Condé Nast
Style.com
Senior front‑end development for Condé Nast's Style.com, a curated e‑commerce marketplace spanning fashion, beauty, and technology, integrated with Condé Nast's wider publishing estate.
In Detail
I joined Style.com during its early R&D phase, working on a prototype that transformed data from a Hybris e‑commerce engine. As the product became viable, the work expanded into two distinct streams: a UI team responsible for the front end, where I became a senior member, and an API team using HapiJS and Node.js to transform product and stock data from Hybris and vendor e‑commerce platforms.
That architecture allowed Style.com to operate as a marketplace, displaying and selling stock directly from partner brands whilst still presenting the experience as a curated Condé Nast product. The challenge was not only to build a polished fashion and technology‑led e‑commerce marketplace, but to connect editorial content, product discovery, vendor data, and commerce flows into one platform.
As the project grew, the team moved from its early working space into new premises in Camden and began hiring developers, editors, and data specialists from across Condé Nast and beyond.
On the front end, we chose not to keep building the final product on top of the prototype. Instead, the team moved to a standalone isomorphic web application built with Clojure and ClojureScript, using HTML5 and CSS animation to create a high‑quality interface suited to the brand and its expected audience.
Alongside the marketplace, my team also produced a single‑file JavaScript plugin, written in ClojureScript, for Condé Nast's online publications. It used a bespoke AI engine to identify editorial context and display relevant Style.com products directly within publication content.
Less than a year after launch, Condé Nast and Farfetch forged a partnership that saw the trademarks, platform, and website acquired by Farfetch. Much of the original work we did at Style.com remains in use on the Farfetch website today.
Homepage
The homepage was designed to feel curated and editorial rather than purely transactional. It combined introductory video, selected products, and editorial features, with page structure, media, and merchandising controlled through the Hybris content management system.
Product Listing Page
The product listing page prioritised product imagery and browsing clarity. Sidebar navigation could collapse when not in use, giving products more visual space, whilst category navigation and filters helped users refine by product type, size, colour, and material.
Product Details Page
Product detail pages needed to accommodate distinct product categories across fashion, beauty, and technology, whilst maintaining a consistent shopping experience. The layouts placed strong emphasis on carefully selected imagery, with purchasing options anchored to the right‑hand side on desktop.
Mobile behaviour was critical. Analytics showed that more than 75% of visitors were using devices under 600px wide, so the product experience was designed with smaller touch‑screen devices as a primary consideration rather than a secondary adaptation.
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I initially worked with John Kavanagh at Style.com where we built an e‑commerce site for Condé Nast. We built numerous versions of the site for prototypal purposes and finally went live with a version that contained the majority of work from John and his team. Always punctual, proactive and willing, he's definitely one to have in any development team. Since then we went on to work together again at HSBC where we built a number of key React components. He's a great team player who takes a lot of pride in his work, I'd highly recommend him."
