Does Anyone Actually Use iPhone Fashion Apps?

“What is ‘apps’?” is apparently what shoe designer Christian Louboutin recently asked a reporter. “I’m a very bad technician. Technology, zero.”

While Louboutin might not be so in the loop, his industry cohorts have been rushing to the Apple platform in desperate droves. In the past year, we’ve seen a lot of new iPhone applications from the fashion industry, whether they’re shopping aids from e-commerce sites, entertainment from designers, or style aids. With each new release, there’s a lot of hype that seems to forcefully sell “cool.” Take one of the latest, Gucci‘s “Little Black Book,” which provides the user with oh-so-trendy restaurant suggestions and even a Mark Ronson “beats builder” to make your own tunes. The Wall Street Journal is calling fashion apps the “new must-have accessory.” Really?

Despite the media’s excitement over new fashion apps (and yes, we’re guilty of reporting on this stuff too), we have to ask ourselves if there’s really a market for it? Perhaps once we get to a place where people really are making purchases from their iPhones ... but to have something on your phone just to “interact” with a brand? Is it the modern equivalent of posting pretty perfume ads ripped out of magazines on your wall? So, we want to know—do you download style applications? If so, what’s the draw for you? [Wall Street Journal]