Photo Credit: Scott Schuman (a.k.a. The Sartorialist)
“It’s what I like — fashion, people, photography, and natural light,”
said The Sartorialist — a photographer and blogger (a.k.a. Scott Schuman) — about photographing everyday people on the street. Schuman, who once owned his own designer showroom and worked with the likes of Valentino, Jean Paul Gaultier, and Peter Som, turned his attention to photography and capturing the looks of people he saw out on the town and began blogging and posting his pictures on his blog, thesartorialist.com.
His keen eye for chic looks has garnered him the attention (and favor) of magazines such as GQ and Vogue, and landed him a freelance gig with style.com, snapping stylish people on the street and at special events in fashion capitals around the globe.
The world of the fashion photographer is one filled with glitz and glamour: exclusive socialite soirees, designer photo shoots, and highbrow runway shows are just a few of the scenes covered by these skilled shutterbugs. Fashion photographers such as Richard Warren, Tom Munro, Patrick Demarchelier, Helmut Newton, and Steve Meisel have made a significant impact on the fashion scene, like Meisel who has worked with a bevy of designers from Dolce & Gabbana to Versace and is credited for launching the careers of models such as Coco Rocha and Sasha Pivovarova.
But The Sartorialist offers a fresh new perspective, unrehearsed and with an air of surprise. Unlike fashion photographers who are commisioned to take pictures of a product or paparazzi on a quest to catch unsuspecting celebrity prey, The Sartorialist’s goal is to capture images of people he thinks are stylish. In an interview with him during New York Fashion Week, he explained how he was looking forward to the Marc Jacobs, Rodarte, and Proenza Schouler shows and the scene stealers he might spot there. He also described his enjoyment in it all.
“For me, the most fun comes from comparing and contrasting the looks and how they reflect the people and the environment,” he said. “Since I take lots of images of different people I can see their similarities and character.”
Be it an edgy rapper like Kanye West, a fashion stylist like Rachel Zoe, a chic starlet like Eva Mendes, or an everyday fashionista out on the town, with his Canon EOS 5D in tow, The Sartorialist is on the pulse of fashion and he doesn’t miss a beat when it comes to spotting the well dressed and cool styled, whether he snaps them on the sly or they’re striking a strategic pose.
