Whether it’s referred to as Street Style, Trend Alert, High Street Fashion or Style Hunting, the act of finding stylish, fashionable, quirky or inspirational people and taking photos of them has become a popular online phenomena over the last decade, with bloggers receiving worldwide acclaim for their fashion photography and eye for style.
The Sartorialist can certainly be seen as one of the most popular street style blogs and can probably be credited with why the phenomenon has become so widespread. Set up by Scott Schuman who worked in the fashion industry for 15 years, the blog documents influential style all over the globe. Scott now writes a monthly page for GQ, recurring guest blog posts for Style.com and has had a book published of his work.
But does this unique brand of fashion photography have any impact on the world of fashion? Well the truth is that designers have always taken inspiration from what they see around them, whether this be nature, architecture, or the style and creativity of everyday people. However, by realising the importance of street style, it forces designers to be more attentive to the way fashion is evolving around them. Certainly, Scott Schuman felt that designers weren’t paying enough attention to normal people, “I always felt that there was a disconnect between what I was selling in the showroom and what I was seeing real people (really cool people) wearing in real life.”
Street style blogs are also a refreshing change for us normal people, as it makes fashion seem a little more accessible. Fair enough many of the specimens collected on these blogs look like they could have stepped off the pages of Vogue, but there’s something comforting in the fact that many are normal people. It’s certainly less intimidating than attempting to emulate the style of posed, polished and preened models that seem like they’re from a different species.
Street style isn’t just shared online, now many popular magazines have street style sections and, no matter what your style or budget, there are places you can turn to for inspiration. In the UK, mainstream magazines aimed at a younger audience like More take photos of high street shoppers and explore their bargain buys. Whereas Grazia collects beautiful shots of individuals in a mix of designer and vintage attire. The traditional media are getting in on the trend.
Street style has also been adopted by brands which often hold competitions to find the individual with the best eye for style. Just look at the Facebook pages of popular London shopping centres such as The Bentall Centre and Whiteleys, who regularly hold hunts for the best dressed shopper.
It would seem that the street style phenomena is becoming more and more popular both online and offline and this can only be a good thing. The more that street style is explored, the more people will feel comfortable with expressing their own creativity and experimenting, which in turn will add diversity to street style photography and continue to have an impact on the fashion industry.
Some of my favourite street style blogs:
Beautiful photography and timeless style icons from all over the globe.
Global blog based in London, described as “eye candy for the style hungry.”
Global blog with simple yet effective photography, quirky and eccentric.
Image of Scott Schuman via Wikimedia Commons