There is an individual in fashion

I have recently been cruising popular fashion blogsites. I finally realize that I have missed the whole point of the countless images I’ve been seeing. Yes, the fashion and style is superb. But fashion is more than that. Looking past the clothing and accessories I realized that there is so much more to style. The very foundation needed for any style to work is so much more interesting that the dress-up.

The Individual.

The whole concept of the individual is somewhat out of place in our world of popular culture. Popular culture is, after all, mass produced and easily accessible, meaning that everyone knows it when they see it, whether they believe they partake in the pop or not. And yet it takes individuals for the pop to flourish.

I wont lie, I am a fashion magazine/reality show junky. I will treat myself to overly expensive fashion magazines just because I find the picture interesting. I love shows like America’s Next Top Model simply because of the fashion photographs that are produced from that drama infested show. I have always appreciated the distant glamour found in these types of images. This is pop culture. This is what is in high demand. This is what we all buy into.

The Sartorialist (one of the most popular blogsites for fashion) however, took fashion past its popular culture home of glossy magazine pages and pixeled TV images and offers the viewer are more day-to-day friendly picture. This site provides a daily photograph or two of regular everyday people with “good taste” in apparel. The man behind the blog, an ex-high-end-fashion photographer outlined his intentions for his site saying "I thought I could shoot people on the street the way designers looked at people, and get and give inspiration to lots of people in the process”. I am sure he achieved his goal. But what I find most interesting is how well his photographs portray the person in the clothes, rather than the clothes on the person.

I could make the false claim that none of the people in the photographs are models but there is no way I could know that for certain. What I do know, however, is that the photos are not staged, other than getting the model to look (and maybe smile) at the camera. It seems obvious that the photographs were not planned ahead of time but rather, are little gems found during the day. That is what makes this fashion refreshing. That is what shows the individual.

These are photos of individuals, all living in the same world as us, and all creating a style that can throw them into the “stylish” category but yet keeps them separate from the crowd. Here is some evidence of people trying to make some room for themselves in our world of mass production and easy accessibility. Here is evidence of popular culture and the individual working together to create some gems. Here is something real.