Substance abuse

I've been feeling a little more vacuous of late than I otherwise normally would. The plethora of marketing books sitting next to be my bed, waiting to be read last thing at night have given way to GQ, Esquire, et al (and we all know how I feel about that), and low and behold I stumble across a blog called The Sartorialist (via the usual source of all that is good, if not pure, Andrew Cafourek).

Written by fashion sales manager-cum-photographer Scott Schuman, he basically wanders about the streets of New York City, taking pictures of people he thinks are wearing their clothes in an interesting way. Part picto-blog, part photo-essay, but desperately unique and very well put together, he also takes time out to give the spotlight to young designers from around the world

Looking at his bio, he has this to say:

I thought I could shoot people on the street the way designers looked at people, and get and give inspiration to lots of people in the process. My only strategy when I began The Sartorialist was to try and shoot style in a way that I knew most designers hunted for inspiration. Rarely do they look at the whole outfit as a yes or no but they try and look for the abstract concepts of color, proportion, pattern mixing or mixed genres. I’m always really happy when I meet a designer and hear that they use some of my photos for their inspiration boards. At the same time I’m also really touched when I get emails from everyday people who say they have been inspired to see themselves and others in a new and usually more accepting way.

Very interesting, and maybe not so vacuous after all. He also has a brief piece up on Yves Saint Laurent who died in Paris on Sunday.