Best for 2014
The best-of-2014 guides — what 'best' means here, how the lists were built, and where each category lives
Any 'best of' list is subjective — based on or influenced by personal feelings, tastes, or opinions — and the best-of-2014 resources are no different. This section is simply Apparel Search's opinion of resources that you would enjoy during 2014. The listings may not sit at the actual tippy top of the 'best' spectrum, but they are resources believed to be at least very near the top of the class. You may know of better ones; that is exactly the kind of suggestion the guides were built to invite.
The five category guides below were the heart of the section for 2014: the best reading material, the best fashion shopping, the best shoe websites, the best handbag websites and the best social media for fashion. Each one names the websites and resources recommended for that category, in the same spirit — fabulous resources for the majority of viewers, chosen openly rather than by formula. Kept today as a historical record, this page explains how those 2014 lists worked.
The Best of 2014 Guides
What 'Best for 2014' Means — and What It Does Not
It is important to note that this section contains websites and resources that were recommended for use during 2014. It is NOT an indication that the fashion was designed, produced or sold in 2014, and it is NOT a recommendation of specific events or trends for the year. A handbag website could earn its place by selling beautiful bags from several seasons; a reading site could earn its place by covering fashion well, whatever the year on the clothes.
If you are looking for trend-specific information or an events calendar, that lives in an entirely different section of the website. The best-of guides answer a simpler question: of everything a fashion consumer could bookmark in 2014, which sites were most worth the visit?
How the Lists Were Built — Honestly
Was Apparel Search biased when creating these best-of lists? The honest answer given at the time: we tried very hard not to be. Like most fashion-minded people, Apparel Search has its own taste level and opinions in regard to style, and although the aim was to be as style savvy as possible, those tastes may not match yours. Additionally, Apparel Search owns several online properties and tends to like its own sites over others at times.
With that said, in this particular area of the directory the plan was to list only websites that the majority of viewers would find fabulous. The lists were not used to claim that Apparel Search's fashion blogs were better than other companies' fashion blogs — unless that was 100% believed to be true. And yes, remaining fair was difficult: it is very challenging to leave your own resources off a 'best of' list you are personally compiling. Whether the same fairness would survive a best-of-2015 list was left, at the time, honestly uncertain — no promises were made.
No Fixed Top 10, Top 5 or Top 3
The guides were deliberately not specific about the number of companies or resources listed in a particular category. A category might hold only one company, or it might hold a great many: if a resource deserved to be listed, it was listed, regardless of how many others were already on the page. Equally important, new resources were added as they came to attention.
Imagine a 'best five fashion blogs' list created in January, and in March an unbelievably awesome blog discovered on an expedition to Tibet. Wouldn't it be silly if that fantastic resource couldn't be added to the list? If a site was tremendous, it belonged in the guide — the count followed the quality, never the other way around.
Common Questions
Are the best-of-2014 lists objective rankings?
No, and they never claimed to be. Every 'best of' list is subjective, and these were presented openly as Apparel Search's opinion — resources believed to be very near the top of their class, chosen for what the majority of viewers would find fabulous rather than by any measurement or formula.
Does 'best for 2014' mean the fashion was made in 2014?
No. The section recommended websites and resources for use during 2014. The fashion those sites covered could be designed, produced or sold in various years, and the guides were not a calendar of 2014 events or a forecast of 2014 trends.
Why don't the categories have a fixed number of picks?
Because a fixed count would have forced weak inclusions and unfair exclusions. If a resource deserved to be listed it was listed, whether the category ended with one entry or many, and new resources were added whenever a tremendous one came to attention.
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