controlled by the Anna Wintours of the world, and a wiki is something that could really change this.

EG: As a fashion lover, what is your favorite item you own right now?

MV: I have a gorgeous pink statement necklace from an Australian brand Make Believe. It features three pink porcelain roses on a gold chain.