Katelyn Rose, a 17-year-old high school student in San Diego, Calif., felt like teen fashion retailers didn't really dish out positive messages of self worth to teen girls. So she started an online fashion site, Suddenly Darling, that is debuting today.
Part social network and part e-commerce site, Suddenly Darling will sell clothes at a low price and with an emphasis on positive self-worth messages for girls. The styles emphasize modest attire, rather than racy stuff that is shorter or tighter.
"If we want guys to respect us, we've got to respect ourselves," Rose (pictured right) says on the site's welcome video.
Rose, a part-time model, co-founded the site with Andy Jedynak, founder of the WeatherBug online site, and Karen Paull, a veteran of e-commerce sites such as Snapfish. The site sells clothes and offers advice on fashion, style, hair, and makeup. Visitors can create personal profiles, upload their wardrobes, and share them with friends. The site is aimed at emphasizing variety, rather than peer pressure to buy the latest cool thing, Rose said. Rose hosts the site through a series of blogs, articles, celebrity interviews and video news updates.
"For teens like me who are online all the time, we’re really under-served when it comes to good online fashion help," Rose said. "What’s out there is mainly about fashion for fashion itself, and not about the way girls live their lives every day. We want to make good decisions about how to look our best whenever we step out of our front door."
The motto is to bring reality to the runway, said Renee Rebold, general manager of Suddenly Darling. The site had its beta test throughout the summer and has drawn thousands of visitors. Celebrity supporters include Disney star Katelyn Tarver, Power Ranger star Jessica Rey, and musicians Cassi B and Caitlin Crosby.
The company, a subsidiary of CastFam Productions, has raised less than $1 million from private investors. It was founded in 2009 and has six employees.