Fantasy Fashion League Begins Again

For many, clothing is a requirement, nothing more. I'm not one of those people. I like to think of fashion as wearable art. Through color, cut, texture and style, fashion can create an incredible visual effect and always makes an impression whether we like it or not. It's also interesting because the same piece can look entirely different on one person vs. the next. And it's fun to combine things the way no one else has.

I blame it on my freshman college roommate. She introduced me to fashion magazines and modeling. Then when I dabbled in the latter, I learned how to mix and match clothing and accessories (today's fashion is more about mixing) and I learned how to create a look for any occasion. Rather than being one of those people who dreads special events, I look forward to the opportunity of putting a new combination of items together. I always liked fashion as a kid, but having some education on the subject allowed me to develop into a lifelong collector.

Through my interest in fashion, I've become increasingly more in tune with designer collections, trends and fashion outlets - the Style channel, fashion magazines, online merchants, and various vendors. I don't know if I would call myself a fashionista, because I'm more concerned with lasting style than momentary trends, but I definitely follow the sport. I like to see how outfits look on people and I find it interesting who chooses to wear what.

Enter the Fantasy Fashion League, the fashion watcher's version to the fantasy football league. Each participant chooses a slate of clothing designers, accessory designers, and celebrities who they believe will get press each day, week, month and special event. It runs from the Emmys to the Oscars, starting this year with last night's 58th Annual Emmy Awards.

It was confusing to sign-up at first, because I expected more celebrity choices than designers and I also expected some sort of point scale relating to ingenues vs. established stars. Gwynneth Paltrow, for example, locked in a huge number of points last year despite being out of the spotlight, whereas Scarlett Johansson, an emerging style icon, gained less points overall. I would've assumed Johansson would have some sort of 6:1 odds vs. Gwynneth's 2:1 to encourage choosing lesser known stars.

Instead, each game "card" allows you to choose which celeb you think will amass more points and give that person a higher multiplier. Points are accrued through coverage in major fashion magazines, TV event coverage, and web sites like Women's Wear Daily's wwd.com and elle.com.

They have public and private game cards so you can start your own fantasy league pools with friends. I haven't attempted any private cards as I was a last minute signup, but it's a way to use the system the way office basketball pools are run. So if you're a fashion fan and want to participate, it's not too late to sign up for either type. Yesterday was just the first day. This league year runs through the 79th Annual Academy Awards held on February 25th. And if you are hosting an Oscar party, you can always run a private pool for one night only. Check it out.