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dawnoftheread's review
3.0
While I usually enjoy this sort of book, I frankly found this one to be a bit boring. Perhaps his tastes are too conservative for me, but I found this collection of street fashion photos totally uninspiring.
lucyblack's review
2.0
so this is pretty much like the first book. Maybe a bit better. There are a few more freaks, a bit more diversity. Still no fatties! what? and to my agravation Scott Schuman goes on about how to be fashionable one should find inspiration in someome with style who has a similar body shape to your own, well, no one in this book has a similar body shape to me. That makes me sad.
This is what I thought of the first one
K, so Scott Schuman is a blogger/ photographer who goes out on the streets (in big cool cities) and takes photos of 'the real people' to show as he put it: 'a two-way dialogue about the world of fashion and its relationship to daily life'
So, I like fashion and I wish I had enough money to dress myself the way I would like to and I love portrait photography so I was thinking I'd real like this book. Well, yeah, not so much.
Main gripe is that although Schuman says in the book that he tries to find a diverse range of people and fashions but he doesn't and he totally photographs a type. There were, like, two woman of fuller figure, a few more men, no one with visible physical disabilities and the majority of his subjects were classically good looking. They were mostly rich looking carefree types smoking and riding vintage bikes. Where are the tired commuters? Parents with their babies? Fashionable peeps actually doing their daily life? You don't have to be 'beautiful' to look good in clothes.
Another thing I found creepy was the way the majority of women posed themselves (or does he ask them to pose?) since when did everyday ladies stand around like vulnerable bambies with sad/scared eyes and turned in toes? It’s super creepy and sad. On the topic of creepy: the rich people trying to look slummy and hobo chic is fricking creepy too. It's so horribly bogus that rich fucks spend 100s if not 1000s of bucks on patchy falling apart retro type threads to look homeless when the actually homeless have 0 bucks and die because they cannot clothe themselves and stay warm.
I don't hate on Schuman, I think he is talented and he obviously leads an interesting life. I just think if he is going to claim to be some sort of social documenter he should pull his camera away from the shiny pretty things for a moment and document some of the marginalized too.
This is what I thought of the first one
K, so Scott Schuman is a blogger/ photographer who goes out on the streets (in big cool cities) and takes photos of 'the real people' to show as he put it: 'a two-way dialogue about the world of fashion and its relationship to daily life'
So, I like fashion and I wish I had enough money to dress myself the way I would like to and I love portrait photography so I was thinking I'd real like this book. Well, yeah, not so much.
Main gripe is that although Schuman says in the book that he tries to find a diverse range of people and fashions but he doesn't and he totally photographs a type. There were, like, two woman of fuller figure, a few more men, no one with visible physical disabilities and the majority of his subjects were classically good looking. They were mostly rich looking carefree types smoking and riding vintage bikes. Where are the tired commuters? Parents with their babies? Fashionable peeps actually doing their daily life? You don't have to be 'beautiful' to look good in clothes.
Another thing I found creepy was the way the majority of women posed themselves (or does he ask them to pose?) since when did everyday ladies stand around like vulnerable bambies with sad/scared eyes and turned in toes? It’s super creepy and sad. On the topic of creepy: the rich people trying to look slummy and hobo chic is fricking creepy too. It's so horribly bogus that rich fucks spend 100s if not 1000s of bucks on patchy falling apart retro type threads to look homeless when the actually homeless have 0 bucks and die because they cannot clothe themselves and stay warm.
I don't hate on Schuman, I think he is talented and he obviously leads an interesting life. I just think if he is going to claim to be some sort of social documenter he should pull his camera away from the shiny pretty things for a moment and document some of the marginalized too.
whyteal's review
4.0
Still great with many inspiring pictures, but just less stellar compared to his first book.
Less 'commentary' too, which sucks.
Less 'commentary' too, which sucks.
zasobel's review
3.0
This is a beautifully produced book full of beautiful photos of beautiful people and outfits. Every spread is so considered and cohesive, and as you flow on through the images your attention is naturally drawn to how the clothes are worn, how style interacts with context, how physicality influences fashion and vice-versa. Schuman's genuine fascination with the people he's photographing really comes across.
I have a huge gripe though: this book proudly calls itself diverse, and for the most part it is - the people are young and old, of many colours, cultures, and countries. But there is not one photo of a fat person in the whole collection, or of someone who is visibly physically disabled. Given that the book presents so many other interesting physicalities and asks you to think about how they play with style, it's a glaring omission and a slap in the face. At one point Schuman talks about how it can take time and maturity to see something in a different way. I hope that since this book was published he's developed the maturity to observe style in an even greater variety of bodies.
I have a huge gripe though: this book proudly calls itself diverse, and for the most part it is - the people are young and old, of many colours, cultures, and countries. But there is not one photo of a fat person in the whole collection, or of someone who is visibly physically disabled. Given that the book presents so many other interesting physicalities and asks you to think about how they play with style, it's a glaring omission and a slap in the face. At one point Schuman talks about how it can take time and maturity to see something in a different way. I hope that since this book was published he's developed the maturity to observe style in an even greater variety of bodies.
rhodered's review
2.0
I love individual fashion and street photography, so was excited to see this thick book of photos. As I began riffling through the pages though, my stomach dropped.
Why? The uniformity of the stick-like body types.
I saw no visibly pregnant people. I saw no fat people of any age. I saw no big boned people or people with a little extra padding. I saw no lusciously rounded people. Nor any visibly handicapped people.
Also, the near-uniformity of youth.
Roughly 80% if not more of the these stick thin people were under 35. Of the older people, most were men. The few older women were also stick thin and often with someone else (not a sole subject).
Consciously or not, the author is making an ugly statement about what sorts of people can look good. What sorts of people are worthy of being beautifully dressed. What sorts of people are worth looking at.
He has culled the pregnant, the older, the full bodied women. He has culled the body types that represent the overwhelming majority of women. He has culled the healthy, life affirming, joyful, glorious, wise and supremely elegant.
I have no time for this bigotry.
Why? The uniformity of the stick-like body types.
I saw no visibly pregnant people. I saw no fat people of any age. I saw no big boned people or people with a little extra padding. I saw no lusciously rounded people. Nor any visibly handicapped people.
Also, the near-uniformity of youth.
Roughly 80% if not more of the these stick thin people were under 35. Of the older people, most were men. The few older women were also stick thin and often with someone else (not a sole subject).
Consciously or not, the author is making an ugly statement about what sorts of people can look good. What sorts of people are worthy of being beautifully dressed. What sorts of people are worth looking at.
He has culled the pregnant, the older, the full bodied women. He has culled the body types that represent the overwhelming majority of women. He has culled the healthy, life affirming, joyful, glorious, wise and supremely elegant.
I have no time for this bigotry.
judestfrancis's review
3.0
some really great images here!! some of them were clearly dated from the early 2010s but were still fun, I especially liked the few from australia.
the writing was unfortunately quite weak, and sometimes detracted from the photos.
also a significant lack of body diversity, despite proclaiming to capture the everyday and normal
the writing was unfortunately quite weak, and sometimes detracted from the photos.
also a significant lack of body diversity, despite proclaiming to capture the everyday and normal
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