I’m yet to find the right outfit to wear when I go shooting street style at fashion week. I’m on my feet all day, and the most I had to sit down, at this past NYFW for example, was at a nearby Apple store pretending to be interested in an iMovie workshop. It’s not horrible, but shooting street style is a lot of work. I start my day as early as 6am and usually end when the last show ends. I also always never happen to live close enough to the city center for some weird reason. I’ve shot in the winter, while it rained on, and soaked, then froze my already tired feet. And that was only halfway through the day. So for me, when it comes to the so-called contest between style and comfort, it’s an easy win for comfort.
Others choose style. It’s about expressing yourself without being tied down by the limitations of comfort and flats. After all, it is fashion week. I get these people. They have a point. But, they’d shoot without making too much of an effort (which can be great if you always nail the shot on your first try). Then there’s the question of endurance.
Still, for some other street style photographers, however, style and comfort do not run on parallel lines during fashion week. Whereas I, and some, may come off as comfortably stylish, these street style shooters are stylishly comfortable. Small change, big difference. Moreover, there are even fewer who can combine the two worlds seamlessly.
The proof is in this photograph I took of street style photographer, Karl-Edwin Guerre, who accurately describes his style as “casual fly.” Ready for work, and ready to werk! (excuse me, he didn’t say the last part) (I’m having a moment here). Even without knowing I was photographing him, there was a relaxed cool about him. The key word in his style is flexible: He looks comfortable, yet stylish, yet professional, something we all need every now and again no matter what line of work we fall in.
This past fashion week I saw a lot of this kind of relaxed look: a beautiful harmony between style and comfort. There were even bolder petitions for this in the likes of women who paired their classic dresses with sneakers. I’m all for this!
So, what about you? Which category do you fall in: Style, Comfort or Guerre?
Karl-Edwin Guerre, outside Ralph Lauren’s S/S 2015 Show