Above: Taylor Tomasi Hill on her way to a show in 2011.
Street style was no longer about style-savvy magazine editors or showgoers getting snapped spontaneously, and no longer about original style.
For me, as a fashion editor starting out over a decade ago, the shift was palpable. I went from poring over photos of magazine editors like Taylor Tomasi Hill and Shiona Turini's looks, studying the layering, the draping, the architecture of their personal style, to seeing street style in the last few years as simply a place to view viral trends and hot-ticket items — Balenciaga's trainers, Bottega Veneta's pouches. It's become more about brands and the influencers they work with — not to mention white-washed and homogenous — leaving less room for self-expression and the things that first, and arguably, made it so exciting to follow.
But not unlike the rest of the fashion industry, street style is changing. With the pandemic forcing a shift in the Fashion Week calendar — fewer and smaller in-person shows, less travel — and simultaneously, a socially conscious rewiring, there's a noticeable difference in the looks we're seeing at Fashion Week, and the photographers who know it best agree.
