As Pinterest starts to overtake Twitter and other websites for referral traffic, it's a tough act to follow. But The Fancy is ready to give it a try.

Geared at fans of great design who already love to suggest new brands and products to their social networks, Mark Zuckerberg and Kanye West are fans of The Fancy, and backers include Ashton Kutcher and PPR head François-Henri Pinault.

But unlike Pinterest, it's not so much about visual scrapbooking as is about generating sales of recommended products, turning users into affiliates. And unlike Klout, no credit is received for influence, only for actual purchase, rewarding users for their taste and influence. It's powering more than $10,000 in sales per day. Modest, but it's a start for a brand that describes itself as “part store, blog, magazine, and wishlist.”Continue reading...

New York's Parsons The New School for Design, PPR Group’s Luxury and Sport & Lifestyle premium brands, and The Fancy website have partnered so that Parsons students can vie for an internship with one of PPR's stable of 16 luxury brands. Lucky (meaning talented) Parsons students will be able to intern at PPR-repped brands including Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Yves Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Brioni, Stella McCartney, Sergio Rossi, Boucheron, Girard-Perregaux, JeanRichard, PUMA, Volcom, Cobra Electric and Tretorn.

Open to 2012 seniors of Parsons BFA Fashion Design program, the theme of the competitions is “Empowering Imagination” and students’ designs will be featured on TheFancy.com with winners showcased at Barney’s New York Madison Avenue store. The internship will run for 1 or 2 months in Paris, London, New York, Boston, Rome or Milan and an expense-paid internship of up to $10,000 with the PPR brand of their choice.

“Partnering with PPR and The Fancy will provide our students with an international perspective, thus positioning them as design thinkers poised to lead fashion globally,” said Simon Collins, Dean of the School of Fashion at Parsons, above.Continue reading...