In this age of rapid innovation and change, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to create something fresh and original. Scott Schuman did precisely that in September 2005 with his fashion blog The Sartorialist. He pioneered the idea of fashion photography in blog form, an idea that has spawned countless replications and imitations.
The Indiana native created the blog after he quit his job in the fashion sales industry to take care of his daughter. He began by taking photos of fashionably dressed people in New York City, and the project has extended its reach into other cosmopolitan cities, such as Milan, Paris and Florence. It was the first blog of its kind, a feat unto itself, and it has garnered quite the following throughout the years. Schuman updates the blog regularly, usually with two or three new photos a day, so it serves as a great source for quick inspiration, especially on sleepy Mondays like today.
The Sartorialist website itself is aesthetically pleasing in its minimalism, featuring a white background with large photos of each fashionable subject. Schuman lists the street and city where he took each photo, and usually the collection stands alone without any comment from Schuman. Occasionally Schuman will muse on some particularity about his subject, but more often than not he lets his portraits speak for themselves, which lends to their poignancy.
Though the majority of the blog is portraits, Schuman also features vintage photos, in which he asks his readership to send him old photos, a reading list, where he muses on new books that might be of interest to readers, and style profiles that feature interviews with people in fashion like the editor-at-large of Vogue Italia. Schuman also covers fashion week extensively, and portrays a handful of people multiple times over months or years, which interestingly nuances their style, a fun addition for any Sartorialist lover.
The Sartorialist is a great resource for inspiration, even if fashion is not of particular interest to you. It offers beautiful snapshots of life across the globe– ranging from fashion capitals like Milan and Paris to exotic Morocco to charming Savannah, Georgia– inviting you to love, hate, want, lust or muse over these stirring images of people going on with their day to day lives.
“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,” says Schuman. “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.”
The blog is a good resource for inspiration on how to dress for an upcoming presentation. Rather than sift through trendy fashion sites (especially for the fashion-averse) head to The Sartorialist for some visual advice. Some of those featured dress more daringly than others, but Schuman does a great job of shooting a wide range of people. One of his initial goals for the blog was to create a dialogue between fashion and its use in daily life, and he achieves that by featuring a variety of styles, ranging from high fashion to day-to-day garb. On the day of your presentation you’ll feel as good as you look, so stun the audience with your eclectic, charming, wistful style via tips from the always reliable Sartorialist.
