I saw a young lady by the name of Solène smoking a cigarette as she was standing on a corner outside of Le Carreau du Temple in Paris, which is where the Valentino fashion show was taking place. She was dressed in a grey suit and tie in the manner of the 1970s. The event enlightened me on a topic that I had been considering for a number of years throughout the course of multiple seasons.
When the catwalk extravaganza that is fashion week reached its social media zenith, the style industry suffered a significant knock. Creative dressing gave way to businesses presenting whole looks to guests, and all of a sudden there was no room at the table for the most crucial players in fashion, which are daily consumers of fashion.
These fans were, for the most part, disregarded, and the photographers and fashion designers did not always react positively to their presence outside the presentations. But over the course of the last several years, I’ve been more fascinated with how they showcase their sense of fashion, and I often feel that they are more intriguing to shoot than the guests who have been invited. They don’t merely spend their way into high style; instead, they exercise their creativity. They are willing to take chances in order to bring the genre’s reputation back up to par.