The Top 10 Street Fashion Sydney for 2013..

Are lists in or out? I don't really know and I for one don't really care.. What I do know is that 2013 represented the first full calendar year that I spent shooting Street Fashion Sydney (SFS) with the truly fabulous Fujifilm X-Pro1; the first camera I have ever carried with me very very nearly everyday and  everywhere! As a direct result there were two big changes in the life of SFS from working with this camera equipment (and in my life as well); the number of posts increased and the actual size of a blog post shot up dramatically in terms of the number of images used to tell a story, along with an increase in image quality too. The stories I told here on SFS became more detailed and I believe more engaging for my readers and viewers and while retaining high search results for blog posts, the social sharing this year increased exponentially, confirming I think, the increase in quality and engagement. Now if I can just get you all to sign onto the new SFS Facebook Page as well.. then 2014 is sure to be looking like the best year ever!

So here they are, the top 10 of 2013; the absolutely unique point-of-view of what's happening in Sydney from emerging designers to individuals-on-the-street to major brand launches; all documented in fine detail with Lens and the Pen of Kent Johnson, published and presented on Street Fashion Sydney - please do-share and Enjoy!

1) FEEL AND THINK : Fashion Runway Show & Tear-a-Way; Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation (SCAF) in partnership with UTS Fashion Design Department
. http://streetfashionsydney.blogspot.com.au/2013/08/feel-and-think-fashion-runway-show-tear.html


2) Stoli ORGNL.TV Launch Sydney - Shot with the Fuji X-Pro1 http://streetfashionsydney.blogspot.com.au/2013/08/stoli-orgnltv-launch-sydney-shot-with.html

3) New Byzantium : Raffles Graduate Fashion Parade 2013 - published just this month and with 55 images, the largest picture post on SFS to date. http://streetfashionsydney.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/new-byzantium-raffles-graduate-fashion.html

4) Andreas Ottensamer 'Yellow Lounge' Sydney with 'The Faders' & Alex Raineri. - selected for use as the official news item on Deutsche Grammophon's Andreas Ottensamer website. http://streetfashionsydney.blogspot.com.au/2013/08/andreas-ottensamer-yellow-lounge-sydney.html

5) Ben Quilty: After Afghanistan art opening NAS 2013. Major artist major show and great fashion moments in the art crowd as well.. http://streetfashionsydney.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/ben-quilty-after-afghanistan-art.html

Ben Quilty

6) Cross Section Markets - Angel Place Laneway - Sydney! the market may have moved on but the blog's documentation remains.. strong. http://streetfashionsydney.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/cross-section-markets-angel-place.html

7) Same - Artists and their Posse at 55 Sydenham Rd. So much going on; the Inner-West, Art and Art happening.. http://streetfashionsydney.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/same-artists-and-their-posse-at-55.html

8) Noa from X Factor - Adidas & Timberland on the Eastern Suburbs Line. Spotted riding the rails.. http://streetfashionsydney.blogspot.com.au/2013/10/noa-from-x-factor-adidas-timberland-on.html

9) Art Month Sydney - P-arty on Dudes.. Paddington/Woollarah. the unOfficial story, http://streetfashionsydney.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/art-month-sydney-p-arty-on-dudes.html

10) Yoshimi - Black and Burnt Citrus Colours - York St Sunday. Classic 'one-shot' street fashion. http://streetfashionsydney.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/yoshimi-black-and-burnt-citrus-colours.html

So there are the TOP 10 from over 100 Blog posts on SFS in 2013. I also had the privilege in June of being asked to speak about Street Fashion Sydney at the Subculture Slam - Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre. You can check out my talk here,



Wishing all my readers all the best for a happy and prosperous 2014, Kent Johnson, Street Fashion Sydney.

https://www.facebook.com/StreetFashionSydney
kent@artcommunication.com.au

Art Never Sleeps - While fashion takes a Nanna Nap!

Yes while the art galleries and artists of Sydney are hard at work making and showing art; my inbox has been strangely void of invitations to fashion events save for an invite to a 'socks' launch I sadly failed to attend last Thursday. (sorry guys next time I promise). All the while my gallery list just keeps on listing more and more shows every week; sure its not all work by the same artist but if you think of the much vaunted 'new turnovers-of-range' à la Zara; ART and Galleries are turning around and 'dropping' new Art even faster! Try thinking of the gallery as the Brand, Art as the Range.. So all this art activity VS not-so-much fashion activity has had me thinking about the nature of both these pursuits, and not just in terms of how you market yourself but also in terms of creative output and work put in - how you go about it. And last night a close friend and working/exhibiting/professional artist brought up the hoary old question (in a perfectly nice way) of the gulf between the amateur who would be a professional and the Artist who is; and the difference that does involve.

Of course, as you would,  I am putting this downturn in fashion's largesse of event and party to a downturn in trade and perhaps minding a pre-decimal currency penny while waiting for the customers to 'drop' (and-spend) like a new range 'drops' (perhaps with below average look-books shot by well meaning amateurs not the professional who could... to save a penny) or so they say - and maybe we will have a little launch party when the next range really does 'drop'. Which also brings me to the world-wide-runway-juggernauts known quite simply as brought-to-you-BUY this Brand Fashion Week. Now I love a runway show as much as the next person but I do sometimes think that these big shows have become a bit of a one-stop-marketing-shop, a wonder drug and a fashion panacea that has taken some of the creativity out of the fashion marketing game and gobbled up a large proportion of smaller players budgets. No its not cheap to participate in. Not to mention - and I will, the love of the 'like' button (yes please do like and share this post; ah the sweet irony) and social networking... is this all... So its great to go to art openings and they are happening all-the-time regardless of budgets. And I do know that probably no-one works harder than people in fashion, though many artists work very hard too; but a downturn does not slow down art's parties; though sales may be a little slow; the trade goes on, the celebration continues; now that's something I like - pun intended; something to think about while I await my next fabulous Fashion Event to Drop!

So here's how Art fared last week (tip of the iceberg really), and what people wore, style wise; mouse over for details, gallery and show info links below..

China Heights

Fire Gallery

Plump Gallery

Sexes - Carriage Works

Frasers, CUB development site

Sheffer Gallery

My picture from China Heights...

www.chinaheights.com/ A Study of Hands.
Fire Gallery (Anna Wheeler) 22 Enmore Rd Newtown Sydney - Facebook
Plump Gallery, 240 Enmore Road, Enmore, Sydney - Facebook
Sexes, www.carriageworks.com.au/
http://www.sheffergallery.com/ Gilbert Grace - Luminous
My own little 'luminous landscape' taken from the window at China Heights. Composite Image..

Comments welcome.

All pictures made with the inimitable Fujifilm X-Pro1.