Polyvore's Jess Lee Arrives In Sydney Ahead Of Australian Launch

Polyvore co-founder and CEO Jess Lee has landed in Sydney ahead of the Australian launch of the fashion website

Jess Lee is a self-confessed "tech geek" and internet trendsetter, who's helped build Polyvore to become one of the world's most highly engaging e-commerce networks.

Founded in 2007, Polyvore allows users to create digital "sets" (which look just like clickable collages) of fashion, beauty, interiors and accessories, which users can then share with their legion of followers. And if they're deemed good enough, may appear on the Polyvore homepage.

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Each look is available for purchase via dozens of reputable designer and retail sites such as Net-A-porter and Bergdorf Goodman.

Lee originally discovered Polyvore while working for Google in 2008, admitting to spending hours on the addictive site every night.

At the time Marissa Mayer - then Google's Vice President - was Lee's mentor.

Fast forward to 2016, Lee is now Polyvore's CEO, and Mayer is the CEO of Yahoo, which acquired the e-commerce platform in 2015.

As a passionate user, Lee was officially invited to join the Polyvore team as product manager, then worked her way up to become CEO. She has been instrumental in growing Polyvore from a humble start-up to a the massive, global online community it is today.

In Australia this week to officially launch Polyvore's partnership with Yahoo7, Lee, a "Super User" with over 13,000 Polyvore followers, spoke with Yahoo7 about bringing the fashion website to the Aussie market.

"We’re so excited to collaborate with Yahoo7 and bring more of Polyvore to Australia," she told Yahoo7.

"Australia is already one of Polyvore’s top markets around the world. We’ve seen incredible style inspiration from some of our top community members in Oz like Emma and Nikki and are looking forward to seeing even more."

"Australia is a great market for Polyvore because it has a wealth of amazing creators and makers. Many of the style and beauty vloggers that I follow on YouTube are Australian (my faves are wengie, shaaanxo, and Lauren Curtis), and we’re seeing lots of Australian actors and musicians trend on Polyvore, such as 5 Seconds of Summer and Eliza Clarke from the TV show The 100."

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Along with her love of fashion, Lee also has a passion for Manga comics - having grown up in Japan - and an everlasting love of coffee, which she can't wait to sample yet again, while in town.

"I’ve been [in Australia] twice before because I used to work with the Google Maps Sydney team," she said.

"I’d like to see the iconic Opera House again, drink a real flat white (they don’t make good ones in the US), and try some good local eats."

Lee admits she's also looking forward to enjoying some local retail therapy while she's in town.

"I’m a huge fan of Quay’s quirky cool sunglasses," she told Yahoo7.

"I was trying to hunt down a particular pair and ended up buying them from White Fox Boutique, which is also based in Australia. I would love to see more Australian designers and retailers on Polyvore," she admits.

According to Polyvore data, Aussie users are avid accessory fans, with over 70 per cent searching were for either shoes or hnadbags.

"We took a look at trending data from Polyvore users across Australia and saw that Aussie’s love accessories," Jess said.

"We’ll be releasing more highlights from our trending report tomorrow so stay tuned."

Jess will spend the next week touring Australia as part of the local Polyvore launch.