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In Memoriam: The 10 Most Influential Articles Published on Style.com

May 15, 2019 5 min read

During its heyday, Style.com was a force in the fashion industry. With over 200 million views per month, the website took "its global audience deep inside the world of fashion." (Source.) However, anyone who tries to find the online publication today will hit the common brick wall found on the face of countless websites that have seen better days:This site can’t be reached.  

While Style.com no longer exists, it made its mark in the fashion world with some influential posts that attracted the attention of many readers. We explore the 10 most influential articles published by the once-popular site.

A Brief History of Style.com

Style.com was launched in 2000 by Condé Nast, a mass media publisher located at One World Trade Center in New York. It focused on runway images and fashion news coverage.

Conde Nast Logo Black with White Font

After some changes at Style.com -- and over several years -- Condé Nast invested over $100 million to revamp the site. It relaunched as an e-commerce website in September 2016. From the start, there were rumors of unrest; often accompanied by retrenchments and delays.

Style.com did not live up to the publisher’s expectations, and in 2017, Condé Nast announced the site’s closure.

The 10 Most Influential Articles

Because Style.com published tens of thousands of articles and photos in its 17 years, it’s impossible to summarize them all.  Instead, we have chosen to focus on the 10 that achieved the most notice from other websites. We chose the 10 most influential stories by ranking all of Style.com’s articles according to the number of inbound links they got from other websites. A story has true staying power when hundreds of independent site editors choose to link to it.

Dress Forms with Dresses

Six of the top 10 stories were about celebrities: Kanye West, Alexander McQueen, Michelle Obama, the Beckhams, Alexander Rodriguez, and the Google Guys: Larry Page and Sergey Brin.  Three stories were about brands: the presence of Dolce & Gabanna, Louis Vuitton and Chanel in the top 10 list should surprise no one. The final story stands out, though. It’s the story of a man that no one had heard of that was noteworthy primarily because of choices he made in his life.  But, before we spoil the details, let’s turn to the article that received more links on Style.com than any other.

  1. Dolce & Gabanna’s Abaya Collection Debut

Traditional Muslim attire in fashion is a controversial topic. Dolce & Gabanna, founded in 1985, is one of the biggest fashion companies today. Consequently, when the company launched its abaya and hijab collection, it was a bold move.  

  1. Exclusive: The Kanye West Interview

Kanye West is all about making a statement. From his outlandish comments to his bold style, he is never afraid to speak his mind. This 2015 interview focused on his new collection with Adidas.

Once again, West aimed to make a statement with simple, utilitarian clothing. In the article, he announces that his inspiration was making fashion accessible to everyone; criticizing the elitism of designer labels.  “[Fashion] is being held and blocked and not given to the people. So this is very much a Robin Hood approach that I have to making clothes,” said West. (Source.)

  1. Alexander McQueen

Alexander McQueen needs no introduction, and neither does Lady Gaga. After the singer announced on Twitter that the designer’s show would premiere her single,Bad Romance, the live stream crashed.

The glitches were seemingly caused by Gaga’s millions of fans rushing to hear her new song. The combination of McQueen’s sea creature and reptile-inspired fashion and Gaga’s reveal took the show to another level.

  1. Leading Lady

It's very difficult to ignore any article where Michelle Obama's name is mentioned. The article says: "From envisioning a more inclusive White House to embracing fearless fashion, Michelle Obama is poised to become the most transformative First Lady in history." It's hardly surprising that an article about such a bold woman would become influential.  

  1. The Beckhams: American Idols

The star of David and Victoria Beckham, England’s favorite soccer star and the beloved Posh Spice, just never seems to dim. As they plotted their move to the United States in 2007, public interest sparked the one-hour show Victoria Beckham: Coming to America.

With David set to continue his career and Victoria to launch her fashion and fragrance lines; it was clear they had influence. While Victoria’s company has hit hard times financially, she is still a major fashion icon, proving that the “Beckham brand” is yet to fade.

  1. Louis Vuitton

Just mention the name Louis Vuitton, and you are likely to attract attention. According to this article, the label turned heads at the Paris Fashion Show in 2010.

Corsets, cleavage-bearing blouses and full skirts reminiscent of the 60s dominated the show. It was a fresh approach to appreciating women in a truly Parisian way, thanks to creative designer Marc Jacobs.

  1. Chanel

This article announced: with taupe and beige, Lagerfeld“spun … a collection masterfully balanced between classicism and current fashion affairs.” With Prince and Rihanna sitting in the front row, it's easy to understand why the article attracted so much attention.

  1. Alex Rodriguez: Confessions of a Damned Yankee

During this interview, former NY Yankees shortstop Alex Rodriguez let slip that he was a fan of a particular Madonna song. The day after the interview he tracked down the interviewer, and insisted that the song not be included in the article for fear that it would be played every time he got up to bat. To this reader, this musical detail doesn’t justify the coverage received by this story.  

More interesting, however, is the fact that Rodriguez had an affair with Madonna in 2008.  It’s unclear if he and Madonna were still involved at the time of this article in 2009. Rodriguez’s affair and his behavior over something so “trivial” (as he put it) was bound to draw attention.

  1. Could You Survive Without Money? Meet the Man Who Does

Wouldn’t we all like to never worry about credit card debt or mortgage bills? According to this article, one man named Daniel Suelo, from Utah, is living proof that it is actually possible. He has lived with no money since 2000.

Daniel lives in a cave, eating grasshoppers and anything else he can find. “When I was living with money, I was always lacking," says Daniel in the article.

This is an intriguing story, given that money is perceived as something so powerful by almost everyone. An article like this was bound to attract a lot of attention. It possibly made Style.com a lot of money in the process.

  1. Journey to the (Revolutionary, Evil-hating, Cash-crazy, and Possibly Self-Destructive) Center of Google.

Read through this article and you will soon notice that it is not that much about the world of fashion. However, the article asks an important question: Will Larry and Sergey ever grow up? Maybe it’s the answer to this question that everybody was looking for.


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