Sneak Peek: Derek Lam’s NYFW Collection Ready for Crowd Sourcing

Pictured: One of Derek Lam’s Dresses from his eBay Collection

Last October I reported that designer Derek Lam was going to unveil a ready-to-wear collection of original designs  during New York Fashion Week and then invite shoppers to vote for their favorites on eBay.com. The voting at Fashion Week is an innovative way to let consumers to raise their collective voice about which pieces are produced for the final collection. Pictured above is a preview of one of the dresses from the Derek Lam + eBay collection. The long dress is  a “Boho style” maxi dress in a multi color floral print Georgette. I really like this dress and I’ll be interested to see how it is priced.  More of the collection will be shown on Wednesday, February 16. My spies tell me that Lam will unveil 16 original pieces, from crisp shirt dresses to feminine Black Tie gowns on the runway and simultaneously at dereklam.ebay.com.

And now let’s talk about how consumers will choose which pieces will be produced or “crowd sourced.” Starting at 10:45AM EST/ 7:45AM PST on February 16, you can view the collection and vote for your favorite dresses at dereklam.ebay.com. The collective consumer voice will determine the five winning dresses produced for the final crowdsourced collection—available in-season in May 2011 at accessible, fixed price points, from $125-$295, exclusively on eBay.

I like this approach.  Fashion Week should be for the end-user, the customer who wears the clothes, not the buyer for the department store.  I’ll be very interested to see what the response to the voting is, won’t you? Go to dereklam.ebay.com to be notified when voting begins!