StyleBakery.com and Girlshop.com to Co-Sponsor the First Annual “On the Rise” Awards Honoring the Best Emerging Designers Online

New York, NY, April 1, 2005 – Two of the Web’s foremost supporters of emerging fashion designers, StyleBakery.com and Girlshop.com, have joined forces to present the first annual “On the Rise” Awards honoring the hottest independent designers and online boutiques.

Fashion fans can nominate their favorites in the following categories: Jewelry, Handbags, Accessories, Clothing, Gifts & Home, Babies & Kids and Hip Boutiques. In August, the standouts in each category will be awarded based on readers’ nominations as determined by the StyleBakery.com editors and the style mavens at Girlshop.com. Each category will also feature a “readers’ choice” winner honoring the designers who receive the largest number of votes.

The introduction of the “On the Rise” Awards coordinates with the launch of the latest edition of Designers on the Rise, StyleBakery.com’s popular online directory featuring over 100 of the top emerging designers and independent boutiques. This unique directory, the first of its kind, offers the public the opportunity to shop directly from the artists, often at discounted prices.

“StyleBakery.com has always been a great supporter of up-and-coming designers and online boutiques,” says TV style expert and StyleBakery.com cofounder, Alison Deyette. “In addition to our bi-annual Designers on the Rise issue, we regularly include merchandise from independent sites in our features alongside more established mass-market sites, thereby giving them equal editorial importance.”

Please visit http://www.stylebakery.com for more information and to vote for the “On the Rise” Awards before June 1, 2005. All voters will be eligible to win a fabulous $250 shopping spree courtesy of Girlshop.com.

About StyleBakery.com
Launched in May 2003 by Jennifer Davidson, Beth Herbst and Alison Deyette, a team that has covered fashion and lifestyle trends for television for over a decade, StyleBakery.com serves up daily style advice and online shopping picks to women across the country. A valuable timesaving resource, StyleBakery.com combs the Internet to find the most wearable and affordable fashions, accessories and gift ideas available online while translating the latest trends with an accessible and easy-to-navigate approach. StyleBakery.com editors are regularly featured on such TV shows as NBC Today, Ellen, ABC The View, TBS Movie & A Makeover and Oprah.

About Girlshop.com
Girlshop.com is an online boutique offering clothing and accessories from the hottest up-and-coming fashion designers. Their unique format features a “boutique” for each designer, offering shoppers the opportunity to browse and read about their latest collections. Many items featured on Girlshop are handmade, limited editions or exclusive to Girlshop.