Brightest Young Things

I am officially declaring the end of my obsession with the Street Style blog. After almost three years of being very fully ON THE BANDWAGON, the predictability of the big guns - Face Hunter and The Sartorialist, namely - have sapped all the joy out of checking for new posts. They've become so one-track that, in effect, they're no longer an accurate representation of street style (if they ever were to begin with). The format is as such: blogger seeks out their own enjoyed aesthetic and represents only that; their choices speak volumes of said blogger and very little of the streets they are supposedly representing. That's not to say that they aren't still valid sources of inspiration - one can always turn to Face Hunter and Street Peeper to see what the hip kids are up to these days; Jak & Jil and The Sartorialist will always provide ample clues for how to masquerade amongst the money-ed, fashion crowd; and if nothing else, the genre as a whole will ALWAYS make an excellent resource for trend forecasting - although, lately, it feels like the sites are less about starting trends and more about documenting who has picked up on them.

There are exceptions to the predictability factor: the cross section of Finns and Swedes at Hel Looks is probably the most diverse of any site; its subjects span age, size, and association like literally no other street style blog on my links list. It shouldn't come as a surprise - Hel Looks was an originator of the genre, has maintained quiet but consistent updates since its inception, and has managed to stay true to its original intent. Face Hunter started out as, well, a blog about capturing gorgeous FACES - not so much outfits - on camera, and it's really best for us all that the writing attempts marking the early stages of The Sartorialist have, for the most part, fallen by the wayside. In fact, relative newcomer Garance Dore is really the only existing street style blog to successfully mix genres - the site features an even spread of outfits, art, and writing - but even her photo subjects fall into very specific category.

While the predictability of these sites seems not to have affected blog traffic - the stats for Face Hunter are ever-increasing; The Sartorialist's sidebar ads range from American Apparel to Net-a-Porter to Absolut Vodka - but the genre is so established and its format so cut and dry that there's little room for it to evolve past its current state. So what IS the next big thing? In my opinion its the second wave of the personal fashion blog. With industry- and luxury-focused blogs like Fashionista, COACD, and Fashion Addict Diary becoming staid (I WILL NOT mention the economy, I WILL NOT mention the economy), personal blogspots like Feels Like White Lightning, Fashion Toast, and the longstanding Style Bubble feel fresh as hell. Outfit posts still reign at these sorts of blogs but, unlike at street style sites, we actually get insight into why they were chosen - it's street style BEFORE it hits the streets; attainability with the added bonus of personality.

Again, I'm totally not suggesting that street style sites have jumped the shark and I haven't sworn myself off them - yet. But to put it bluntly, the fact that they've already been co-opted, ad-wise, by the luxury market advertisers means that they're ESTABLISHED, in the most boring sense of the word. Without evolution or refreshment of some kind, and soon, they're destined to go the way of the dodo. And yes, I actually just typed that. It was better than the Facebook/MySpace/Friendster analogy I was originally planning on. What's YOUR stand on street style?