Street style used to be reserved solely for celebrities or those who were affiliated with the fashion industry. Fortunately, this logic has changed over time. With the help of blogs like The Sartorialist and Humans of New York, people are focusing their attention on everyday people in the world. It is no longer about what that one celebrity wore when out shopping; it’s about the elderly man who wears outlandish bowties, or the woman wearing thrift store finds.
In the photography course I took when studying abroad, we spent an entire day photographing street style. I met interesting people, learned little bits about their lives, and their style inspiration. There was a couple celebrating a birthday, a mother and daughter who dressed exactly alike, an elderly woman dressed head to toe in bold animal prints and patterns, and so on. Fashion is not just about famous people. It is about the people we see every day—friends, family, co-workers, and others in our community. That’s why it is so important that we continue to focus on real street style. This means featuring people with real stories; who have connections to their clothing—those are the true people of street style. Here are a couple of my favorite real street style looks: