Street style photography has become popular in fashion capitals around the world, with bloggers photographing stylish people on the streets. However, this phenomenon is less common in South Africa. Some local street style bloggers feel people in South Africa lack "charm" in their style, while others disagree. Challenges to street style blogging in South Africa include its climate not supporting layered outfits, a lack of public transportation limiting interactions, and a generally more conservative approach to fashion.

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OR DECADES, people
have looked to the cat-
walk for fashion trends,
but with the rise of
photo blogging, the
streets of the world’s
biggest cities have be-
come an integral part of the fashion
story. The men and women behind
the lenses are the storytellers. They
are known as street style bloggers.
Their subject: no longer just
skinny models and big-name design-
ers, but ordinary people, whether
they are dressed in Chanel or cheap
finds from city bargain bins.
You may be familiar with names
like Scott Schuman of The Sartori-
alist blog, his girlfriend and some-
times business partner Garance
Dore, and Tommy Ton of
jakandjil.com. Locally, names like
Michelle Oberholzer, Malibongwe
Tyilo and Trevor Stuurman come to
mind, as does Ed Suter, who last
year released a book titled Sharp
Sharp, chronicling his street style
adventures through the streets of
the country’s biggest cities.
In the Western world – specifi-
cally fashion capitals like New York,
London, Milan and Paris – where
the street style photography culture
has become a phenomenon – maga-
zine editors who were previously
unknown to the rest of the world
have become cyber celebrities, often
posing to have their pictures taken
before they enter the fashion week
show venues.
This has given rise to a trend
known as peacocking, where indi-
viduals dress up specifically to get
shot by popular street style bloggers.
But while some revel in it, some
are increasingly expressing fatigue.
It has become what New York Times
fashion editor Suzy Menkes refers to
as “the fashion circus”.
“It’s empowering in a funny way.
But it’s empowering in the same
way that reality TV is empowering.
It makes monsters; it doesn’t make
gods,” says Style.com fashion critic
Tim Blanks.
Blanks is the main commentator
in a documentary recently shot by
Garage Magazine and titled Take
My Picture.
It provides rare insight into what
happens outside fashion week ven-
ues in the world’s fashion capitals.
Fashion editors can be seen, at
times, posing but more often than
not taking cues from the photogra-
phers who are screaming: “Walk
this way. Stand right there,” among
other things, as they aim for the per-
fect shot.
Others can be seen walking as
fast as they can trying to get away
from the glare, but how can you
when there are so many cameras?
“Watching the hysteria of all
these people,” Blanks laments, “I
just (think) someone is gonna get
run over, someone will be tram-
pled.”
He adds that there was a time
when he found the street style blog-
ging appealing: “I thought it was
charming. I thought for so many dif-
ferent kinds of people to be so
enthusiastic about fashion
is good for the industry.
This season I thought: ‘Oh,
enough’.”
In South Africa, despite
the fact that almost
everyone you meet at
fashion weeks calls
themselves a blog-
ger, street style
photography is
not as much
of a phenome-
non.
When you
google “street
style”, few local
results come up.
Yes, the cam-
eras are there
clicking away but
you’re always
left wondering
where these
pictures are
published.
E v e n
when certain
blogs do pub-
lish pictures,
you’re left
thinking: “Is this
it?”
One editor, who
will remain
anonymous for the
purposes of this article,
said to me that browsing through
these blogs feels like browsing
through a retail catalogue.
When the famed Sartorialist
Schuman payed a visit to Mercedes
Benz Fashion Week Africa last year,
the excitement over his attendance
soon turned to disappointment
when the fashion set
realised he was-
n’t exactly
filling up
his blog
w i t h
p o s t s
from the front rows of the African
fashion spectacle.
When Women’s Wear Daily told
him local fashion lovers were com-
plaining about his apparent lack of
interest in them, he replied: “I’ve
only met a few people here I’ve
maybe wanted to take pictures of.
Johannesburg reminds me of a lot
of cities like Moscow, Buenos Aires
and in Poland,
places that had
some kind of po-
litical or eco-
nomic difficulty,
or they were a
c o m m u n i s t
country for a
long time… A
lot of the
women here
are very
b e a u t i f u l ,
very perfect
in every way,
but it lacks a
c e r t a i n
amount of
charm.”
T h e s e
words set
Twitter time-
lines abuzz and
left many feeling
insulted. How dare
he say that when we
break our backs try-
ing to put our best
feet forward? But
could there be some
truth to what he
was saying?
Do South
A f r i c a n s
just lack charm when it
comes to style? Is this why good
blogs that are documenting
South African street style are hard
to come by?
Local bloggers disagree.
“South Africans definitely do not
lack style,” says Oberholzer, who is
based in Cape Town. Her cinderand-
skylark.com blog is seen by many as
one of the few real street style blogs
in the country. There aren’t many,
like her, who stand for hours on the
streets, scouting for that special
something in ordinary people.
“The word ‘charm’ is but one
way to describe style. There are also
simple, classic, contrasting, under-
stated, eccentric and many others,”
she adds.
“Every city has something
unique to offer. I think that in gen-
eral it’s easier to perceive ‘style’
when someone is wearing lots of
layers and accessories like people do
in the northern hemisphere.
“In a country like ours, where it
is hot nine months of the year, lay-
ered and accessorised dressing is
not always possible.
“Like everything else in a devel-
oping country, our sense of fashion
and style is developing and growing
along with everything else and I find
that very exciting.”
Malibongwe Tyilo says: “I’m not
sure what he was looking for. In my
view, there is more than enough
charm at Fashion Week. There’s a
lot of charming and edgy street
style that comes out of Fashion
Week and I think a lot of it repre-
sents the place we’re at as a creative
community.
“There’s a lot of friction, a lot of
contradictions – one just needs to
keep an open mind. Sometimes
when Europeans or Americans visit
our country they have preconceived
notions of what they’ll find in
Africa, so they struggle to see us for
what we are.”
Although Tyilo is often cate-
gorised alongside Oberholzer as a
street style blogger, he doesn’t see
himself as one.
“My blog focuses much more on
events,” he says. “Yes, I do feature
the clothes people are wearing at the
events, but I wouldn’t call it street
style as what they are wearing is de-
fined by the event they are attend-
ing. Plus, I also focus on capturing
the vibe of the event.”
As to why he doesn’t conform to
the street style categorisation, Tyilo
explains: “Actual street style is a bit
hard to find. To be fair, we’re a fairly
conservative nation, so while you
might find the occasional ‘out there’
kind of person, the streets are gen-
erally a lot more about blending in
than standing out. I wish there were
more people pushing the bound-
aries.”
He adds that he looks for individ-
uals who take risks. “I like a bit of
danger – something that could have
gone completely wrong but got
saved by the wearer’s sense of style.
Although sometimes, I’m just after a
beautiful outfit that looks fresh or is
worn in a fresh way.”
Elle Magazine’s street style re-
porter Trevor Stuurman says he
also looks out for the risk-takers.
“Fashion is art and art is entertain-
ment,” he says.
“I look out for individuals with
outfits that have powerful elements
of design, for example beautiful bal-
ance and clashing contrasts of tex-
tures. When an outfit is well put to-
gether it all has to tell a narrative
and that is what I look out for – beau-
tiful fashion stories on the street.”
On finding these stories, Stuur-
man admits that it often proves dif-
ficult. “It is challenging. South
African street style culture is still
very young (and) not everyone is
open to being stopped for a quick
stylish snap.”
He also cites South Africa’s lack
of a functional public transport sys-
tem as a probable contributor to the
difficulty of finding stylish people
on the streets. “A large number of
stylish people don’t walk or use
public transport, so it’s tough to spot
people on a day-to-day basis.”
Perhaps this is where Tyilo’s por-
traits of people at art exhibitions,
Friday night jamborees in bars and
nightclubs and other social gather-
ings come in. Style exists in all
kinds of places and it certainly isn’t
exclusive to the confines of the fash-
ion industry.
Street style and social style pho-
tography blogs prove this. To bor-
row from Stuurman – a style democ-
racy is what it’s about.Elle’s style reporter, Trevor Stuurman, was the man behind the lens here.
Malibongwe Tyilo’s stylish blog is called Skattie, What
Are You Wearing?
This photo comes from Michelle Oberholzer’s blog
cinderandskylark.
Even grocery stores are a hunting ground for Trevor
Stuurman and his camera
Above and cover: Pretty prints and blue shirts caught Michelle
Oberholzer’s eye on the streets of Cape Town
Blogger Michelle Oberholzer
It’s popular in Europe and America, but not so much in South Africa. That might be because
we have no public transport to speak of, writes SSSaaannndddiiisssooo NNNggguuubbbaaannneee
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