God Help the Girl

The Sartorialist by Scott Schuman

Street-style photographer Scott Schuman recently released a book of some of his photos. The book comes in a paperback version (around $17) and a bespoke version (around $110). I ordered the paperback version and received it last week. After going through all of the 512 pages in one sitting (that doesn't happen too often), I came to one conclusion: I love the book. Along with some of the photos in the book, Scott provides a little back-story about the person photographed, or the process trying to photograph the person. These stories, although small, add a great deal to the book. Seeing one of Scott's subjects, you may think, "Boy, this person is so confident in what they are wearing" or "They look so perfect." In reality, Scott may point out that the person was actually very shy or self-conscious about having their picture taken. The best part of the book, though, is Scott's view on personal style: "What constitutes great personal style? This is one of the questions I get asked the most. We tend to think that to achieve great personal style someone must have perfect clarity about who they are and what they stand for. I politely disagree. I think conflict about who you are often leads to even greater expression." I couldn't have said it better myself.