DEMO: Uppy Media urges fashionistas to tag their looks

Uppy Media is one of 65 companies chosen by VentureBeat to launch at the DEMO Spring 2010 event taking place this week. These companies do pay a fee to present, but our coverage of them remains objective.

Bootstrapped startup Uppy Media is looking to take the glossy feel of fashion magazines straight into your Facebook albums.

The company’s Facebook application, TAGtheLOOK, lets users tag their own or their friends’ outfits in photo albums and share their tastes through a real-time feed. Users can tag their own clothes or ask friends what they’re wearing through the app.

The business model is clearly through affiliate fees. If an Uppy Media user buys a piece through a link in the app, the company will earn a share. Brand advertising may also be part of the experience.

The Alameda, Calif.-based company is part of a wave of startups we’ve seen that try to attack the women’s apparel market with user-generated content. Polyvore, which raised $5.6 million last fall, is another, although its approach is slightly different. Community members build visual collages out of fashion pieces on its site. Google Ventures-backed Pixazza is another: It allows women and fashion-focused bloggers and publishers to tag their photos with links to buy the actual goods.

The company with the closest approach, however, may be Udorse. Udorse users can tag anything from hotels to condiments and earn points or rewards. Uppy Media’s approach of focusing on fashion may make it a little less socially awkward to endorse or name drop a product. In the real world, it’s pretty common for women to ask each other about what they’re wearing or where they bought an outfit. Uppy Media just mimics that behavior and ports it to social networks.