I was riding my bike down the street in Saskatoon last summer, and out of the corner of my eye I saw two life-size Barbie dolls. I veered over to look at them. Yes, they were walking, talking live Barbies. We chatted, I admired their costumes and wigs and the two teenagers, a bit shy, explained it was just for fun, they liked dressing up for something to do. I thought it was really creative, maybe good training for a career in fashion.
I'm not a fashionista but I like seeing personal style on the street. People who have originality and a fearless sense of self-expression when they put themselves together in the morning. Sometimes the look is elegant and refined, sometimes it's downright quirky, but either way it's original and fun and adds to the urban landscape.
Here are a few favourites I captured on my travels over the years.
The pictures are taken spontaneously, never with a plan, so I have to be fast. The ones taken from the back are strictly stolen, but others are people I speak to. We met these Swedish journalists at our hotel in Zagreb, Croatia, and the next day when I saw them in the street, they happily agreed to a picture. She was pleased when I told her I liked her animal-print style.
Most of us, including me, are restrained by "good taste" and the dress code of the day. Years ago I thought I was really stepping out the night I biked in purple pants and red shoes. Only in Mexico could I be oh so daring!
The guitar was an easy conversation starter when Dave and I saw this trendy guy in an equally trendy coffee shop in Oaxaca. I can't imagine how he looked so clean and well-groomed since he told us he had travelled by bicycle, with the guitar, from the States. Even his journal matches his outfit. That confident pose looks like a model to me.
The biggest Buddhist Temple in Bangkok, Thailand was the best place to photograph fashionable young women who were too busy taking selfies to notice me. There was so much picture-taking going on in every direction, they were oblivious to where my phone was pointed. I love the gestures and the posing as much as the outfits.
I discovered Scott Schuman recently, the Sartorialist, a New York fashion photographer who has made a career out of capturing candid shots of stylish people going about their everyday lives. Google him to see interesting street fashion.
There are plenty of famous monuments in my iPhotos, but keeping an eye open for the visual richness that's walking around those monuments is even more fun and unpredictable.
