街拍 時尚界的熱門生意 Why it pays to peacock

People used to go to fashion shows to see the clothes; now they go to be seen wearing them. The practice of documenting “street style” evolved in the 1980s, when style magazines such as i-D began chronicling people out and about. Today though, the stars of the scene don’t pound pavements hoping to be snapped on the street; they exit chauffeur-driven cars to totter the five or six metres to the fashion show venues, often posing on their phone or chatting with a pal in a matching outfit. Neither do they wear thrift any more: these street stars are seen in the latest designer clothes, sometimes just hours after their catwalk debut. It’s good news for the labels; it’s even better news for those canny enough to monetise their penchant for clashing print or double denim.

觀衆過去到時裝秀場就是爲了欣賞時裝，如今去的目的是希望顯擺自己的行頭。上世紀80年代，記錄都市街頭時尚開始起步，當時《i-D》之類的時尚雜誌就開始記錄街頭巷尾年輕人的穿着行頭。然而，如今的街拍對象出頭露面的目的並非是成爲攝影師的抓拍目標；他們在距離秀場舉辦地5、6米的地方走下專車，故意放慢腳步，經常自拍造型或是與身穿同樣行頭的好友閒聊。他們的穿着也不再寒酸：這些街拍明星往往身着最新款的名牌服裝拋頭露面，這些時裝有時只比T型臺上剛亮相的晚區區幾個小時。這對於時尚品牌來說是福音，對於那些腦瓜靈光的時尚愛好者更是如此，他們利用自己青睞鮮明格紋印花裝(clashing print)以及牛仔單品疊穿(double denim)的穿着方式而大獲其利。

Conservatives within the fashion world may dismiss street style as part of the growing “circus” around the shows, but its leaders can translate an image into big rewards; from ambassador deals with brands and paid-for posts on social media to own clothing ranges and brand collaborations. The rise in street style has even sparked a wider trend in “real people”-led advertising. J Crew kicked things off in 2012 with a campaign starring Caroline Issa (chief executive and fashion director of Tank magazine), stylist Julia Sarr-Jamois and French journalist Virginie Mouzat. Last year, “Tod’s Band” campaign featured 15 personalities and fashion show regulars including Langley Fox Hemingway, Mae Lapres and Julia Restoin Roitfeld, while Chloé is currently popularising its bags and accessories on social media with the hashtag #ChloeGirls. Peacocking has never been so profitable.

時尚界保守人士或許會把街頭時尚貶稱爲秀場外圍逐漸增多的“雜耍”而已，但是，無論是簽約品牌出任形象大使、在社交媒體上進行付費廣告宣傳，還是推出自己的時裝系列以及品牌合作共建，這股潮流的引領者都從中大獲其利。街頭時尚的興起甚至讓各色人物參與代言的廣告戰變本加厲。2012年，J Crew聘請《Tank》雜誌總裁兼時尚總監卡洛琳•伊莎(Caroline Issa)、設計師朱麗婭•薩爾-加莫娃(Julia Sarr-Jamois)以及法國記者穆扎(Virginie Mouzat)出任廣告片主角，算是開了這種合作風潮之先河。去年，“Tod’s Band”廣告片聘請了15位名人與時裝秀常客，其中就包括嵐莉•福克斯•海明威 (Langley Fox Hemingway)、Mae Lapres 以及Julia Restoin Roitfeld；而蔻依(Chloé)目前則在社交媒體上以#ChloeGirls#的標籤號推介自己的手袋與配飾。高調張揚如今比以往任何時候都要有利可圖。

It’s not only the street stars who are cashing in. Many of the photographers shooting the styles have turned their images into a viable business, among them Tommy Ton (who has shot for Condé Nast and his own site, ), Scott Schuman of The Sartorialist blog turned book, Vogue contributing editor Phil Oh (aka Street Peeper) and Adam Katz Sinding of Le 21ème.

不僅街頭時尚明星能大肆掙錢，很多街拍攝影師也因此坐收漁利，其中就包括湯米•託恩（Tommy Ton，他爲康泰納仕(Condé Nast)以及自己的網站提供照片）、把自己博客The Sartorialist結冊出版的斯科特•舒曼(Scott Schuman)、《Vogue》特約編輯Phil Oh（又稱街拍潮人(Street Peeper)）、以及創建Le 21ème網站的Adam Katz Sinding。

Katz Sinding has been shooting since 2007, but has only been capturing fashion week attendees since 2011. Now it’s a huge part of his work — he’s funded to travel by a range of clients, “from e-commerce companies, to publications, to the brands themselves”, and has a syndication deal with Trunk Archive for resale of his images. He’s watched the scene change enormously. “It’s been a very fast (de)evolution,” he jokes. “Back then, the people we shot were exponentially more authentic. There was not the push from brands that we now see. It was rare to see full runway looks walking down the street.”

Katz Sinding自2007年以來一直從事街拍，但2011年之後才拍攝時裝週的各色參客。如今這成了他的主要工作——形形色色的主顧（“從電子商務公司、出版社到品牌公司）資助其四處拍攝”）；他還與Trunk Archive簽訂了供稿協議，向對方轉售自己的街拍照片。他親眼目睹了整個時尚界的這場鉅變。“這是異乎尋常的變化。”他開玩笑道，“想當初，我們街拍的對象多是展示其真實生活狀態，他們並沒有品牌公司對此推波助瀾（如今則比比皆是），當時身穿全套時裝行頭行走在大街小巷的人非常少。”

Blogger Leandra Medine — aka Man Repeller — is a regular in Katz Sinding’s shots. Her idiosyncratic style makes her a photographer’s dream — the name of her blog is a nod to her kooky taste: clothes that stylish women adore but men find sexually repellent. She’s also noticed the commodification of the scene. “When I started five years ago, street style felt more like an indie art,” says the writer, who has worked with Saks Fifth Avenue, shoe brand Superga, Michael Kors and Maje on brand collaborations. “It’s become a sort of native advert in many ways — living, breathing sponsorships that look a lot like personal style but are actually motivated by something other than self-expression.”

時尚博主利安德拉•梅丁（Leandra Medine，也就是The Man Repeller）一直是Katz Sinding的街拍對象。她的另類時尚風格使其成爲攝影師覬覦的目標——她的博客名也與另類時尚風格一脈相承：她的服裝讓時尚女性傾心不已，但男士見後卻毫無性趣。她也目睹了整個時尚圈的這場鉅變。“五年前自己開始街拍時，街頭時尚酷似獨立製作的藝術。”這位時尚寫作者說道，她如今與薩克斯第五大道百貨店(Saks Fifth Avenue)、鞋履品牌Superga、Michael Kors 以及Maje合推品牌。“在很多方面，這已成爲了某種原生廣告——品牌公司贊助的裝束更似體現了個人時尚，但實際的推波助瀾者卻是自我表現之外的力量。”

Today, almost every label will spend time and money “placing” product. Gifting has long been a way of showcasing goods but, more recently, these gestures of goodwill have become more formalised arrangements. Increasing numbers of key influencers and “tastemakers” now take fees or enter contractual relationships to promote brands on blogs and social media. It’s a change that has been driven both by brand promotion and the thirst for imagery created by the enormous growth in editorialising in ecommerce sites.

現如今，幾乎每個品牌都會花費大量財力與時間“推銷”自己的產品。長久以來，展示產品的高招就是免費贈送，但近幾年，這些善意舉措已演變爲更正式的合同。越來越多有巨大影響力的人與時尚達人如今不是收取費用、就是通過簽約在博客與社交媒體上幫助推銷相應品牌。如此變化，正是出於品牌推銷以及對形象照片之需求，而正是電商網站對時尚評論的巨大發展創造了上述需求。

“The essence of street style itself has changed,” says Yasmin Sewell, fashion director of Condé Nast’s new ecommerce site (which will launch this year) and a much-photographed presence at the shows. “In its early days, the focus was very much on a person’s unique self-expression. There was no such thing as Instagram to determine a person’s ‘value’. Now it’s one of a brand’s most powerful marketing tools.”

“街頭時尚的內涵早已今非昔比。”康泰納仕(Condé Nast)今年即將成立的電子商務網時尚總監雅斯明•休厄爾(Yasmin Sewell) 說，她也是時裝秀場攝影師重點關注的人物。“在一開始，聚集點多爲某位名人的個性時尚。當時還沒有Instagram這類決定名人‘巨大影響力’的社交平臺。如今，社交媒體成爲品牌最具影響力的營銷工具。”

The “product for post” concept — a freebie in exchange for a post on social media, or a shout-out at the shows — has grown in tandem with the street-style movement. “Only a tiny handful of brands can afford to put a full-page ad in a magazine,” Sewell continues. “But almost any brand can afford to gift a blogger or editor in the hope their product is worn and seen and will create demand. There’s so much strategy involved — the right placement on the right person, snapped by the right photographers and featured on the right websites can mean so much for a brand’s exposure and ‘covetability’.”

“以時裝換廣告位”理念（免費贈送產品以換取在社交媒體上打廣告或是在時裝週上公開露臉 (shout-out)）的興起亦步亦趨於街頭時尚風潮。“只有少數品牌有財力在時尚雜誌刊登整版廣告。”休厄爾繼續道。“但幾乎每個品牌都有實力給博主或時尚主編贈送時裝，並希望自己的裝束公然示衆，從而創造相應的市場需求。所有這一切都是處心積慮——尋找合適的對象宣傳自己的時裝，而後物色合適的攝影師街拍、並刊登在理想的社交網站上，此舉對於品牌的曝光率與追捧度意義非凡。”

This transactional aspect of image-making has made Katz Sinding wary of describing himself as a “street-style” photographer. “I’m trying to capture something beyond the superficial commercial aspect,” says Katz Sinding, who shoots the looks outside the shows for W magazine and lists Emmanuelle Alt, editor-in-chief of French Vogue, Isabelle Kountoure, Wallpaper*’s fashion director, and models such as Hanne Gaby Odiele among his favourite subjects. “‘Street style’ to me, now, is showing trends and ‘important’ people dressed in ‘important’ brands — it’s a bit boring.”

街拍牽扯利益回報，讓Katz Sinding避談自己是“街頭時尚”拍客。“我努力捕捉那些超越單純商業利益的形象。”Katz Sinding說。他爲《W》雜誌拍攝秀場外的時尚名流形象，並把法國版《Vogue》主編艾曼紐•奧特(Emmanuelle Alt)、《Wallpaper*》雜誌時尚總監伊薩貝拉(Isabelle Kountoure)以及包括漢娜•蓋比•奧迪爾( Hanne Gaby Odiele)在內的諸多名模列爲自己最青睞的拍攝目標。“在我看來，如今的‘街頭時尚’就是展現時尚風向以及‘重點人物’穿着 ‘重點品牌’的風采——這有點無聊乏味。”

The “important” people he speaks of aren’t celebrities but the once-anonymous fashion writers or stylists. Street-style fever has given birth to the strange notion of the “influencer” — someone who’s not traditionally famous, but can fit into high fashion and has upwards of 50,000 Instagram followers. For brands, images of these people can become vital advertising leverage, the importance of which will last far beyond fashion week.

他所說的“重點人物”並非名人，而是曾經隱匿真名的時尚作家與設計師。街頭時尚熱潮催生了前所未有的“大V”——他們並非傳統意義上的名人，但對高端時裝慧眼獨具，Instagram粉絲數超過5萬。對於各大品牌來說，這些牛人的照片可以成爲至關重要的廣告利器，其巨大影響力會遠超時裝週這個範疇。

Arguably, today’s influencers don’t need to be photographed: they must simply document themselves, obsessively. To Susie Lau, author of the fashion blog Style Bubble, this growth was inevitable. One of the most respected — and familiar — faces on the scene, admired for her support of young labels, her success has inspired thousands of copycats. “It doesn’t surprise me in the least,” she explains. “It’s only exploded because Instagram has become such a huge platform. But it was ever thus. There will always be girls who wear clothes really well.”

可以說，如今的時裝大V們無需成爲專門的拍攝對象：他們必須記錄自己的一切（得全身心投入）。在時尚博客Style Bubble博主蘇茜•勞(Susie Lau)看來，這種發展趨勢不可避免。她是整個時尚界最受尊重、也是最爲熟知的人物，因其大力支持新成立品牌而被人津津樂道；她的成功故事激勵了成千上萬的仿效者。“我完全覺得不足爲奇。”她解釋道。“我受到的追捧爆棚，因爲Instagram已成爲超級社交平臺。但過去也是如此，上妝效果好的姑娘總是不乏其人嘛。”

Blogger Pandora Sykes is great at getting dressed. She juggles her digital work and Instagram feed with a job at Sunday Times Style magazine. She says: “I’ve been very resistant to being a paid body — who wants to be a fashion sandwich-board? Someone being paid to wear something at the shows is just an example of how you can leverage your image and your personal brand. Bribery is rife. People think if they send something that that is some form of payment for a post. I’ve been sent umbrellas before and got a follow-up email saying it would be great if we could have a ‘cheeky little Instagram post’.”

博主賽克斯(Pandora Sykes)擅長穿衣打扮。她除了任職於《Sunday Times Style》時尚雜誌外，還兼顧自己的博客與Instagram的feed網頁。她這樣說道：“我一直強烈反對成爲‘付費代言人’——誰願意充當時尚界的廣告牌？時裝週的付費代言者只是利用個人形象與名聲進行投機的其中一個例子。時尚界此類‘賄賂’越發司空見慣。大家都覺得品牌公司免費贈送時裝，就是某種形式的廣告代言費。本人之前獲贈過雨傘，緊隨其後就會收到電郵，聲稱若‘在Instagram有塊巴掌大的展示空間’，將不勝感激。”

Sasha Wilkins of Liberty London Girl, sums it up when she says, “Once you hit half a million followers on Instagram you can start writing your own cheques — ￡10,000 for a post with you wearing something.”

時尚博客Liberty London Girl的博主薩莎•威爾金斯(Sasha Wilkins)總結道，“Instagram的粉絲數一旦達到50萬，就可以主動開價——在Instagram上的時裝代言費1萬英鎊。”

But are viewers or readers aware of these payments when browsing street-style blogs or Instagram? “Do the semantics really matter to who’s looking at them?” asks Lau, who has worked with the likes of Coach and Yoox and on sponsored blog projects and social media posts featuring products. For her, “it’s no different to flicking through advertising in a magazine. They’re looking at it for a fleeting second and they’ve given it a fleeting amount of attention.”

但用戶瀏覽這些街頭時尚的博客與Instagram時，是否意識到上述代言費？“瀏覽對象真的會在意這些語意嗎？”勞恩問道。她本人就博客與社交媒體上的代言費與蔻馳(Coach)以及Yoox等品牌展開了合作。在她看來，“這與瀏覽時尚雜誌的廣告毫無二致。讀者匆匆瀏覽，只是稍微注意而已。”

For Lau, “This is a new form of advertising and it is one that works because the images feel personal — those girls have built up a cult of personality. Though people may become numb to that — in the way we’re numb to traditional advertising today.”

在勞恩看來，“這是行之有效的新廣告模式，因爲瀏覽照片讓人倍感親切——這些代言女孩已成功培育了追星族。儘管讀者將來可能會對此麻木——我們如今對傳統廣告早已無動於衷。”

That numbness is yet to kick in. For the moment, images of stylish women — and increasingly men — out and about shift product. “It’s the idea of real-life usability of the garments that draws people to our images versus catwalk looks. Seeing it in daily use really speaks to people,” argues Katz Sinding.

但這種麻木感目前仍不存在。現如今，照片中大街小巷的潮女（還有越來越多的潮男照片）不斷變換衣服花樣。“正是服裝在現實生活中的實際效果讓瀏覽者青睞社交媒體與博客上的照片而非它們在T型臺上的形象。尋常生活中的實際穿着效果真正吸引了消費者。”Katz Sinding如此評論道。

This idea of “real life” is the strange irony of the whole movement — it’s central to its success, but disappearing because of it. “I frequently turn down big money jobs because I’m not going to look good in a brand’s stuff and I won’t feel good in it — that wouldn’t do anyone any favours,” says Sykes. “I think brands can be quite naive about that. They should be striving for authentic relationships, not just people who have the most followers.”

“現實生活版”對於整個街拍真是個奇怪的諷刺——它對於後者的成功至關重要，但自己又因爲後者的存在而漸漸消亡。“我時常拒絕高額代言，因爲我穿後效果一般，而且自我感覺不爽——那樣對所有人都沒啥好處。”賽克斯說。“我認爲品牌公司有時想法太過幼稚。它們應該努力尋求接地氣的合作，而非僅僅關注粉絲數最多者。”

Medine agrees. “My style is such an integral part of what I do professionally, I can’t really afford to risk the authenticity factor there,” she says. “The reason street style resonates and has become a phenomenon has everything to do with women seeing themselves in other women. The moment that jolt of authenticity is compromised and the trust between the voyeur and the wearer begins to break, the game is over.”

梅丁也同意上述看法。“本人的穿着風格是自己職業不可缺少的組成部分，我不能去冒這種讓自己不接地氣的風險。”她說。“街頭時尚引發了時尚愛好者的強烈共鳴併成爲時尚熱潮的原因完全在於女性粉絲在別的女性身上看到自身形象的效果。一旦犧牲了接地氣，時尚粉絲與代言人之間的信任感就開始分崩離析，這樣就玩完了。”