Street Style Takes Over!

Over the past few years, the term “street style” has evolved from a mostly irrelevant aspect of fashion into a major component of the style world. The advent of street style sites like Scott Shuman’s The Sartorialist and Tommy Ton’s Jak&Jill, featuring photographs of stylish pedestrians in New York and sometimes Paris, London, and Milan, have legitimized and popularized this idea to an astonishing degree. These sites have inspired countless similar movements worldwide, from Stockholm to Moscow to Tokyo and everywhere in between. The

phenomenon continues to touch new places, documenting the styles of the day and featuring the creativity of local residents.

Through these channels, fashion icons are made and celebrated; for example, Anna Dello Russo, editor at large of Vogue Nippon, is even more widely regarded for her everyday avant-garde fashion choices than she is for her work at Vogue. As each new street style revue emerges it becomes clear that style is everywhere, and that relevance in fashion does not always have to come directly from the runways.

What started as somewhat of an oddball site in 2005 with The Sartorialist has evolved into a fashion mainstay. Scott Shuman, the site’s creator, began taking photos of pedestrians with eye-catching style with the goal of inspiring people the same way that designers get inspired: by people on the street. This represents the culmination of a gradual

shift in trend osmosis over the years.

Fashion trends of the distant past filtered to the streets from the extremely wealthy, since debutantes and other high-society figures would dictate the styles of the day. In recent years, however, designers have become more and more inspired by street fashion, bringing that inspiration to the runways. The late Alexander McQueen was a prime example of this reversal, taking inspiration from the club kids of the 90s, football players, the grunge scene, and everything in between. Street style sites like The Sartorialist and Jak&Jill cement this link

between high fashion and everyday style in a way that is more legitimate and respected than ever before. These style-makers have been revered and employed by major magazines and corporations, including the monolith Conde Nast, as fashion correspondents. Furthermore, the popularity of street style sites has made the diffusion of trends between people faster and more dynamic than ever.

Lately, this same trend has been popping up around college campuses as well. Bloggers, often college students themselves, prowl campuses with cameras around their necks searching for inspiring outfits. These campus shutterbugs stop stylish passersby, ask to take their photo, and then post the images on their sites as a template of inspiration for others. This seems a natural development, as college students are both wildly active on the Internet and make up a large part of fashion’s audience. While some of these blogs are mostly street style, some blend in personal style photos (outfits of the day, etc.) into the mix, like Heather of Pocket Full of Fancy.

Using sites like Blogger, WordPress, and Tumblr, it’s never been easier to create a blog and showcase one’s style.

Fashion and street style blogging are especially suited to Boston University. As a city school full of avid social networkers and replete with personal style (Boston is, after all, a very stylish city), one need only walk out onto Commonwealth Avenue to find fashion inspiration. This past week, with the sudden introduction of springtime, students came out in full force, decked out in all of the latest spring 2012 trends (mint, bustier tops, full skirts, denim on denim, etc).  For many Terriers, Comm Ave is their runway, a fact that is and should be celebrated. Walking the streets of Boston could be the next Schumann or Ton—why not pick up a camera and see what fresh styles are prowling the streets?