Street fashion is originally said to have emerged from the streets instead of having been styled on Parisian runways by designers standing in front of boards of director. It is not specific to one type of dressing, but instead covers a host of different styles, all unique in the fact that they were created and styled by the young people who favour them.
Today, the definition of it has changed. The fashion that appears in “street style” resembles that found on the catwalk and in magazine editorials too closely and no longer reflects true personal style. Too often, it reflects a highly merchandised construct that merely reiterates the seasonal themes dictated, top-down, from the industry to consumers, at the expense of true personal style. Sometimes, even a part of a premeditated marketing plan.
We once looked to the street for personal style and new ways to interpret the onslaught of clothing and accessories presented on the ramp but what we now see is a carefully planned and executed ensemble with poise and polish and none of the iconoclastic traits.
The bigger picture ultimately is two-dimensional — as the fashion stories found in most fashion magazines. Real life and fashion spreads have become one and the same thing; A threat and a mark of stagnancy in fashion in the future.
