no images were found
By Lawren McCord
Photograph by Sean Wright
Scott Schuman, a.k.a. “The Sartorialist,” and fellow blogger Garance Doré visited SCAD Atlanta and to attend a question-and-answer session with students and faculty. The creator of “The Sartorialist” blog (with 300,000 plus views per day) and long-time fashion industry professional allowed the audience to grab the microphone and ask about the keys to his and Doré’s success and inspiration. Here are a few of the highlights from their impromptu interview.
Fourth year fashion design student Recho Omondi: [With so many photo blogs and street style blogs,] what do you think is the key to your success?
S.S.: I think that the key to the success is two things. An absolute sincerity in what we do. We really love fashion. We really love the artistry of it, the craftsmanship — we really appreciate that. I think that we both grew up, Garance and I did, separately in two different places. Garance grew up in Corsica and I grew up in Indiana, but I think that we both saw a romance about the fashion world through magazines. We both dreamed about what that must be like. We both have been able to keep a very childlike feeling for that, trying to remember what that world was like in that other place and not do it in a cynical way — letting our blogs be a little naïve and wondrous about things, even if that means us holding back and not getting to know people that well. The other thing is that we are both artists and that we communicate through a lot of different ways. I do photography and write. Garance makes me totally jealous — she is an illustrator, writer [and] filmmaker. I think that what really makes a difference is that we are using our art to communicate what we think about fashion and what we think about the world around us, and I think that we express things that are not in the fashion magazines. Many of the young blogs now do not really challenge themselves. If it has not already been in “Vogue,” they are not going to shoot it or they do not feel comfortable mixing things outside of that little tiny fashion circle. Garance and I can shoot kids in a rodeo in Las Vegas for abstract inspiration, which has nothing to do directly with fashion. Those are the two. It is very very simple: (1)sincerity and (2) artistry. We have spent a lot of time learning how to communicate it in a beautiful way. So many of the other blogs like fashion, but they are taking pictures from other people. They have not thought about why they like fashion. We both grew up looking at fashion magazines. We were both able to figure out why we like those, how the magazine was able to convey the romance that we thought that world was or is. We have tried to do that with our own blogs. We are talking about a visual thing, fashion is a visual thing. Street style blogs have separated themselves from a lot of the other vanity blogs. We are able to create the content ourselves, which creates consistency day to day. People can really start to relate to that the way you relate to a designer. You start to understand how they are seeing things.
Professor of fashion marketing and management, Kevin Knaus: How do you edit down what you feel is important to put on to your blog after taking tons of photographs?
G.D.: There [are] different types of pictures. There are pictures that are mostly of a moment — a beautiful moment, a beautiful person — something that is inspiring, but you don’t even know why. It is just more about the picture. Then, you have some pictures that are really about the clothes and a trend that you really want to talk about. There are different categories. Then, we just choose the one that we prefer.
S.S.: The one thing that neither one of us does, and it is the artistry, neither one of us reports, neither one of us thinks we’re going to report on this trend because trends I don’t really care about. I don’t want to get myself in a position where I am reporting about fashion or reporting about the shows. I am just trying to share what I see and what I like. A lot of times, it is a moment, what they are wearing is important, but it is just an element of that moment. It is about taking shots that we think are beautiful and then, mixing it up a little bit. It is the surprise, never quite knowing what we are going to do next, that keeps people coming back and curious — because it is coming from a consistent point of view. It may seem like we are reporting on trends, but we are just sharing what we think looks good and I think a lot of that is just innate.
Photography alumnus Goran Jovanovic: What is your approach like when it comes to asking the people to take their picture? Do you have them sign model release forms?
G.D.: It is important that people recognize that you can be their friend and they can talk to you. There has to be a little bit of identification. To say “yes” to somebody, you have to like them a little bit. The way I dress myself and everything is to create more interaction. It is like a circle. Now, I never have a “no.”
S.S.: Before we were really doing this, there were only a few people at the shows taking pictures and even fewer people were going out in the world taking pictures of style. What has happened in the past, people would always be taking pictures of the most outrageous things, which is fine, but it does not help me live my life. We shoot things that really make a difference. I love that girl that I can relate to, that seems like me. They do look at you, the photographer, and say, “Ok, this person gets me.” Whether we are dressed similarly or speak the same or different languages, they can look at the visual clues — they look and say, “Alright, this person gets me.” That gives you a certain amount of time to say, “Can you stand over here? Can you turn this way?” We have not had to deal with model releases; I do not think that we will. There is a certain amount of acceptance [for the blog,] if they are stopped, turned and looking right at the camera.
For more information on Schuman and Dore, visit their blogs.
Click on the image below for more photographs of “The Sartorialist” visit and the bloggers’ gallery show in Atlanta.
Tags :
Fashion
