Old School Philly Street Style: Hector, 15th St

Hector says that he doesn't even know what his style is. He describes it as "nondescript." But on the streets of Philadelphia, it is anything but. The classic black Adidas align it with a range of old school street styles from skater to hip hop. The Dickies trousers, cut off with threads dangling over the knees, are vintage workwear, and a long-time staple of scenes like punk, skate, and skinhead that play up their working-class roots. The T-shirt, meanwhile, is a nod to one of Hector's favorite films, a cult horror movie from 1983 called "Deadly Spawn." It announces Hector as a B-movie buff, a semiotic move typical of people who associate with metal and goth. The long hair strengthens the association with metal, and the beard, bold and lustrous in the style of the moment, puts a hipster spin on the whole package. There may not be a pithy term that sums up Hector's style, but that doesn't make it illegible, and certainly not nondescript. My eyes were drawn to him for the wealth of familiar subcultural signs.      

Old School Philly Street Style: Nik Hampshire, Walnut St

I ran into Nik in the shop window of Ubiq on Walnut St. I had taken his picture in Rittenhouse Square about a year and a half back and have seen him pop up in a number of beard enthusiast Tumblr feeds since. His beard disappears into the shadows in this shot, so I've included another picture below. Once again, these are low-resolution scans of pictures taken on Kodak Tri-X film. Here, Nik's wearing a T-Shirt from Cotton On. Everything else is from Diesel. 

21 Days of Street Style: Day 3, Guido, Walnut St

Guido recently moved to Philadelphia from Brooklyn, as one of his bandmates from their group Ghost & Sparrow lives here. He needed somewhere to hang for a while before he starts grad school at the London School of Economics next year. "It's an incredibly beautiful city," he said of his new, albeit temporary home. "Really good coffee. Really good beer. Those are sort of like your life checklist. If you have those, you're good." "And," he added, "it's extraordinarily affordable." "For as small a city as it is, Guido went on to say, "it's got a very sharp sense of fashion. Like, I remember when I used to come here a lot, like a year or two ago, and we would see some of the best-tailored suits I've ever seen in my entire life here." As for Guido's own sense of style, "I like to draw upon things made in the USA," he told me, "sort of like an Americana work-weary look. Recently, I've been pushing it towards more darker styles, sort of like Raf Simons, or someone like that." In this shot he's wearing some jeans from Rag & Bone, Redwing Iron Ranger boots, a Topman cardigan, and a "women's navy issue peacoat." "They don't really make them for my size," he explained.

Greg Dacyshyn outside Jeremy Scott, New York

Anyone know who this guy is? I know I've seen him before in the street style blogosphere. I also know he is someone significant in the fashion industry. But I don't know precisely who he is. In any case, he had perhaps my favorite look of all of New York Fashion Week this past season. 

Philadelphia Street Style: Marcus, off 17th St

I featured Marcus on the blog back in November. His beard's a bit shorter now, and he's got a new mohawk, but he was still immediately recognizable. In these shots he's wearing a tank top from JackThreads, H&M sweats, and a pair of Converse custom decorated by Mike Ski.

"How do you describe your style, Marcus?" I asked. "Random," he replied. "Random?" "I swear, I woke up and I was like, 'it’s so hot' – but it’s not hot, 'so I’m just gonna throw some clothes on' and kept on moving."

Philadelphia Street Style: Zack, Art in the Age, 3rd St

I stopped Zack on 3rd St during Philly's First Friday last week. He had parked his Peddler Coffee wagon (or whatever you call it) in front of Art in the Age, my favorite Walter-Benjamin-inspired rustic clothing shop/craft spirit distillery. Zack absolutely looks like someone who would be riding a vintage coffee rickshaw around the streets of Old City. His beard and waxed mustache are very apropos. I approve.

Philadelphia Street Style: Chris, off 16th St

Chris is a graphic designer, illustrator, and art director. You can check out his stuff and/or contact him for design work at http://chrimmons.com.

These alley shots are, I have to admit, in a sense staged. I actually found him walking down Walnut St, but it was so crowded we moved to the alleyway. I love these Center City alleys for shooting. They look like a suburban Californian's archetype of an East Coast big city landscape. But waiting for cool people to pass while standing in front of them doesn't work out as often as I would like. I usually give up and head to higher density areas like Walnut or Broad St. Plus, I'm always a little self-conscious about making my subjects stand too long in a place that smells like trash.  

Philadelphia Street Style: Robbie, Chestnut St