Goxip mixes fashion, celebrities and shopping

Star-gazers – those who focus on the celebrities, that is – now have an app they can use to find fashion matching what their idols are wearing.

A Hong Kong startup has launched an app called Goxip which uses social media, photo recognition technology and news feeds to connect fashion lovers with online retailers.

So when 25 year old Tina in a downtown Hong Kong cafe sees Fan Bingbing wearing a stunning new dress on a red carpet stroll she can copy the image on Goxip, crop the photo and wait while the app digitally searches online stores around the world for something similar.

The app’s creators – Juliette Gimenez and YC Lau – hope Goxip will become “the commerce layer, in between the world of [celebrity news] content and the retailers,” according to an interview.

It’s aimed at ‘ordinary people’ who cannot afford to splurge $5000 on designer rags worn by a Hollywood superstar – but want something as similar as they can. Meanwhile, fast fashion apparel brands are constantly studying catwalks and red carpets to spot new trends and cuts they can incorporate into their next weekly or fortnightly release.

Goxip helps the two parties meet – hopefully resulting in online sales for the retailer.

Behind the app is a system constantly searching for new trends and celebrity revelations.

“When you read the news, you can go straight to the article. Or you can shop. We have a snap and crop function. I like this dress, so I crop. I like this red dress for my cocktail party. I crop, take a photo, type the style and a list of clothing that matches your desire is listed,”.

Gimenez, Goxip’s CEO, worked with group-buying startup uBuyiBuy.com in 2010 which was later acquired by Groupon. Lau, Goxip’s head of product, is an investor and adviser for Chinese language web forum HKGolden.com, which boasts 6 million daily page views.

Goxip already has relationships with over 40 retailers (including Amazon, Shopbop, Zalora, Bloomingdales and TopShelf) and estimates it already has about 1 million clothing items in its database.