Seeing as this degree from FIDM will be my second you know that I am all for a formal bricks-and-mortar-instructor-led education, but I am an even bigger fan of filling in the cracks. Text books and professors can only teach us so much - at one point talent, style, and skill have to come into play to make us stand out amongst the crowd. One great tool to strengthen our style skills is the website Polyvore.

No matter where you see yourself in fashion Polyvore is great practice for anything from interior design to styling to testing out your wardrobe architectural skills. The site provides access to thousands of clothes, accessories, backgrounds, and home decor that is used by registered users to create beautiful collages of stylishness. Another great perk of the site is that for each purchasable item its website and price are provided.

I have noticed that a lot of fashion blogs have been using this site to give great style advice and feature the latest trends; Polyvore also has a blog were they feature some of its top registered users and their collages. It's so much fun to read about some of these fashionably talented users from around the world and very little have a fashion background or formal training so stereotypes are broken here!

Here are three of my favorites from the site*:

*=these collages were not created by me but other members of Polyvore. Please check out the blog for the user's name and page

Some other notables Polyvore site and blog:

• Jobs
• How To's (ie "how to wear a ...")
• Facebook Application

I know that these images can be intimidating but it's about reaching your level. Trust me my images are so level 1 but hey we all have a different starting point! Check me out: