A Visual Life

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The Sartorialist: A Visual Life is a short documentary on Scott Schuman, aka street fashion photographer The Sartorialist, by Acne Production for Intel.


Also recently brought to my attention:
"The Sartorialist is Dirty & Depraved"
by (ahem) Karl Lagerfeld.

American Apparel

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At The Sound of Young America this week, Jesse Thorn interviews possibly the most popular blogger on the planet, and certainly the most-followed fashion blogger: Scott Schuman, aka The Sartorialist.

Schuman's street style blog has been so successful because he knows where to go and when, he has a good eye, and he connects with his subjects very quickly; his pictures are visually interesting not only because of the clothes but because of the personalities they capture.

Increasingly many of the photos on The Sartorialist are from commissions of one kind or another, and Schuman seems to take himself much more seriously than he did when he started out; I suppose on some level that is only natural when a hobby becomes a job. Still, I remain a big fan of the blog, so it's interesting to hear him discuss the motivations and interactions behind it. Click to listen:



More:
The Sartorialist blog
The Sartorialist, a book of Schuman's photos published earlier this year
The Sound of Young America podcast

Street Spirit

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With all the attention given to The Sartorialist, Face Hunter, et al, it's easy to forget the granddaddy of all street fashion photographers, Bill Cunningham, of The New York Times. Every Sunday in the style section he features a bunch of photographs that illustrate a particular theme or trend, and on nytimes.com he has a bunch of On The Street audio slideshows, like this one from when it was really hot out a couple weeks ago, or this one about the arrival of Spring in the city, or this weekend's entry on sagging and belts. There's also this audio slideshow about Bill Cunningham by the Times fashion critic Cathy Horyn.

Cunningham has a more spontaneous approach than his younger counterparts, which puts fashion in more of a real-life context—it reminds you that these people are walking around looking great and/or interesting while doing the everyday stuff they do.

I remember my old boss Stephen Gan saying that Bill Cunningham's apartment is completely filled to the brim with photographs, and that he actually sleeps on top of his filing cabinets because there's not enough room for a bed. I don't know if that's true but I like to think so.