I'm sure you've all noticed the preponderance of streetstyle blogs these days. Sites like The Sartorialist, Garance Doré, and Face Hunter all showcase street fashion from around the world; we can see what girls and guys are wearing in Helsinki, Melbourne, Stockholm, London, Paris, wherever these photographers go. The blogs feature young, beautiful people sporting fresh, innovative personal style. If the subjects aren't young and gorgeous, they're older and either adorably eccentric or wearing some kind of vintage design.
These blogs are fun for a number of reasons - the photography is good, the style is fresh, it's interesting to see what real people are wearing. But the most interesting effect they've had is changing who decides what's in in the fashion industry. No longer do we depend on runway shows to dictate what we're wearing - now we're taking inspiration from real people like ourselves (except hotter, obvi).
In the textbook, we read about taste and how the definition of "good taste" is set by the higher social classes. Transfer this idea to fashion. In the past, what was considered trendy or fashionable wasn't up to us. It was up to fashion editors (see: Anna Wintour) to decide what made it into their magazines and, by extension, what made it onto the shelves. We've all been wearing watered-down, diluted versions of runway looks. Remember our little Devil Wears Prada tangent the other day?
What's cool about the rise of streetstyle blogs, which I hadn't even heard of until a couple years ago, is that they're a great example of counterhegemony. People around the world are challenging the taste hegemony of the fashion industry, and the results can be stunning and inspiring. It's like the street is a DIY runway. And it allows us to break the cycle of taking cues from higher-ups. Now, we can be inspired by equals. Do you guys think sites like the Sartorialist have a real effect on what people pay attention to vis-à-vis fashion?
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