Philadelphia Street Style: Karen, Walnut St

Some of the best days to shoot street style are those occasional, unseasonably warm days in late fall and early winter. People leave their heavy coats in the closet for the moment and put on those otherwise weather-inappropriate outfits they've been aching to wear for months. This last Friday, it reached the mid-50s after several weeks in the 30s. I put everything else on my schedule on hold to go out and shoot for a few hours. It paid off. 

Karen was the first person I found whom I wanted to photograph amidst the crowd of Christmas shoppers and commuters. A recently retired high school teacher, she's one of the most stylish Philadelphians of any age I've spotted recently. Nonetheless, she was surprised, and I think a little tickled, that I wanted to photograph her. "My students will get such a kick out of this!" she told me. This is the best thing about shooting street style: those little connections you make with other human beings, out there in the "real world." So much for the popular representation of bloggers as misanthropic shut-ins. 

Karen is wearing a sweater (or is it a coat?) from Free People, a scarf from Saks 5th Ave, a dress from Theory ("or something like that"), boots by Vince Camuto, and a hat from Anthropologie.