Can't get into fashion shows? Cheer up with these giveaways

(2010 Boutiques.com)

The circus that is ready-to-wear show season started in New York February 10, but while it's the most exciting time of year for fashion insiders, there's usually little in store for the rest of us - until now. Apart from a higher-than-ever number of online live broadcasts, Google's Boutiques.com is celebrating fashion week with new stores, new tools, and freebies.

There will be daily giveaways of clothes, gift cards and more during fashion week, with users qualifying by answering fashion quizzes by text or tweet.

Also, Thakoon, Michael Kors, and Jil Sander are all opening their stores on boutiques.com for the occasion - with more launches scheduled over the fashion week - and will benefit from a new device called Designer Analytics that is meant to decipher shoppers' perception of a brand and its latest collections.

The consumer equivalent of the tool, Trend Analytics, will allow shopping according to colors, cuts, or brands that are trending that week.

In other online shopping news, Net-à-Porter has launched a TV channel that lets you shop the site's collections directly from the videos.

http://www.boutiques.com