Clothing Styles: Street Style - Kendall Langis

"Street Style" has been blowing up lately. There are books, blogs, etc. all centered around outfits that are seen...you guessed it, on the street! Amanda Brooks sums it up perfectly in I Love Your Style, "The cool kids walking the streets of the world's great cities - whether it be Brooklyn, Mumbai, or Tokyo - are true fashion pioneers, inspiring us directly and through the work of the designers they influence. It used to be that fashion inspiration started at haute couture and worked its way down to the Gap, but today it seems that the opposite is true. Urban living inspires creative dressing by squeezing masses of people with totally different lives into the same streets." (Brooks 173) Street Style is not easy to define, beings that it's just what fashionable people are wearing on the streets, but there's definitely a subculture surrounding it. It's usually youthful, urban, casual and unique. It definitely has a "cool kid" vibe. Yet within that realm, there's still much room for experimentation. People who describe their style as street aren't carbon copies of everyone around them, and aren't afraid to try new things. "Just when you begin to worry that convention and consumerism is all that's left, street kids think up something new." (Brooks 173) For an example outfit for this style, I would start with some lived-in looking boyfriend jeans complete with some rips; street kids never look like they're trying too hard. The options are endless for a top, but personally I would do a graphic tee, or some type of statement piece. In this case, I'm wearing a t shirt with a Keith Haring design on it. He was an artist based in New York that got his start in graffiti, so I felt it was very appropriate. For shoes, I would recommend any type of sneaker, but combat boots are also great! This is a very basic version of street style, and everyone has their own special touch to add that WOW factor! To sum up a style that's difficult to describe, I'd say street style is all about youth, it's cool, fresh, urban, and unique. It's definitely cutting edge, and you may pass someone on the street wearing something that ends up in Forever 21 a few months later! It's great that inspiration is all around us, and we can gain new fashion ideas from people we see somewhere as common as the grocery store. Do you ever try to replicate an outfit you saw someone wearing in public? Thanks for reading! :)