How Relevant are Street Style Blogs?

Picture, borrowed from thesartorialist.com

On one of my new favorite blogs, PopAfricana.com, editor Oroma Elewa poses the question, “Is attention moving away from designer shows? Has the street become the new runway?” Elewa cites the popularity of sites like The Sartorialist and Face Hunter as the new influencers of fashion. “It seems people are more concerned with how people interpret fashion these days.”

It’s an interesting question to ponder. Are these new websites, impacting the relationship between the consumer, the manufacturer and media in fashion and beauty? Is it an extension of a Facebook, reality TV culture that is eager to see real people in real habitats? The fun of these sites, as Elewa notes, is looking at the interpretation of fashion, visuals of global trends. I don’t think they will replace the runway. That’s like saying photos could replace figurative painting. They’re two separate but related art forms.  

However, there is an opportunity for these sites to work in concert with the runway. The barrier between the runway and the street is that the consumer doesn’t always know how to make runway looks work in real life. We have to wait for clothes to get to retail to understand how we’re supposed to wear them.  And even then, the interpretation is restricted to the retail vision. 

These new sites, however, open up the breadth of ideas that people can explore. Taking cues not just from merchandisers and celebrities, but from real people the world over. It’s a very interesting phenomenon that presents an opportunity for the wise manufacturer.