The scenery of the international fashion week is no longer, and the fashion week street photography is also eclipsed.
After the epidemic, many travel restrictions stopped the footsteps of fashion week street photographers. Although the bustling fashion bloggers and flash-focused authoritative editors are still changing their costumes between the shows, the opinion leaders that photographers such as Anna dello Russo, Chiara Ferragni, Eva Chen once aimed at, seem to be no longer people. object of gaze.
According to data from Google Trends, searches for the keyword “Fashion Week Street Style” (Fashion Week Street Style) have fallen sharply after the outbreak of the epidemic in 2020. Although the international fashion week is being held overseas recently, under the influence of the epidemic and the turbulent international geopolitical situation, the discussion of fashion week and the peak of users’ search for fashion week street photography are also far lower than the level of previous years.
During the 2022 Autumn/Winter International Fashion Week, the peak of users’ search for fashion week street photography is far lower than the level of previous years
Bill Cunningham, the originator of street photography, with his sharp vision and tolerant fashion attitude, triggered a national trend of “everyone dresses up for him” in the 1990s, and opened the curtain of the era of European and American street photography. After 2010, with the rise of social media, street photographers such as Phil Oh and Scott Schuman turned the outside of the fashion week into an extension of the runway inside the venue, and made fashion bloggers dressed up from latecomers to the show. main character.
Some street photography regulars have used their exposure and influence to develop a fashion territory of their own. They have collected and released their own street photography, and have successfully shaped themselves into a presence outside the fashion week. to a climax. As fashion shows become more lackluster, fashion week street photography has clearly become the new focus of audience attention. At its peak, traditional fashion media such as Vogue Runway took street photography as the most important theme of fashion week coverage.
The street shooting industry surrounding the fashion week once triggered intensive discussions in the industry. Some practitioners have criticized the regulars of street photography for taking away the focus of the fashion show itself, while others have criticized the commercialization of the street photography industry for distorting the original meaning of street photography from the “street”. The street photography industry has become an eyeball economy that gains attention through publicity clothing. Some people wear extremely curious styles to be photographed by the street, but these collocations are too delicate, deliberate, and divorced from daily life, not for the purpose of reflecting “good taste”.
At its peak, fashion media made street shooting the most important theme of fashion week coverage
Therefore, ten years after the popularity of fashion week street photography, the audience seems to have finally established tolerance to the fashion week thinking of publicity and curiosity. They found that fashion week street shooting has been difficult to become a source of fashion inspiration. At the same time, the massive “pseudo-street photography” of fashion bloggers on social media has also made street photography fashion readily available. The audience can get similar visual stimulation and fashion inspiration without waiting for fashion week. Fashion week, as a fashion industry, definitely pays attention The role of focus is diluted year by year.
Fashion week street photography has since gone downhill. When it comes to influencing people’s clothing ideas, the influence of social celebrities has been on the rise. Fashion’s discourse power once transitioned from fashion editors to fashion bloggers. However, after fashion bloggers briefly led the trend of democratic fashion, they lost to those more influential social stars. During this fashion week, people were obviously more curious about what shows Kanye West and ex-girlfriend Julia Fox went to, what Kim Kardashian wore to the Prada show, and how Rihanna and Asap Rocky appeared than what the editors wore.
Outside of fashion week, social media influencers such as Kendall Jenner and Hailey Bieber have become more practical dressing templates for the general audience. They have become the vane of the fashion field through street photography, and their every move in their daily life can attract people’s attention.
Their street photos that are popular on the Internet are not as detached from the reality of life as fashion week street photos, nor are they enough to create the explosive topic effect caused by pop stars during fashion week, but they still have the potential to turn a brand over. They make ordinary people look up, but they are not out of reach.
Celebrity and supermodel social media influencers such as Kendall Jenner have become more practical dressing templates for ordinary viewers
After the epidemic, a trend that has gradually become clear is that people who used to yearn for international fashion trends seem to be returning to their roots and seeking more authentic fashion.
Fashion has become more localized. Amateur street photography that reflects the urban temperament is on the rise. There are no extravagant costumes, no pretentious gestures, just ordinary people hurried by wearing fast fashion brands and Vintage items. In the Instagram account “Parisian in Paris”, which focuses on the fashionable and casual people on the streets of Paris, the audience can see the clothes of ordinary people on the streets of Paris, and this kind of clothes is not the French fashion constructed by the media and fashion bloggers, nor does it have the kind of reputation A single aesthetic standard that is “effortless and fashionable” but needs to curb the appetite at all times.
Such accounts have emerged rapidly recently and have become popular. Several accounts, including “Milanesi a Milano” in Milan and “Londoners in London” in London, now have nearly 1 million followers. People in different cities echo the urban streetscape, presenting a seamless urban style and different fashion features. After the home quarantine, people are re-examining the cities they are accustomed to and have an unprecedented interest in urban fashion.
Parisian street shots from the Instagram account “Parisian in Paris”
Fashion street photography quietly appeared in people’s field of vision with another kind of people-friendly image. Fashion street photography returns to its original starting point, back to the era of street photography when Bill Cunningham walked on a bicycle on the street, and the most authentic appearance of fashion is once again shown.
In China, although the development of the fashion industry presents a special form that is completely different from the European and American markets, it also echoes the general trend of global fashion localization.
Since 2015, with the rise of Shanghai Fashion Week and a series of events such as the rise of local fashion brands and the internationalization of local fashion brands, Chinese fashion has gradually become its own system. After the epidemic, this feature became more obvious. Chinese fashion editors and bloggers under international travel restrictions have been unable to participate in fashion weeks overseas for two years. Luxury fashion brands are also holding fashion events in China more and more frequently, creating a new fashion scene for China’s first-tier cities.
China’s fashion industry, either actively or passively, shows strong localization characteristics, which also affects the phenomenon of street photography in China.
At first, fashion street photography often appeared with the rise of new commercial landmarks. For example, around 2015, Taikoo Li, Sanlitun, Beijing, where young people gathered, used to be a street photography destination. After 2018, it became a commercial landmark in Chengdu, the luxury consumption center of the southwest Chengdu Ocean Taikoo Li also set off a wave of street photography.
Street photography in Beijing and Chengdu relies on the rise of consumption power, which to a certain extent makes the initial wave of street photography develop rapidly towards the direction of curiosity and eyeball economy without exception. Many commercial street shooting photographers use the mode of posing or even sneaking to make some content that is enough to be popular on the short video platform to make a profit in the name of “street shooting”, but more often this kind of street shooting only stays in the street snap rather than street style in the true sense.
In other words, although this kind of street photography reflects the fashion style of some Chinese young people to a certain extent, it lacks authenticity under the influence of excessive commercialization, and its ability to lead fashion trends is weak.
The above-mentioned distorted situation has been gradually confronted and resolved. Some controversial street shooting content is not only boycotted by users of short video platforms, but also subject to official constraints. Chengdu Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li issued a ban in 2018 prohibiting unauthorized street photography in shopping malls.
Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Chengdu issued a ban in 2018 prohibiting unlicensed street photography in shopping malls
At the same time, the rapid rise of street photography in Shanghai has shown a completely different style from the previous Beijing and Chengdu.
It seems that in a very short period of time, a group of photographers and amateurs who love professional street photography and street fashion began to localize “Parisian in Paris” on the fashion social platform headed by Xiaohongshu, that is, “Shanghainese in Paris”. Shanghai”, they positioned the coordinates in Shanghai, which is the center of domestic fashion, and aimed at the young people in Shanghai who have established individual fashion tastes and are confident and comfortable.
On the Xiaohongshu platform, you can find tens of thousands of street photography notes by entering “Shanghai Street Photo”. Xuhui District, headed by Anfu Road, Fumin Road, Yongkang Road and other streets, has become an “open-air show” in Shanghai. In the center of the runway, most of the notes have been liked more than thousands of times, making it difficult to ignore the existence of this gathering phenomenon.
A group of street photographers began to emerge on fashion social platforms headed by Xiaohongshu, promoting Shanghai street photography to become a popular keyword
Some observers believe that the biggest difference between Shanghai street photography is that its commercialization is weak, and its aesthetic value and fashion trend leading ability are high.
Consumption power is obviously an important support for the street shooting phenomenon. The Internet celebrity cafes and buyer shops created by the dynamic commercial soil have become the most necessary background boards for street photography. In an interview with LADYMAX, Suki, the director of the Xiaohongshu street photography account Shanghai Sights with 192,000 followers, said that the gathering of buyers and cafes drove young people to dress more fashionably, before she officially started her street photography career. , this phenomenon has caught her attention.
The works of Xiaohongshu Street Shooting account @Shanghai Sights
However, unlike Beijing and Chengdu street photography, Shanghai street photography is not only supported by consumption power, but also has distinct urban cultural characteristics similar to those of “Parisian in Paris” and other amateur street photography. The role of the main fashion and cultural center is determined.
People are surprised to find that the clothes of the amateurs on the Shanghai Street Shooting account are not inferior to the standards of other international fashion week host cities. While pursuing relaxation and comfort, the young Shanghai people under the camera seem to consciously inject popular fashion trends. in everyday styling.
Whether it’s novel designs from local fashion brands and designer brands, or internet celebrity items from high-end fashion brands, people can really feel the youth of Shanghai in the collision of colorful knitted and leather flared trousers, cashmere coats and mini underarm bags. Fashion and variety in how people dress. Some photographers even aimed their lenses at the elderly in Shanghai. They also showed the exquisite taste of different groups of people through decent workwear and silk scarves.
In an interview with Walking Town, a street photography account with 40,000 followers and 98,000 likes, its manager LHD said, “This is a kind of thing passed down from the older generation, flowing throughout the city of Shanghai. Sophisticated and inclusive, this may be the different temperament of Shanghai and other cities.”
The works of Xiaohongshu Street Shooting account @Walking Town
The growing fashion crowd has built the urban fashion, and the urban fashion has nourished the cultural industry of street photography. Rough statistics show that on the Xiaohongshu platform alone, there are more than 30 Shanghai street photography accounts with over 10,000 followers, many of which are popular accounts managed by professional photographers or even professional street photographers.
Professional street photography photographer Suki revealed that before Xiaohongshu’s street photography community began to take shape, there were actually many managers engaged in street photography activities at fashion weeks at home and abroad, and they loved the street photography culture. As the platform’s attention to Shanghai street photography increased, they slowly began to consciously operate their own accounts.
Although the scale of professional photographers is small, these street shots with excellent aesthetics, natural angles and high viewing are leading the trend and quality of platform street photography to the ideal direction that street photography should have. According to LHD, the director of Walking Town, “This cluster effect can promote the development of the Shanghai street photography community, allowing people to continuously introduce better works and create more abundant styles.”
Under the spread of social media, although some viewers ridiculed the existence of street photography to “make the Internet celebrity neighborhood more curly”, Shanghai street photography still maintains a certain degree of authenticity without being overly distorted by commercialization.
Many street photography account managers have said that commercialization is not the most direct purpose of operating their accounts. Street photography sharing rooted in social media has a different operation from the mature fashion street photography industry dominated by traditional media in Europe and the United States. Logic and starting point. Street shooting is more used as a way to release love or leisure after work, and more often they need to balance their amateur street shooting career with their own work.
For LHD, brand soft implantation has certain limitations as an outlet for the commercialization of street photography, because young people pay attention to local fashion street photography, largely because of the authenticity of street photography. Excessive commercialization can easily make street photography. lose its original meaning. Compared to turning his interest into a business as soon as possible, LHD admitted that he is more concerned about how to improve his street photography skills, achieve a more proficient state, and present better works to fans.
In its infancy, local street photography, which is still in its infancy, requires photographers to take care of its originality and sincerity. The street photography media “Drop Tokyo” from Japan and the street photography work “Men In This Town” by photographer Guiseppe Santamaria are the original sources of inspiration for Suki’s street photography. The former allows her to appreciate the vigorous fashion creativity of Harajuku teenagers, and the latter allows her to find her street shoot objects from a more inclusive and natural perspective.
LHD also pointed out that running Walking Town made him think about whether he could slow down his life and slowly explore more possibilities for life and street photography.
After the flashy bubble was skimmed off, real fashion street photography is making a comeback in another form.