Fashion Week street style has become inauthentic.

Street style photography as we know it today began in the late ‘70s with photographer Bill Cunningham, who captured images of fashionable people around the city for his “On the Street” column in the New York Times. Cunningham told a story of the style of New York realistically, yet beautifully.

What once was used to reward unsuspecting yet fashionable individuals is now chaotic and desperate.

When the era of blogging began about a decade ago, street style exploded in a whole new way. In 2005, Scott Schuman of The Sartorialist published a blog of NYC-based style, first focusing on men’s fashion and then expanding. He took photos of ordinary people on the street and provided outfit inspiration for thousands of readers each day.

Because The Sartorialist was so successful, it was mimicked over and over again as blogging became popular. Street style blogging became a category on its own, as everyone from professional photographers to kids with cameras took to the streets.

Enter fashion week. New York Fashion Week obviously draws a fashionable crowd: editors, designers, models, celebrities and the like are everywhere on the scene. It makes sense that it would be a perfect place for photographers to find their latest stylish subjects.

The problem is that the photography of these types of people has become less genuine. Famous fashion editors get photographed day after day because they are known — after all, it would be insulting for them to not get asked for a photo.

With the crowds of people gathered outside the fashion shows waiting to snap photos of the best-dressed, everyone caught on quickly. To be photographed, you had to be there. Swarms of people not even attending the fashion shows now arrive dressed for the occasion with hopes of getting recognized. In this effort, street style has become strained.

Those aiming for acknowledgment dress outrageously, throwing on designer labels and dressing alike in key blogger looks — certain trends that they know will capture the eye of bloggers. Everyone attempts to look unique but ends up appearing the same as everyone else in their eccentricity.

Street style has become somewhat of a joke. Since everyone wants it, those who were around for its start see how ridiculous it has become. Still, editors don’t want to go unnoticed at these events by wearing ordinary clothes. For them, it is a Catch-22.

Street style will only survive if it returns to its roots. Street style blogging originated as a fun and inspiring way to show the world fashion in real life. Let’s go back to that.

Jackie Homan is a sophomore magazine journalism major. You can email her at jahoman@syr.edu or follow her @jackie_homan on Twitter.

Published on September 28, 2015 at 8:59 pm