Rag & Bone is taking a page from American Apparel‘s marketing playbook; instead of hiring a professional photographer to shoot their ad campaign for their new e-commerce site, Marcus Wainwright and David Neville handed Abbey Lee Kershaw, Edita Vilkeviciute, Sasha Pivovarova, and Lily Aldridge a digital camera and asked them to take pictures of themselves in Rag & Bone clothes, giving the participant with full creative freedom over their content.

The goal of the campaign is for fans to plaster more than 1,000 posters on walls and against deli boards below 14th St. in New York City. Wainwright and Neville are hoping the strategy will draw fans to Rag & Bone’s newly launched e-commerce site which of course, features social components such as twitter, a blog and videos.

Wanna be a part of photo taking and sharing love? You can be! According to the Rag & Bone site:

We want to see you in your rag & bone! Submit an image of yourself in your best rag & bone look to enter our DIY sweepstakes. Marcus & David will post their favorite submissions on facebook.com for you to vote on the winner. The top five most “liked” looks will receive a $1000 rag-bone.com gift certificate. Photos can be sent to DIY@rag-bone.com.

Editor’s Observations:

1. I am excited that Rag & Bone has launched e-commerce, retailers aren’t going to survive without it.

2. I love the concept behind this site but the aesthetics need polishing; this site just feels incomplete and as if could better represent that brand’s identity and message.

3. It loads slow, that needs to looked at.The images load is a funny way too – file size 101?

4. The blog is lack luster, I wish the content were more reflective of the campaign everyone is starting to buzz about. I expected to find more about the models and campaign on the blog, not a picture of Demi Moore’s dress.

5. Contest extra: Maybe they should have encouraged participants to use Instragam style photo treatments….#justsayin.