When actress Reese Witherspoon picked up awards for her performance in “Walk the Line,” Paula Longhorn of St. Louis scored big-time.
Because Witherspoon wore a Chanel gown on the red carpet, Longhorn had reason to cheer. And when Chanel’s Karl Lagerfeld appeared on the “Charlie Rose show” in February, Longhorn picked up more points.
By Oscar time, Longhorn had the top spot in her Fantasy Fashion League.
Never mind fantasy football.
This is the Fantasy Fashion League, an Internet-based game using designers and celebrities. And, with nearly 8,000 players, it is on the rise.
At fantasyfashionleague.com, players work in small private or public leagues. They draft a team of 10 fashion and accessory designers and celebrities. Some players have draft parties.
When a celebrity or designer on their fantasy team gets media exposure – an InStyle photograph or People magazine mention, for instance – the player scores points. High scorers win interval prizes, such as a $100 gift certificate to eBags.com, and at the end of the season they are eligible for a grand prize drawing.
The game is the brainchild of Erica Salmon, a New Jersey mother who tried to join her husband as he sank into fantasy football league obsession about four years ago.
“I kept joking that it would be more fun if it were on fashion,” she says.
A former magazine writer with a degree in communications, she developed a plan.
“A fashion designer scored a touchdown when Charlize Theron wore his dress to the Oscars,” she says.
She did a test season in 2005. That winter Salmon put together a press package and sent 100 copies to the media. Sports Illustrated was the first to pick up the story. Press coverage has since run the gamut from an Italian magazine and The New York Times to MSNBC, Women’s Wear Daily and The Wall Street Journal.
Players pay $18 for the official season, which runs from the Emmy awards in the fall to the Oscars in March. Short mini-seasons in the spring and summer cost $10 each. Salmon now employs three helpers and works full time out of a rented office.
Longhorn says she heard about the league on the “Today” show last fall. She started calling girlfriends and quickly put together a league of six. It made sense to her.
“We all like fashion,” she says. “We read all the magazines. It can be stressful, but you control your own roster.”
The strategy, she says, is in watching the news and predicting who is going to get the most exposure. The Fantasy Fashion office computes points and provides daily updates. Once a week a player can scramble her team.
Longhorn stayed with Chanel, a consistent winner through Oscar season, and it paid off. But other high scorers included shoe designer Jimmy Choo, Michael Kors, Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren and Dior’s John Galliano.
“It kind of becomes a job,” she says. “But it is so much fun.”
