‘The Enterprising Gavin Brown’ by Nicole Phelps for style.com

Is the fashion world stealing the seats at the art world’s parties? I read an interesting article on style.com by Nicole Phelps that brought up this question. It is an interview with Gavin Brown who references the tensions between the fashion world and the art world. He calls the fashion world empty and says that fashion people don’t understand art people but that they think they do. I find this really annoying, not because it’s right or wrong, but because fashion and art are even considered rivaling worlds when at the end of the day they are essentially the same thing. It’s frustrating that fashion has to work so hard to prove itself as an art form and it’s sad that an artist isn’t able to recognize fashion or even art as more than an invitation to a party.

There are so many brilliant street style photographers. It’s every New Yorker’s dream to run into Humans of New York’s Brandon Stanton on the street or to see Bill Cunningham zip by in his blue jacket on his bicycle. Scott Schuman, Phil Oh, and Tommy Ton are also among the list of photographers that capture New York’s style in the raw.

If you had the option to be photographed by any one of the photographers, who would you choose? I would pick Bill Cunningham because his photos are in the future and in the past. I like the way he puts one photograph with others in his weekly collection to document the present moment, but if you saw the documentary on him you can remember that he keeps all his photos he ever took filed  in his home. Give him the name of a person and he can find their file. So even when your photo is tossed in the garbage with last week’s newspaper, you’re still a permanent record of a moment that you very much owned.

Who would you pick?

I was recently asked what my style is and I didn’t know how to answer. I like what I like and I dress the way I feel like, but it doesn’t fit (or at least I don’t think) under any of the typical stereotypes of dressing. Is it better to have a defined taste and define your style but limit yourself to 1/10000000 of the fashion world? I’ve been thinking about this for a little bit… I think maybe it’s not because then you can continue to reinvent yourself in the way you want to that day… I can’t decide! 

I haven’t been into fashion as much lately, or at least into surrounding myself with it. This happens to me sometimes. It’s not like I’m even having a bad week or anything, I just haven’t found my mind working together in that way that I analyze a look for it’s story and I haven’t been looking at style.com updates (or blogging as much for that matter). It’s a weird phase that I hope will end as quickly as it came on.

However, I do have to point out one of my new favorite websites, Article &. I’ve shopped on there and discussed their products on here before, but recently they’ve been adding a lot of new items that everyone should definitely check out! I particularly LOVE their shoes.