Mr. Schuman Goes to Washington
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Looky-here what I found in my inbox?! Some ridiculously exciting news, also announced here which means that I haven’t been keeping up with my Sartorial-reading.
From the release:
Adamson Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition of prints by Scott Schuman, who is better known by the moniker The Sartorialist, the name of his astoundingly popular street fashion blog. Schuman is one of TIME magazine’s 100 most important design influencers, and contributor to style.com (the official website of VOGUE magazine), GQ, Italian VOGUE, and other fashion periodicals. The images in this exhibition were originally taken by Schuman for his blog, but are now reproduced as digital prints. Displayed in a gallery setting, contextually reconfigured from fashion documentary into fine art, Schuman’s striking images are evocative of the street photography of Diane Arbus or Lisette Model.
Schuman’s goal as The Sartorialist, launched in 2005, is to “shoot people who execute their style really well.” He states “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.” In just over two years, he has become one of the most popular style bloggers on the internet, drawing thousands of daily visitors to his site who leave hundreds of comments for each image. In addition, Schuman’s work has been profiled in WWD, British, French, Italian, Greek, Brazilian, Korean and Spanish VOGUE, Esquire, and others.
Schuman has a rare talent for seeking out interesting-appearing individuals, of every age, shape, and size, and capturing them in well-composed and striking photographs. His images take full advantage of their subjects and their surroundings, emphasizing contrasts and complements in color, texture, light, and shadow. Because of these qualities, Sartorialist photographs often look as if they could be high-fashion photographs, but this is juxtaposed with a certain democracy of the everyday; a sense that anyone can be stylish, arresting, or elegant. This contrast is underscored by other interesting tensions: the images are of the moment, yet timeless, the subjects are the audience, and vice-versa, Schuman’s photographs both inspire, and are inspired by, high fashion. The appeal of the Sartorialist is in this balance between the everyday and the extraordinary.
Scott Schuman was born in Indianapolis in 1968 and has a background in fashion marketing and costume construction. Prior to The Sartorialist, he worked in apparel sales and marketing for designers such as Valentino, Helmut Lang, Gaultier, and Peter Som. Apart from The Sartorialist, he has a monthly column in GQ magazine, and photographs street fashion worldwide for style.com. He recently opened his first solo exhibition of photographs at Danziger Projects in New York.
I’ll talk more about how much I respect and admire Scott and his work, but to say way too little, this is really, really exciting. It’s a huge get for Adamson and Washington in general. The exhibit will run from March 15th – April 26th and I just spoke to Erin over at the gallery and it’s confirmed: there will be a reception to honor Scott (yes, he’ll be there) on March 19 from 6:30-8:30.
What will you wear to see the show, and perhaps more importantly, to be seen by Mr. Schuman?
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how slick! and fortuitous that it’s being mounted in DC and not NYC…
It’s been up in NYC for about 2 months, but I was surprised to see that it’s going to be in DC considering the reputation for less-than-stellar stylistics.
I did see the exhibit in NYC, and while the photos are not new, the quality of the prints are amazing and revealed previously unseen details.
I may have to go to this…just to see in person the prints. My monitor is kinda crap, so even his larger images don’t come out well.
Plus, I disagree with him quite often, so I want to see what was chosen for his show.
I will show up in a pair of cut-off jeans and a Hooters t-shirt.
-rdhd
Oh man. I’m almost positive I have to stay late at work that night. If I were able to go, I would probably spend hours agonizing over an outfit only to have Mr. Schuman completely overlook me. I love his blog, even when I don’t… if that makes any sense.
1 big reason why the exhibit is coming down I-95 to DC is that David Adamson is 1 of the world’s best printers, a true pioneer in the field of digital printing, & I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a hand in some or all of the photos in the exhibition.
Ibrahim!
You’ve looked smashing the past several times I’ve seen you, so I wouldn’t worry ’bout a thang. And you have that slim, uncomplicated body type (unfair!!) that makes everything look amazing. Go for some unexpected details like awesome shoes or pattern mixing or like, an awesome old pocketwatch or something – I saw some cool ones in a junk shop up in Columbia Heights the other day. Not sure if they work, but I really do adore those.
And yes, let’s go. I’m sure there will be a pack of us!
Mr. Schuman has made a phenomenal impact on fashion from all angles. He inspires the perspective of style for the everyday denizen and creative directors of fashion houses. When your acheiving just that, you know you’ve arrived in the world of fashion.
I’ll definitely be at the gallery when the exhibit opens. By the way…is the reception invite only?
Open to the public.
Merci Rachel.
Are you going to be there on Wednesday?
I think I’m going to be all in Black. Classic suit with a twist.
I checked out some of the vintage and junk stores in U st & Adams Morgan and I found some great things so thnx for the advice.
Hello-I like your blog!
I went on saturday early…I cannot wait for wednesday seriously…all i know is I am definitely wearing black tights no matter what! Not sure why but for some reason alot of the girls he shoots wear black tights.
I *think* I will will be there – I’m at home in Lexington now but I think I’m coming back up this afternoon.
I went on Saturday too…I’m interested to hear everyone’s feedback about the show!