Street style photographers or Paparazzi?

Just one week ago, in conjunction with Paris Fashion Week, renowned street style photographer Tommy Ton used his (popular) Instagram account to take stock of the current state of international street style. 

Taking as a starting point the lack of respect of his colleagues for the Asian women who for years (long before street style became a social media thing) have been asking editors and socialites the brands they were wearing, the Canadian photographer shed light on the overcrowding which characterises the locations outside the shows nowadays, and the problems connected to it. 

Street style was once an instrument used by international magazines to spread and consolidate trends among their readers, today it has become a sort of competition, where street style photographers get to block the traffic in order to grab the best shot and almost behave like 'paparazzi'. Today the focus is often on the wearer, not on the clothes (s)he wears: the original style of little-known faces is preceded by the popularity of the photographed person, contradicting the democratic nature of street style photography itself. 

How has the environment outside fashion shows evolved over the past few years? What do street style photographers (and international magazines) look for today? 

We asked it to four professionals, who all agreed on one point in particular...

Adam Katz Sinding, @le21eme

How has street style photography changed since you started until today?

The scene has changed in every way since when I began. I started Le 21ème in 2007, and shot my first NYFW in Feb of 2011. Back then it was just a small handful of photographers, and I was the newest guy to show up at Lincoln. It was "easy" I guess in comparison. No one was in your way, no walls of photographers destroying the natural ebb and flow of people as they came and went from shows. That being said, if it was still so "easy", I would probably have stopped doing this, as it wouldn't be exciting. Now you have to struggle, run, sweat, freeze, dodge, duck, and jump to get photos. It's hard. But it's exciting.

What's your focus when shooting your subjects?

Nothing. No focus. I just keep an open mind. I have my favourite people to shoot, like any of us out there. But I am always looking for new people, new faces, new ideas. It's the only way you don't just lose your mind and lose your desire to keep shooting.

Do you think people today are more interested in seeing popular faces rather than authentic (street) style?

Absolutely, and it sucks. You can take a "famous" editor or blogger, dress her in whatever you want, even if she doesn't look nice, and because of WHO she is, she will be immediately validated and considered good by the masses. I don't like this. I won't shoot even my favourite people if I don't think their look is interesting or if it doesn't represent the person accurately. I'm a snob, I know. But there are so many photographers out there, and many of them will just try to shoot everyone (and there is NOTHING wrong with this at all), but this allows me to personally edit myself a little bit because I know that if I choose not to shoot someone, other photographers will do it and they will be documented. I try to keep my brand a little bit tighter instead of shooting everyone who walks in just because they are "important”.

How do you think street style photography will evolve during the coming seasons?

No clue. I'm still waiting for one of us to get hit by a car. We become more and more reckless as our numbers increase. Sometimes it's scary to see how we disregard safety in order to get a photo. We are passionate, which is good, but sometimes I'm running through traffic and only after I realize "Man, that was fucking stupid." So, fingers crossed we can all stay safe. I just hope that we can all keep doing this, and all keep loving what we are doing. I don't want to get bored. 

Eva Losada @eva.al.desnudo

How has street style photography changed since you started until today?

I think street style photography nowadays is too focused on the brands and has lost a bit its essence. You can still find great looks, but every time you notice more and more that looks are really made by the brands and not by the individuals themselves, which I personally find less interesting. It’s easy to be well-dressed if one of the best designers of the moment dresses you from head to toe, but to me the creativity of cities like London or Tokyo has more relevance as you can see a personal approach on the looks, you can really see personality and style. This season in Paris I saw people like Michèle Lamy, Lily Gatins or Patrick Mason showing their essence and extreme looks around, but unfortunately every season I see more people missing.

What's your focus when shooting your subjects?

I look for the style not the subject itself, I tend not to shoot celebrities or bloggers. I am usually looking for people with a strong personality independently from who they are. As everybody knows, I feel attracted by avant-garde, theatrical dark looks and they’re not so easy to find nowadays. I also appreciate high-end street wear.

Do you think people today are more interested in seeing popular faces rather than authentic (street) style?

Definitely, I completely agree. You only need to see the revolution outside a show when Karlie Kloss or Gigi Hadid make appearance. It depends on who you like, I personally prefer to see A$AP Rocky, Kanye West, Michèle Lamy or Rick Owens. But yes, in general it’s easier to find known faces on the street style scene than "authentic" street style.

How do you think street style photography will evolve during the coming seasons?

I am not sure. I hope it won’t happen but in my opinion it’s going to get worst. This season designers started cutting the number of attendees so there will be less people to photograph. Hopefully this is just a bad moment, people are dressing in a very commercial way nowadays. However I can say that I like some of the trends of this season – corsets, fish-net tights and high, gothic platforms like the Balenciaga or Marc Jacobs’ ones – so maybe this season ‘commercial’ style is not that bad for me.

Julien Boudet, @bleumode 

How has street style photography changed since you started until today?

I started shooting in January 2013, not that long ago but long enough to notice some changes. Obviously, as everyone knows, there are more and more photographers out there in front of the shows so it’s becoming more difficult to get clean shots. It’s also got more commercial than it used to be, with a lot of placement products for instance, and less “authentic” style, which makes it less interesting, for me at least. In general I would say that the evolution of street style photography has been more negative than positive.

What's your focus when shooting your subjects?

I like to focus on little details, getting clean shots of a specific piece on an outfit. That’s really what I like the most about street style, if you look at my work you will notice that most of the images aren’t about who that person is but what that person is actually wearing. That’s the reason why most of the time the subject’s face is cropped out. 

Do you think people today are more interested in seeing popular faces rather than authentic (street) style?

I honestly believe that most of the people looking at street style images want to see photos of popular bloggers and celebrities rather than details/outfits. I’m just hoping it won’t get worse in the future. By the way, the same could be said about street style photographers. I think some (most?) of them care more about capturing popular faces than their actual style. Therefore my question is: can we still call this "street style" or we need a new name for that?

How do you think street style photography will evolve during the coming seasons?

I have no idea, but I feel like it will keep evolving in the same direction it’s been going these past years.

Stefano Carloni @mr_tuft 

How has street style photography since you started until today?

Street style photography has changed a lot. It’s less personal, all street style photos look the same now. It has spread widely, its style is now requested also for editorials, special projects, social campaigns and so on. The worst thing about it is that it has lost its spontaneity. Today the street style snaps taken out of a fashion show are preceded by the question: "Can you walk?"

What’s your focus when shooting your subjects?

My focus is normally the shoe. I always thought that shoes are the most influential element of a look. If a person has a bad pair of shoes, I decide to take a half-length picture or to not take it at all.

Do you think people today are more interested in seeing popular faces rather than authentic (street) style?

Unfortunately, that's the way it is. But I think that’s the not just the people’s fault, it’s about who asks for these pictures. Magazines today are more interested in celebrity pictures in order to make headlines. So photographers shoot people because of who they are and not for their style, just as if they were paparazzi. I may sound presumptuous, but I think I'm one of the few who still takes genuine street style photos out there.

How do you think street style photography will evolve in the coming seasons?

I don’t know, there could be such a revolution. Fashion shows could cease to exist and become exclusive appointments for buyers and editors. It would serve to clean up a bit the ‘circus’ of fashion week, which is convenient to many anyway. The "see-now buy now" could be applied to all brands, why not.