Street Style & Work For FashionBeans

Introduction

Following on from my last article, my main aim was to try to influence people to take the first step out of their comfort zone and wear a piece of clothing they never considered before.

I wasn’t trying to persuade people to become the next Lady Gaga – for use of a dramatic example – causing your friends and family to think you’re going through a mid life crisis. It whittles down to the idea that copying trends to the letter, or style stealing the mannequin as you walk through high street retailers isn’t the most original thing to do.

What is Street Style?

Inspiration for fashion can derive from many sources, lookbook.nu (despite many of the top trending looks following the same style in reoccurring cases). Websites like FashionBeans of course, along with retail websites, inspire the forward thinking of many.

The main draw of inspiration we look at today is ‘street style’. Now if you live in an area where people define style as the new tyres they’ve had installed on their tractor, or the new coat they’ve bought their cow, this is where the world wide web becomes your number one resource.

Street Style in London

We hit the wet streets of London with our photographer friend to find some basic inspiration to share with you. The rainfall seemed to cause a hibernation nothing short of everyone, but here are some of our favourite looks. Remember, the aim here is to use these photos as a guide, an inspiration, to use with in your own looks.

Look 1 [above left]

Simplicity, matched off against accessories, makes this one of the most well rounded looks we snapped all day.

The leather jacket and notch clear lens glasses are stand-out pieces with understated values. We salute the evident attention to detail. Take note: Offsetting buttons can really give your look an edge.

Take inspiration from this vintage inspired look and try to implement what stands out for you into your wardrobe.

An Inspired By Outfit:

Look 2 [above right]

“Why would you want a photo of my fashion?” – That was the response from this gentleman on being approached. But you know what I was personally inspired by? The fact he was the only one who remembered an umbrella.

Umbrellas serve the obvious purpose of keeping you dry, but remember, they’re also a fashion accessory. The smart casual look has been adopted, and it has been adopted effortlessly. The oversized blazer jacket, brogues and umbrella give an instant sartorial flair with an immediate informal twist.

An Inspired By Outfit:

Look 3 & 4

These two aren’t your typical catwalk models. However, creating diversity is the joy of deriving inspiration from street style.

You may not be a particular fan of the individual pieces they are wearing. But take from them their knowledge of what constitutes a great colour scheme. Camel, paired with dark green or navy, has been the go-to combination of the season. Although the pieces alone may not be breaking barriers, learn how to use existing pieces in your wardrobe to build a look as secular as these while hitting all the right [colour] tones.

Inspired By Outfits:

Sign off

School’s never out – not as far as FashionBeans is concerned.

Fashion Inspiration: Divine guidance or influence exerted directly onto us, which can derive from a product such as an idea, a piece of art, or a piece of fashion.

Guidance is the key word here; you need to use all of the sources of fashion inspiration available to you. Never limit yourself to a handful otherwise that is all your style will amount to.

The trick to achieving a unique style is to combine elements from different fashion styles gaining inspiration on the widest possible scale. Make sure you’ve already secured the wardrobe essentials first before you start shopping for that piece which will usher you to inevitably step you out of your comfort zone.

Whenever you get the chance, get out there! Take photos yourself; ask people where they found certain pieces from, find out where their inspiration derives from – every outfit has a tale.

Work for FashionBeans

A dedicated ‘street style’ section will be launched on site this year. We want to create a community of fashionable do-gooders to do, well, good – Fashionbeans is performing a stylish role call of all paparazzo’s awaiting fame!

We aren’t looking for the next [scratches head] Patrick Demarchelier, equally we aren’t looking for camera phone snaps that leave the stylish looking like participants in a happy slapping video. Check the check-list to see if you have just hat we need:

• Anything erring between a decent point and click camera and a digital SLR. A sturdy hand, or a hand at all is kind of helpful too.
• Basic knowledge in editing digital photographs is beneficial but not required. Simple resizing, cropping and basic touch ups will help list the photographs quickly and efficiently.
• An eye for a good outfit – you will have seen in this article that it’s not all about having everything off the latest wish list.
• Be outgoing. It doesn’t matter if you walk away from someone failing to note down what underwear they’re wearing. A quick hello, an interest in where they got certain pieces from, snap – gotcha! And let them know that they can check the number one men’s fashion website for their name (well, face) up in lights.

We get over 500,000 readers a month on Fashionbeans.com (combined men and women sites), which means your photos will be seen by literally MILLIONS each and every year… Imagine what this can do for you in terms of a work portfolio to show potential employees. It literally will go out on a global scale, and is one of the greatest personal ads you could place for yourself.

This is a massive opportunity to have your work seen by an audience (along with promotional opportunities for your own website etc.), which should only continue to grow with all the new features and community we are planning on launching this year. If you do not have a website, then you will still have your name published with your work on Fashionbeans and hopefully will gain some recognition whilst you are out and about taking snaps.

We imagine street style would be a great social thing to do and also a really fun way to introduce yourself to like-minded people in your city. There are obviously opportunities to network as well, and we are going to get cards/flyers/promotional material for all the team to hand out as well, you will all be a part of raising Fashionbeans brand profile offline in all major cities.

Street style is a little more than voyeurism and a little short of a restraining order. The implied doesn’t mean a fixed term jail sentence in most cases, if it does, we’ll bail you out.

If you are interested we’d give a good pair of brogues to talk to you.
Email luke[at]fashionbeans.com – but don’t expect him to give up any of his shoes.