The Sartorialist

1.5.4 The Sartorialist

sar·to·ri·al
sar·to·ri·al [saar táwree əl]
adj
1. of tailoring: relating to tailoring or clothing in general
2. of sartorius muscle: relating to the sartorius muscle in the thigh

The Sartorialist was the first blog that I decided to include in this body of work. I have been eagerly following this blog for two years. Scott Schuman was first introduced to fashion during his tertiary education at the Indiana University of America. Here he studied Apparel Merchandising and Costume Construction. His courses included tailoring, dress making and pattern making, in which he unexpectedly excelled.

Schuman worked in sales and marketing for high-end women’s designer collections such as Valentino and Jean-Paul Gaultier. He eventually opened his own showroom, where he specialised in promoting and managing press for up and coming young designers. After 15 years in the fashion industry he closed his showroom and began focusing more on his photography.

He began carrying his camera around and taking pictures of people whose dress and body language caught his eye.

Schuman began The Sartorialist in 2005 simply to share photographs of people he saw on the streets.

“I thought I could shoot people on the street the way designers looked at people, and get and give inspiration to lots of people in the process. My only strategy when I began The Sartorialist was to try and shoot style in a way that I knew most designers hunted for inspiration” -Scott Schuman

Schuman is now a feature in the front row of every major fashion show and event in the international fashion industry, allowing him to find his subjects not just in New York. His subjects have ranged from celebrities to car guards, royalty to fishermen. Each picture and post is extensively commented on by the followers of his blog. He has pioneered fashion photography in blog form.

The Sartorialist has found such great success that Schuman has been featured in and has written for publications around the world including Vogue (Britain, France, Spain, Italy and Korea), Esquire, GQ and The New York Times. In 2009 an assortment of his images were published in a book, simply titled The Satorialist: The Place To Be Seen. According to the statistics of the 99 Most Influential Fashion Blogs and Beauty Blogs, the Sartorialist was the most influential fashion blog of 2009. It was selected as one of one of Time Magazine’s Top 100 Design Influences.

The first post from The Sartorialist that I will l be discussing is entitled On the Street... Pocket Square & Tee Shirt, Florence. This post is a typical Sartorialist post. The subject of the photograph is a middle aged man, taken in Florence. Schuman has commented on the unconventional way the man has has paired his formal blazer and pocket square with a casual t-shirt. The way that the image (photograph) is the main focus of the post is also very typical of the style of this blog.

Schuman usually uses little or no text in his posts. This allows the readers to interpret the images in their own individual way. The second post I have included is an interesting example of Schuman using his photography for social commentary. The unusual use of text in this particular post shows an unusual need to express his opinion.