A few weeks ago, I caught up with my friend Manish, a designer and fellow fashion creative I’ve known since our early days in the industry as I mentioned in my previous blog,  We met over coffee and a swirl of nostalgic conversation, we landed on a topic that once fueled our late-night scrolls and styling obsessions: Polyvore. 

“Remember when we used to lose hours creating those digital collages?” Manish laughed. 

“It was like styling without the stress—just creativity, pure and unfiltered,” I replied. 

That moment reminded me just how deeply Polyvore influenced a generation of stylists, mood-boarders, and fashion dreamers. It wasn’t just a platform. It was a digital playground where imagination had no budget and creativity had no rules. 

The Polyvore Era 

Launched in 2007, Polyvore quickly became a cult favourite among fashion lovers. With a drag-and-drop editor and a massive product index from across the web, users could create digital collages—called “sets”—that blended fashion, beauty, home décor, and more. 

It was a place to style without owning, to experiment without risk. The mood boards users created weren’t just outfit plans; they were expressions of identity, mood, and aspiration. And they were social. You could follow creators, like and comment on sets, join groups, and enter contests. The platform launched careers—Farren Fucci, for instance, started on Polyvore before styling looks for Rihanna and Bella Hadid. 

Then in 2018, without warning, it all vanished. Acquired by luxury e-tailer SSENSE, Polyvore was taken offline. Users were redirected to a commercial homepage, with no access to saved profiles, boards, or their communities. It felt abrupt, even careless. Manish summed it up best: 

“It was like someone burned our fashion sketchbooks and told us to go shopping instead.” 

Urstyle: A New Chapter 

Out of the ashes of Polyvore, a new platform began to rise: Urstyle. Manish was the first to tell me about it. 

“It’s like Polyvore’s spiritual twin,” he said. _”Same vibe, more modern features, and a real sense of community.” 

Urstyle emerged just as the Polyvore community scattered, and it offered something rare: a space to create again. With an intuitive drag-and-drop editor, Urstyle allows users to build digital “sets” from fashion items, quotes, accessories, home decor, and even personal clippings. Each set becomes a mood board, a diary entry, or a miniature editorial. 

In a world of endless scrolling, Urstyle invites you to slow down. To curate. To linger. It brings intentionality back to fashion storytelling. 

^{Credits: Banner image by Freepik Premium}

Familiar, Yet Fresh 

What makes Urstyle so compelling—especially for ex-Polyvore users like me and Manish—is how it preserves the heart of what made the original platform magical, while adding new features for a modern digital audience. 

Key Features of Urstyle: 

• Collage Editor: Drag-and-drop interface for fashion, interiors, and more. 

• Item Library: A growing collection of user-curated pieces from across the web. 

• Clipping Tool: Clip items from other websites to use in your own sets. 

• Community Tools: Like, comment, follow, and join groups or contests. 

• Closet Feature: Save your favorite pieces into a virtual wardrobe. 

• Blogging + Drafts: Share stories and sets, or save for later. 

As Manish put it: 

“It’s not just about what you wear. It’s about the world you build around it.” 

More Than Nostalgia 

Urstyle isn’t just a throwback. It’s a living, evolving creative platform for the new generation. Whether you’re a stylist, a hobbyist, a design student, or someone who just loves visual storytelling, it gives you the tools to create with purpose. 

Urstyle Use Cases: 

• Fashion styling and digital outfit planning 

• Mood boards for home decor and interiors 

• Fan edits, aesthetic themes, and digital journaling 

• Shopping inspiration and visual wishlists 

The Return of Storytelling 

What started as a conversation between two friends turned into a reflection on how digital tools shape the way we express ourselves. Polyvore may be gone, but its spirit lives on in platforms like Urstyle—places that celebrate creativity without constraints. 

Because in the end, fashion isn’t just about what you wear. It’s about the story you’re telling. And Urstyle is helping a new generation of storytellers bring those visions to life. 

Fashion is cyclical. But storytelling is timeless.