oh my blog: global street fashion (pink rickshaw)

"A fashion that does not reach the streets is not a fashion." -Coco Chanel

It is fascinating to see what real people wear. While much of fashion influence comes from styled outfits from magazines and runway looks, perhaps the most inspiring is how people just like us put together fantastic outfits each and every day (and without the help of a stylist). Enter the world of street style blogs. You could almost call it virtual people-watching. As Slate Magazine's Better Than a Park Bench put it, "The best of these sites capture the joys of people-watching and offer an experience that's more like lounging on a park bench than flipping through a fashion magazine."

Combine the social observation with great fashion and it's no surprise that street fashion sites are the fastest growing fashion related sites on the web. Thanks to quick digital photography, bloggers are creating hundreds of sites in cities around the globe dedicated to displaying fashion from trendy teenagers to distinguished gentlemen in suits and hats. Ordinary people, but often not so ordinary fashion. A few sites ask the subjects they photograph where they got some of their pieces or labels, but most often it is just images; making it fashion in its most purist form: no labels, no models, no advertising agenda. The looks above are from the fun site, streetstyl.es, which compiles the best of men and women's street wear from blogs around the world.

These sites not only provide great fashion ideas if you are looking for inspiration but beautiful photography and a glimpse into global lifestyles. From torn tights in Tokyo to plaids in Paris, a quick look at a handful of blogs around the world and it is interesting to see the commonalities yet uniqueness of each city's chic pedestrians.

New York based The Sartorialist (created by former fashion insider Scott Schuman) is one of the most notable due to its large and affluent audience and focus on elegant looks. The website often features images from Schuman's visits around the world in addition to NYC street life. For example, his pictures above are from a trip to India and capture some street fashion in New Delhi. NYC and New Delhi are just the tip of the iceberg. Most pedestrian friendly cities have amazing street fashion blogs with vivid photographs. Lucky Magazine recently listed the best sites for global street style in their December issue. The list included:
1. Copenhagen
2. Tokyo
3. London
4. Berlin
5. Paris
6. Tel Aviv
7. Buenos Aires
8. Sao Paulo
9. Manila
10. Everywhere

Other notable sites that PR loves in addition to The Sartorialist, are Leblogdebetty.com and Street Peeper. So strut your stuff when you're out in the streets. It is after all the ultimate runway and you never know who may be watching from the virtual park bench.

image source: Streetstyl.es images clockwise (streetpeeper.com, jakandjil.com/blog, leblogdebetty.com, manchesterlooks.blogspot.com), On the street in Delhi images from the sartorialist.blogspot.com)

-SD