New York Street Style: Tiara, Houston Street

Philadelphia Street Style: Aryelle, Walnut St

Aryelle described her style as "very trendy," but then added that she also does do "classic stuff." When I stopped her she was wearing an H&M top, a BCBGMaxazria belt, Guess cut offs, a Forever 21 sweater, and shoes from Target. 

When I asked Aryelle what kind of music she's into, she told me, "heavy metal, surprisingly." You can't always tell who is into metal these days. The tribe has expanded once again. And diversified. Aryelle started listening to Atreyu in around 5th grade, and she's carried the metal flag—even if it sits folded up in her closet—ever since. As I Lay Dying and Lamb of God are still some of her favorites.  

Philadelphia Street Style: Lauren, Sansom St

I stopped Lauren with a group of her friends as they walked up 15th St towards Chestnut. "I always wanted to do that!" she said to me, when I told her I do a street style blog called Urban Fieldnotes. "Well, now's your chance," I said. "No," she clarified, "I always wanted to be the one taking the pictures, of all those interesting people." Well, I didn't exactly make that happen for her, but I did eventually get her to agree to let me take hers.

In this shot she's wearing a crop top that you can't see. She usually gets hers from Forever 21, but this one she got as a gift. The Versace-inspired jacket is vintage, via Buffalo Exchange. The pants are Forever 21. The shoes are Adidas. One of her bracelets is BCBG. The others the picked up "at some store on South St." The rings are from JC Penney. When I asked her how she would describe her style, she drew a blank. So she asked her friends, who also drew a blank. Finally, she asked me, "I suggested "colorful" and "bright." She agree, explaining that she likes to mix and match patterns, especially ones that don't go together. I think that tendency is clearly on view in this look, and I endorse it. Her stance on music is similar to her stance on colors: she listens to "everything." Whenever someone tells me that, I keep listening until I hear the "but." Seems like everyone listens to "everything" these days. Except for all those things they don't listen to. 

New York Street Style: Keiko Lynn, Lincoln Center

I posted this shot without a name attached this morning, but Bella Q of The Citizen Rosebud graciously pointed out that it is in fact of mega-blogger Keiko Lynn. I've also now realized that this is the second shot of Keiko I've posted this Fashion Week. The other one I posted here. Shows how much I know. Sorry for not recognizing you, Keiko. I am still a foreign traveler in the style blogosphere. 

Philadelphia Street Style: Camille, Walnut St

Camille just finished her degree in fashion design. She usually wears at least something that she's designed herself, but not today. If you want to see something she has designed, check out the Modern Misfits Art Collaborative pop-up shop at Goldilocks Gallery on June 9th. Everything she's wearing here is from Philly AIDS Thrift, where she volunteers.

Philadelphia Street Style: Lyrical, Sydenham St

I've never seen anyone wear their lipstick divided into two halves in this way, and I don't know what I think of it in a kind of pure aesthetic sense. But then there's no such thing as pure aesthetic sense anyway. So why not take a risk and do something different?

Philadelphia Street Style: Harry, Sansom St

I have no idea how to describe Harry's look, and I'm not even going to try. But I like its brash simplicity, and I like its failure to coalesce into any one singular style.  

I haven't been asking people what they're wearing lately. Mainly because it has just never felt natural for me to do so. I don't particularly care about brands and don't really want to be implicated in anyone's online guerrilla marketing strategy. I always felt kinda cheap and dirty listing the brands people were wearing, even when the express purpose was research-driven. Plus, I want these pictures to be about the people wearing clothes, rather than the clothes themselves. But I'm beginning to think it's time to start paying attention to it again, in part because a number of my readers have told me they appreciate it when I do, and in part for what it can tell me about the relationship between what people wear and who they are. It's time for me to start paying attention to the specifics of what people wear, the subtle distinctions and differences.  After all, it's not enough to say that Harry is wearing a baseball cap. He's wearing a baseball cap that says "Rub it easy, make it hard." 

Philadelphia Street Style: James, Walnut St

Philadelphia Street Style: Shabre', Rittenhouse Square

Philadelphia Street Style: Myke, Walnut St

Today was Myke's day off. Can't you tell? After all, he's not wearing socks. 

Philadelphia Street Style: Amy, Rittenhouse Square

Philadelphia Street Style: Joe, Walnut St

Joe is a filmmaker and videographer proudly keeping the bedhead look alive. We talked about camera geek things like sensor size vs. resolution.

Philadelphia Street Style: Tara, Walnut St.

Tara's jacket is from Anthropologie. Her dress is H&M, and her boots Jeffrey Campbell. I got the impression this wasn't her first time posing for a street style photographer.  We bonded over attending The Sartorialist book signing last month.

The guy Tara was with (her boyfriend?) asked me if I was trying to compete with Big Rube Harley, Philly's pre-eminent street style photographer (click here for my interview with Big Rube). I told him I couldn't compete with him if I wanted to. Besides, anthropologists, I'm pretty sure, aren't supposed to be competing with their informants. Then, of course, we compared cameras. He's using a D800 (show off). I've got a D700. His has more pixels. Mine gets better low light performance (ha!). Once you invest in a camera of this calibre, it's almost impossible not to compare yours to other peoples'. It's a sick fixation. I steal a quick glance every time I see someone with a DSLR walking down the street. And in historic Center City Philadelphia, where I most often shoot, that's pretty damn often. I'm trying to get over it. I love my camera, but I can't stop wondering whether the Canon Eos 5D Mark II would have been the better way to go. But then, as the guy with Tara pointed out, I'm already getting some pretty dope depth of field. Now, by the way, is when you are supposed to groan and mutter something under your breath about boys and their toys. Photography, in case you didn't know, is a competitive sport.

Philadelphia Street Style: Daphne in Yiga Azruël, Chloé, Graham & Spencer, and R13, Walnut St

Daphne is wearing Graham & Spencer leggings, R13 denim shorts, a Yiga Azruël scarf over a Mayle shirt, and a pair of rather dazzling Chloé shoes. I don't know what possessed me to ask her what she was wearing, a question, by the way, I've been meaning to start asking people for months now, but it just never felt right. But talking to Daphne, looking effortlessly chic in a draped black scarf, it just felt natural, even common sensical to do so. And Daphne was more than prepared to answer. I'm going to try to keep up this line of questioning. It provides good ethnographic data, enhances my education on fashion, and, of course, fits right in to my new scheme of dropping lots of brand names and seeing what happens. It only took two mentions of American Apparel on this site before they approached me to advertise on it. Let's see how these brands do. 

Philadelphia Street Style: Brett in an Etsy Denim Jacket and Mocassin Boots, Broad St

In half of my pictures of Brett, he looks like he is about to be toppled by the crowd, a feeling, frankly, that just about any blogger can relate to. We are constantly working to steer the attention of the online hoards in our direction. And sometimes, at least briefly, we manage to. Take this past Sunday, for example. After shooting The Sartorialist Closer event at the Barnes Foundation, I had my biggest spike ever, reaching a total of over 1,200 pageviews in a single day. Some of those were from Facebook referrals posted by people whose photographs I included. Some were from tweets from fellow bloggers present. And about half of them came from one site alone, Ain't No Mom Jeans, my good friend Shana's site (thanks, Shana! And welcome, Ain't No Mom Jeans Readers), after she told her readers to check out my "must read" blog. The next day was an above average 460 pageviews. And now, a mere day later, we're back in the familiar 100-200 readers territory. It was fun while it lasted. This blogging thing can be quite the adrenaline rush. That's why it's so addictive. And I can understand why bloggers continually seek out those peaks, attending major fashion events, always looking for the next topic that will blow up big. There is, however, part of me that gets cynical when the posts I put up featuring style stars (say Scott Schuman and Garance Doré) get so many hits. I'm proud of those pics, and I took a number of other good ones at the event besides, but that was not my best work on this blog by any stretch. Where are the numbers tuning in to my best composed shots of assorted iconoclasts, renegades, and weirdoes on the streets of Philadelphia? Where are the readers interested in the everyday stylistas?      

Philadelphia Street Style: Anh of Mai Style Pages blog, Walnut St

These pictures of Anh mark a minor Urban Fieldnotes milestone: the first time someone I stopped on the streets already knew my blog before I took their picture. Anh, of course, is a blogger herself, a fact I guessed when I saw her walking Walnut St with that bright orange belt and a Nikon DSLR in hand. But you never know these days. DSLRs are now fashion accessories. Imagine showing up at a trunk show or runway event without one!

We talked about the Philly blog scene. She's new to it, as she is to Philadelphia, and started her blog, Mai Style Pages, as a way to get to know the city. By day she's a nurse.

We talked about cameras and lenses. She's still learning photography (aren't we all), but complemented me on how much better my photos have gotten now that I've switched to a full-frame DSLR and 85mm lens. I thanked her for the complement, even though I suspect the camera has more to do with my improvement than I do. 

Finally, we talked sponsorship. She wanted to know the details of the whole American Apparel thing. How did that come about? How does it work? I gave her the rundown, and in truth there isn't much to tell. They contacted me a month or so ago, presumably because they wanted to infiltrate the Philly market, and I agreed to let them advertise on my site, so long as I would be able to expose the gory details of the experience on my blog. For the record, if you're interested in how it's affected my numbers, it hasn't. If you're interested in whether it's brought in significant income, it hasn't. After three weeks of American Apparel sponsorship, you know how many click-through purchases my site has facilitated? Exactly one. That ain't gonna send my kid to college. But perhaps it will eventually contribute to the Urban Fieldnotes research travel fund. The next NY Fashion Week, after all, is only four months away. 

You may remember that one of the reasons I accepted the AA sponsorship is that I wanted to know how bloggers and blog readers would react to it. So here's the rundown so far: they haven't. Or rather, not in any significant way. I've had a couple of bloggers, Anh included, commend me for attracting sponsorship so early on. I've also had a couple of anthropologists and fashion scholars egg me on, hoping my "partnership" with AA will produce a juicy exposé of the seedy secret world of corporate blog sponsorships. So far, not so much. The deal has been pretty un-exploitative. They pay me when someone clicks through the ad and buys something from their site. A win win. No one — whether reader, blogger, or scholar — has so far expressed any reservations whatsoever about my having a sponsor on this site (though one colleague did, unsurprisingly, express their reservations about who that sponsor was). 

My preliminary conclusion on this whole blog sponsorship thing: it doesn't really matter. People barely notice if you advertise. And bloggers themselves — except perhaps the biggest name ones, able to demand top dollar for the privilege — make little money off of sponsorship deals. However, I've noticed, there does seem to be a small modicum of prestige that comes with attracting sponsors. It is a kind of stamp of approval from established brands. After all, if American Apparel thinks their brand benefits from the association with my blog, shouldn't you? Don't you just feel the coolness oozing on to you from reading it?

But I'll tell you what is exploitative: those damn fake comments posted by "anonymous" blog spammers that add on links to whatever service they provide, payday loans, leather cleaning products, or whatever. They seem to have latched on to one particular post, "The Nylon Style Recycled — Kevin, Walnut St," from way the hell back in May. Screw you, fake comment ad people, whoever you are. I'm tired of your generic praise, like this comment I got seconds ago from a payday loan company: "Great web sіtе you havе gоt here. t's difficult to find excellent writing like yours nowadays. I really appreciate people like you! Take care!!" I have chosen, for obvious reasons, not to include the link. By the way, fake comment people, your comments are automatically marked as junk and deleted by Blogger. Hurray for spam filters!

Philadelphia Street Style: Elya, 16th St

Fall is here, and black is back. Thought I would inaugurate the occasion with a classic street style pic, shot the way street style used to be shot in the days of i-D and The Face: in front of a wall, preferably one with graffiti. 

Philadelphia Street Style: Taylor, S Juniper St

 

Philadelphia Street Style: David in bright pink pants, Walnut St

David is a fashion design student at the Art Institute. This came as no surprise to me, and I told him as much this afternoon. I'm guessing you may have had similar thoughts.

Obviously, the first thing to catch my attention about David, besides his confident stride, was his pants. I've noticed a lot of brightly colored pants on men lately, whether gay or straight. David's might excede the ordinary limit of brightness, but they are no means unusual. This is the first I've seen them paired with cowboy boots, though. Another aspect of this outfit, I might add, that is on trend.

Philadelphia Street Style: Mohamed, Walnut St