HYBRID SNICKS MAGAZINE

I started The Sartorialist simply to share photos of people that I saw on the streets of New York that I thought looked great. When I worked in the fashion industry (15 years), I always felt that there was a disconnect between what I was selling in the showroom and what I was seeing real people (really cool people) wearing in real life.

Before The Sartorialist I worked in sales and marketing for high-end women’s designer collections like Valentino and distribution companies like Onward Kashiyama, which at that time represented designers like Helmut Lang and Jean-Paul Gaultier. Eventually I opened my own showroom specializing in sales and press for young designer collections like James Coviello and Peter Som. I loved the challenges of merchandising, promoting and brand building for a new designer. Working on the fashion shows was a blast; I understand why fashion designers can become so addicted to the rush of fashion shows.

Shortly after 9/11 I closed my showroom and began focusing more on photography. I didn’t want to become a “fashion photographer” but I knew somehow that my loves of fashion and photography would eventually merge. I just never guessed it would be in the form of a blog.

I thought I could shoot people on the street the way designers looked at people, and get and give inspiration to lots of people in the process. My only strategy when I began The Sartorialist was to try and shoot style in a way that I knew most designers hunted for inspiration. Rarely do they look at the whole outfit as a yes or no but they try and look for the abstract concepts of color, proportion, pattern mixing or mixed genres. I’m always really happy when I meet a designer and hear that they use some of my photos for their inspiration boards. At the same time I’m also really touched when I get emails from everyday people who say they have been inspired to see themselves and others in a new and usually more accepting way.

I was born in Indiana went to college at Indiana University majoring in Apparel Merchandising, with a minor in Costume Construction. That is right, my college days were filled with accounting classes and making tutus for the IU Music School ballets. I excelled in some wonderful but extremely challenging courses in tailoring, dress making, draping and pattern drafting. That was the beginning of my love for the craft of fashion and the romance of hard labor that it takes to make a bespoke suit or couture gown. Unfortunately, I learned such intense techniques for everything including hemming pants, that I rarely sew anymore because it is just too much work!

The Sartorialist has grown so much in just over a year and I could not be more thrilled by the community that it has created and the wonderful associations I have been able to create. If you had told me two years ago I would have a well-respected blog, a monthly page in GQ, recurring guest blogs and videos for Style.com, and countless other exciting side projects I would have kissed you – well maybe not kissed – but I would have really liked you a lot!!

I am already working on several new projects to keep The Sartorialist evolving so I hope you will continue to visit.