The Sartorialist
He has an incredible eye for style. He takes street photos of people in mostly Florence, Milan, Stockholm, Paris and New York City. Those cities appear to be his mainstays. He has taken his eye and his camera and used the medium of the Internet to show his readers a daily snapshot of the beat on the street. Genius. His influence has transcended across other blogs and fashion magazines. His approach of something new every day is fresh and simple yet innovative. As more and more of us are becoming the journalists of today in 140 characters ( Twitter ) as we post the latest restaurant, what entree is the best, who we saw on the street, a news item or a commentary as model comes down the runway, The Sartorialist is right in tune ( actually before his time as the blog has been around for awhile ) as the people on the street are the makers of the style of the moment.
Certainly taking his blog cross platform would be a huge score and it just happened. He has come out with a book, a limited edition, which is a compilation of the photos from his blog and commentary from Schuman on why he was drawn to that particular photo. I got the book and have enjoyed leafing through it.
20 years from now, when I pull that book off the shelf, the photos will probably be more revealing about these times than an old September Vogue. That alone is a statement of the times we live in and where we are going.
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Comments (Archived):
I love the Sartorialist (haven’t kept up lately, though – my bad!).What you write here is so true:”20 years from now, when I pull that book off the shelf, the photos will probably be more revealing about these times than an old September Vogue.”What I also find incredibly interesting is that this blog grew out of zero business model – and maybe that’s why it could be so innovative and fresh? The blog – and Schuman’s vision – was there first, but not a business model (at least I don’t think so).Now, however, business possibilities for him (ads on his very popular blog, this new book) are growing out of that original vision (and dare I say, innovation). Vogue still has the “business model first” mindset (and with their overhead, that’s no wonder), and they’re less innovative in terms of finding what’s fresh, unique, unusual.It’s kind of interesting – I’m reading Farewell to Alms; A Brief Economic History of the World by Gregory Clark, who points out that most – seriously: most – of the key innovators of the Industrial Revolution did not benefit financially nearly as much as we think from their innovations and discoveries. This surprised me – I always thought those guys must have gotten rich, and stayed rich. Turns out surprisingly many didn’t.Free is very innovative, but not everyone has figured out how to make a living at it – and maybe many innovators in the Free economy never will. The rest of us will benefit from what they do, though – just as people benefited from the inventions and innovations of the Industrial Revolution, even if the guy who invented the cotton jenny died in poverty.Well, it’s heartening to know that Schuman is benefiting from his own work.Now, let’s hope he has a better head for finance than Annie Leibovitz – man, that is one sad and shocking story… :-/
Annie Leibovitz is truly a sad story. At the end of the day, she is anartist and couldn’t see past being an artist.I really do believe that innovative fresh ideas, if they grow, can becomerevenue generating. So many first time entrepreneurs (with the first idea)are not the ones that have the financial success. It is the 2nd or 3rdgeneration of that idea as some ideas are just way before their time.Free has become the standard, the question is how do you make money off ofthat. Schuman did and at the same time kept us up on the styles of thestreet. I wonder too if it just became something he had not thought aboutor he actually gave his concept some serious thought before launching.Regardless, it is a daily treat.
saRtorialist
Thanks.
I love the Sartorialist, and the general focus on street style. I love a good editorial but seeing how real people put it together is even more interesting and inspiring. Can’t wait to get the book.What I love even more is how social media builds a community of people who might live in suburban Texas where everyone wears Hollister to find others with similar interests (ala Jane Aldridge/ http://seaofshoes.typepad.com/ ). I think that’s also what makes Weardrobe (http://weardrobe.com/ ) so interesting to me.
Great sites. Thanks.