The photograph; a memorial to the present moment. Fashion; telekinetic and supreme. The internet; happening now yet existing nowhere. Identity; just as fleeting as the technologies we live by. Together: creating a beautiful yet frantic digital world of fervour, possibility and affection.
Prevailing over the catwalk and proliferated by the context of everyday life, street-style blogs house the self-styled monuments walking the avenues, courtyards, sidewalks and piazzas of the world. Silhouettes and smirks of all kinds eye-balling you with each click of the mouse; coming at you from all corners of strange and fascinating domains. People like you, people like me, thriving in their habitual essence. These faces congregate on the blank canvas that is the fashion blogosphere. Curiosity, inspiration or simple memetics: what is our relationship with this online utopia?
The early twentieth century introduced us to a group of three French men, brothers by the name of Séeberger. A group of three capturing an image within the picture; compelled to explore a world beyond classic portraiture in a class of society so aesthetically awesome, that its vivid auras needed to be documented. Fundamentally, their work takes us back to a time when fashion remained a thriving commodity yet flourished into an art form.
Nearly a century later we find a Sartorialist subsequently fostering the genre orphaned by the Séebergers. In Scott Schuman’s photography, the zeitgeist of contemporary urban fashion is represented. At the moment the shutter retracts, his Subjects are iconized, like cinematic stills from the most enduring and fantastic feature film of our time. And suddenly, one finds oneself in one’s very own frame in a scroll between the man in the fitted blue suit and a devil wearing Prada.
Our senses are starved for stimuli: this is a constant. Motivated, provoked, inspired and an aspiration for personal reinvention. Intrinsically, the dynamic nature of the fashion industry creates an insatiable thirst for more of what enlivens us. Everyday awaits updated and bookmarked pages, feeding our hunger for information, innovation and the peripheral.
Fashion is what propels the current of the mainstream; yet at its most basic source, its creators are those who desire to go against the drift of the banalities of the everyday. But within this “rebellion” lies a cyclical irony – marketing departments can sense the aroma of abundant profit margins in the fertile lands of vacant subdomained dot coms. Portraits of the everyday muse inspire designers and stimulate audiences in an oscillating balance between fads and trends. And all of this takes place in an imaginary place made up of 0s and 1s.
What compels us to pursue such self-indulgent vocations, as either observers, participants or both? It is the acknowledgement of our fixation with ourselves, our environments, and how we believe we self-project. This is the quality that instinctively fuels our need to observe and share ourselves with the world. Whether insider or outsider, the internet holds no significant hierarchal structure. There is no guestlist, no VIP room; just a web and a reminder that we are all part of a larger global community, linked together by a collective consciousness.
A perverse form of communication, the blog thrives in our version of the world, giving us the power to relish in unabashed opinion and creation. Wordpresses, Blogspots, Tumblrs: these are the accessible paths to individualism and self-expression.
The anonymity of digital society gives us the ability to create multitudes of personas and develop tentatively overlooked talents. Therefore, what emanates is a flood of self-proclaimed models, stylists, designers, photographers, and creative directors from haute blog société. Possibilities; endless. Resources; unlimited. The world; your oyster.
The people, places, garments, tones, and elements conjured within fashion images act as out of body journeys into the places you could be, or the people you could possibly know, or the designer you could be wearing. The real beauty within street style images is their lack of pretence. Moreover, they are free from the emotional barriers we typically hold between us. This, in turn, creates the ultimate form of escapism: brief, pure, superficial glimpses into lives outside of our own…with those we could imagine having short lived romances, or the teenager we wished we were, or the writer we want to write like. For that moment, we are connected.
an essay written for snap magazine, issue 7, out now.
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