Clients Bragg: 2009.07

Many blog followers are aware of who Scott Schuman is, for of those of you who don't know he is "The Sartorialist"

I came across this just seconds ago on Mr. Lagerfeld's blog.

This Scott Schuman is an awfully short person. I was walking along the street today- I ended up crashing the motorbike into the Dior salon- and an incredibly short man wearing a suit came up to me. "Karl, could I take your photo?" he asked. His eyes were beady- little black ball bearings. He peered up at me like I was some god- as well he should- the top of his face becoming almost horizontal with the ground as he struggled to see me. I said: "who the hell are you?"

The man was taken aback by this. "I, well, I am The Sartorialist" he said. "So you're another one of those superheroes?" said I, "we've got enough of them, you know. We've got Batman, and Superman, and Spiderman (although I think he mostly does office work these days)- all of them. Anyway. What is your magic power?"

"Shouldn't it be super power?" the little man said.

"Whichever- what is it?"

"I can take photos."

"You can take photos! My my my," I said attempting to put on a southern accent whilst sounding like rubber bent around a tree.

"Not just any photos. I take The Sartorialist (TM) photos."

"And what is special about Sartorialist photos?"

"Uh..they're Sartorialist."

"What does Sartorialist actually mean?" quirried I.

"It means I'm a really good photographer."

"Photographry is not a super power unless your name is Nick Knight or something."

"But I'm The Sartorialist," he said. He rather reminded me a petulant five year old speaking to his five year old friend- "but I'mbeing the fireman today." Or more aptly- "but I'm being Superman today." But in this case, the child really does believe that he isSuperman.

"I don't care whether you're The Sartorialist or a sociologist, to be quite frank."

"The Sartorialist: Selected as one of Time magazine's top 100 design influences."

The man actually quoted this- as if quoting something, word for word, will make it true.

"Pray ask, which designers are you influencing?"

"Uhm," he uhm-ed, the h being very audible.

"So?"

"It was in Time magazine though. It must be true."

...

The littlest photographer seemed not to have been moved. He kept saying, over and over, "But it was in Time magazine, it was inTime, it was in Time."

"You have American Apparel ads on the side of your blog."

He couldn't really reply to that.

"Would you like to come back to my house", he finally said.

"Why would I want to come back to your house?", I said.

"I have...biscuits."

"I don't eat."

"I'll take your picture...at my house...we could play dominoes."

"Dominoes?"

"And then maybe we could go for a movie."

"You know Scott, you're a bit of a creep."

"Hello Clarice." He did that Hanibal Lecter tounge thing- where he sort of slurps.

"Dominoes," he said once more.

And then- and then he said this: "I would like to dress you, Karl, in a little schoolboy blazer and take your picture"- I was incredibly creeped out by this, and ended up walking out. Creep."

Via: Karl Lagerfeld

I have often wondered if "The Sartorialist" had any clue what he was photographing...

So I went and looked at his bio on his blog

"I started The Sartorialist simply to share photos of people that I saw on the streets of New York that I thought looked great. When I worked in the fashion industry (15 years), I always felt that there was a disconnect between what I was selling in the showroom and what I was seeing real people (really cool people) wearing in real life.

Before The Sartorialist I worked in sales and marketing for high-end women’s designer collections like Valentino and distribution companies like Onward Kashiyama, which at that time represented designers like Helmut Lang and Jean-Paul Gaultier. Eventually I opened my own showroom specializing in sales and press for young designer collections like James Coviello and Peter Som. I loved the challenges of merchandising, promoting and brand building for a new designer. Working on the fashion shows was a blast; I understand why fashion designers can become so addicted to the rush of fashion shows.

Shortly after 9/11 I closed my showroom and began focusing more on photography. I didn’t want to become a “fashion photographer” but I knew somehow that my loves of fashion and photography would eventually merge. I just never guessed it would be in the form of a blog.

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. Rarely do they look at the whole outfit as a yes or no but they try and look for the abstract concepts of color, proportion, pattern mixing or mixed genres. I’m always really happy when I meet a designer and hear that they use some of my photos for their inspiration boards. At the same time I’m also really touched when I get emails from everyday people who say they have been inspired to see themselves and others in a new and usually more accepting way.

I was born in Indiana went to college at Indiana University majoring in Apparel Merchandising, with a minor in Costume Construction. That is right, my college days were filled with accounting classes and making tutus for the IU Music School ballets. I excelled in some wonderful but extremely challenging courses in tailoring, dress making, draping and pattern drafting. That was the beginning of my love for the craft of fashion and the romance of hard labor that it takes to make a bespoke suit or couture gown. Unfortunately, I learned such intense techniques for everything including hemming pants, that I rarely sew anymore because it is just too much work!

The Sartorialist has grown so much in just over a year and I could not be more thrilled by the community that it has created and the wonderful associations I have been able to create. If you had told me two years ago I would have a well-respected blog, a monthly page in GQ, recurring guest blogs and videos for Style.com, and countless other exciting side projects I would have kissed you - well maybe not kissed - but I would have really liked you a lot!!

I am already working on several new projects to keep The Sartorialist evolving so I hope you will continue to visit."

Via: Sartorialist

He went to school for fashion?

He gets placed in the top 100 people who influences designers, but he doesn't know who?

But then This pieice caught my eye

"You've become a worldwide brand simply by taking people's pictures.

When I had my showroom in New York, that's what I was telling guys like Peter Som and James Coviello: “You have to build your brand” – and they didn't listen. I started The Sartorialist in 2005. By late 2006, I had a serious brand. A brand that meant something.

Was there a turning point in terms of the blog's popularity?

There was not a specific date, but all these really heartfelt e-mails I started receiving from people saying that the blog made them appreciate and be inspired by other people – not Prada or labels but people – that's when I thought, okay, now I'm onto something. You can't buy that. You can't tell someone [to do that]. It just has to happen.

Originally, you wrote a lot more; now there's very little text. Is it true then that a picture tells 1,000 words?

Yeah, that's it, but I'm also just too busy. To me, a photograph tells what I want to say; I shoot it the way I want to shoot it with the light how I want and the angle and the background. The most difficult part right now is that I would love to write more.

Do you ever think about doing a fashion detox?

Why would I detox? I mean, look at this stuff; it's great. Did you see what was happening today? Two hundred people came out. Two girls came to the [Holts Café] to have a drink afterward and told me they took an hour and a half bus from wherever to meet me. How could I not talk to them? When I'm shooting in the coldest cold or the hottest hot, I'm not [thinking] about whether you're going to be sitting here interviewing me. It's that girl who's taking the bus; those are the people I want to make happy.

By snapping fashion bigwigs one day and unknown gamines the next, your message about style is very democratic.

Yeah. I mean, take the whole thing with Holts. They said, “We're going to have interviews with all these people.” And I was like, I don't care; I want to have X amount of time with my people. I don't need another interview with any other magazine or newspaper in the world. What I need is to meet my readers and thank them. I think they really got that sincerity. I will do whatever it takes because my audience gives me so much love and so much energy to take these photos.

describe you as a fashion legend.

Yeah. I'm gonna keep doing it. I love it and I'm going to wear that responsibility. I work my ass off. I was up last night and I shot all day for these commercial projects. The money I make from Burberry, Adidas and Style.com will make it possible for me to go to fashion weeks in Milan, Paris, London, New York, Stockholm, Australia – but also to places like Peru, Laos, Tibet. I want to mix in national indigenous style. I want to be able to look back at my pictures and say this was a snapshot, not a report, of my vision when I visited.

Who are your photographic influences?

[Photojournalist] Steve McCurry is as much an influence to me as [fashion photographer] Bruce Weber.

What did you want to be as a kid?

A football player or a baseball player.

Not any more?

Well, I mean, look at me.

You look fit – just not big like a quarterback.

I'm pretty good at the sex. And pretty good at picture taking. That's about it. Garance is pretty happy. And the hotel-room neighbours are pretty pissed. You can write that; that's totally fine with me.

You want people to know you're good in bed?

Yeah. Yeah.

Okaaay. Do you shine your own shoes?

Uh, you know, I would, but there's actually a place close to me – Cesar's Shoe Repair – and the guy has stepped up his game since I mentioned him on my site. If he was a five before, he's now a seven or eight.

What camera do you use?

I use a Canon EOS 5D Mark II. It shoots high-definition video even though I haven't figured out how to do that. But I'm still really good in bed.

Does the site make money?

Yes, through advertising. I don't make a lot of money from it, but I do make enough to buy very good suits.

What are you wearing now?

Ralph Lauren Black Label.

What's your weakness when it comes to shooting people?

I have a weakness for surprises. I want to see something I haven't seen. I'm totally ambiguous sexually when it comes to my work. I shoot what I'm attracted to.

What matters more: hair or shoes?

Doesn't matter. I'm totally just reacting to the moment in time and trying to capture it for the blog. I'll figure [the rest] out later. I'll look at a picture and go, oh, it was the hair or the light in the person's eyes, the posture or the shoes. That's different than the commercial stuff where I have to make a plan and recapture an idea of what that would be.

Can you tell when people are trying too hard?

Uh, yeah.

Do people recognize you now?

Even though it's my site, I don't show up on it that much. But yeah, people recognize me. All the time.

There's one shot of you in your book.

Yeah. I think from when I was really skinny.

You're still really skinny.

Tell me more about how skinny I am. Do you think I look better with short hair or long? You can tell me about my butt. What do you think? It's nice, right?

If you weren't doing this, what would you be doing?

Every rapper says if I was not doing this, I would be in jail. And basically, I'm a rapper, only I'm a photographer. So if I wasn't doing this, I would definitely be in jail.

Actually, I think you're quite mischievous.

I think I am. And I'm totally cool with that."

Via:The Globe and Mail

The man to me seems like a complete twit.

He also seems to have a great eye, and subconsciously must know how fashion works.

but it's clear to me he was given an inch of fame and is trying to take a mile...

I wouldn't count on many more interviews

So a lot of my friends who have seen my blog have asked me to write more.

I made this blog so I could share my opinion so I don't think that writing more is an absurd request at all.

So I will begin with this.

Something that I am always trying to strive for in my own style is having a good balance.

Balance is something, I believe, everyone should want in a look.

If you haven't noticed, I have a great deal of love for an edgy look with an elegance to it.

So I had to think what's a good way to start talking more?

I could put together a look and explain the pieces I picked and why

So that's what I did.

Via: William Braggadocio

For example

At first look it seems average, seen it before?

Well let's walk through this look;

The Pants are Bailman Moleskin Distressed Trousers, I chose these because they are first a slim fit, but also very masculine because of the material and how he chose to recreate an almost mimic of a jean. The pants turned out looking almost medieval or barbaric but still maintain a sense of finish and intension .

Next the All Saints Stride Crew Tee, this shirt really helps mimic the distressed finish of the pants. I also picked this shirt based on how it is constructed the seams are not lined up perfectly on the sides of shirt which help keep the masculine look I was trying to achieve.

The necklace from A S O S was added to help balance the color. Also because of the make of the rosary it helps to maintain the sense of a modern "old" look.

To help make the pieces a little more modern I added the Winkle Picker and the Biker's Jacket

The Winkle Picker has a sleek modern look while also maintaining a sense of the past. The buckles on the side made me think back, while the shape made me point to the future.

The Classic Leather Biker Jacket is a piece many still use in their looks every day. It has managed to keep itself around. It is starting to shoot up around the fashion industry. I personally like layering so I like to finish off a look with a good jacket or cardigan, for those who don't it isn't necessary the look will work with or without it.

The combined effort of each individual piece will prove to create an edgy look that anyone could love.