Firstview.com — Ten years of fashion on the internet

A decade ago runway photographers Marcio Madeira and Don Ashby began this website.

It hasn't been easy sledding.

The elitist fashion industry initially rose up in anger at what it foresaw to be the loss of its mysterious and secretive aura, now opened up be shared with anyone with an internet connection.

The photographers persisted and today their site has a digital archive of over 2 million images, used by 400 publications in the U.S. alone for photo features.

The website receives over one million page views a day from editors, designers and shoppers.

The founders still find themselves in hot water in France, where they were arrested, jailed and prosecuted in 2003 after photographing a Chanel show.

Though they won their case this past June, Chanel is appealing.

Firstview recently made its website at least partly browsable via PDAs and cellphones.

Robin Givhan wrote a story about the site for last Friday's Washington Post; it has much more detail.