It certainly explains why Fashism's app appeared on a recent screenshot of Ashton Kutcher's iPhone, alongside the apps of other startups he has recently invested in, such as Flipboard and Hipmunk.
Launched during New York Fashion Week in September, Fashism enables users to upload photos, and solicit style advice and feedback from the site's community via Fashism's web site and iPhone application [iTunes link]. "Does this work?" and "Too much?" are frequent questions posted to the site.
What's novel about the financing is not the number -- especially when many other startups have raised three or six times that in a Series A round -- but who invested in the company; Nina Garcia is not a name you typically see on a list of startup investors.
Until now, the New York-based startup had been entirely self-funded. Fashism plans to use the funds to scale its web and mobile applications. The site has about 40,000 registered users and gets roughly 1 million page views per month. Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley and designer Steven Alan will serve as advisers to the company.
