Among Other Things, We Really Miss Street Style

Bill found magic everywhere. Which, among scores of street style snappers, is one of the myriad reasons this literal gentleman was so respected and admired. In 2016 at the first New York Fashion week after he died, his fellow fashion photographers donned blue jackets in tribute.

Twice a year, as the excitement of the fashion month circus rolled into town, each city lifted their outfit game to match. “Ahh yes, it’s Fashion Week,” you’d remember, as London made that little bit more effort when getting dressed in the morning. 

But this year, as with most official gatherings, fashion week as we knew it has been shelved. And with it, street style. Sad for those of us who relished seeing the imagination with which an outfit was put together by a ‘real person’, sometimes more than the precision-styled collections on the runway. 

Many of us will mourn its loss. The colour! The humour! The fun to be had with proportions! The perfectly picked accessories as icing on the cake. And this is by no means exclusive to womenswear. Some of the most inspired menswear looks were beamed to us from the cobbled streets of Florence as attendees departed the presentations of Pitti Uomo. 

Stalking the fashion choices of industry style crushes, both in person and on the internet has long been a savoured passtime – when I was younger my wardrobe door was plastered with shots of Taylor Tomasi-Hill’s most spirited outfits and vermillion hair. Not to copy, just to brighten my day. (Please don’t tell her.) 

A lack of fashion month street style might be no temporary situation, as more brands move their shows online and forgo the concept of set ‘seasons’ altogether. There’s no one to see you’ve got your favourite dress on to stream a show on your laptop. So will we ever see street style return? Or is it part of our old life that we’ll look back on fondly in photos?

Sure, there’s less of it on the street, but we’ve just taken it inside. Falling back in love with our own wardrobes and challenging ourselves to get creative in new ways. As the hashtag #isobutmakeitfashion gathered traction during the first round of lockdown, we realised that celebrating style and the act of dressing up isn’t cancelled.