Sketchbook: I’ve seen this girl a couple of times around town, first at the Broadway Farmers’ Market, then last week downtown.  Both times she’s been sporting one of those American Apparel sheer maxi skirts.  It’s a strange season indeed when that qualifies as a “basic” but I’m not arguing.  I have five of them.  

Boyfriend Shopping: post-apocalyptic chic

I’m wondering if “Oversized & Gray” might not be a more apt title for this blog, as that seems to be the only description for the looks I want to photograph.  I met Melissa, above,  while browsing the selection at Vancouver’s dutil denim, in Gastown.  She was after some new skinnies, I was browsing for my first denim-nerd purchase (APC? I hear it’s the gateway drug).  Don’t worry though, I made her do that douchey thing with her arm to show off the batlike volume of the nubby cardigan.  

Sketchbook: black shapes and beanies

Meet Anna and Ewan, An Illustrated Guide’s inaugural scoutees.  When I cooked up this plan, I didn’t quite factor in the chance that I might not run into subjects every time I left the house and that when I did, shyness might actually prevent me from talking to them.  (I let slip through my fingers a beautiful young man in cropped trousers and post-apocalyptic layers and a woman in perfect shabby-chic before I stopped these two.)  Needn’t have worried; they couldn’t have been nicer!  So that’s that cherry popped.  It was the wall of tactile gray - her sumptuous cardigan next to his sweater, and the furry top she’s wearing - that suckered me in.  She’s effortless with a slight edge and he’s walking proof that there’s always something more distinguished than - and just as cozy as - a hoodie.  

The creation of “An Illustrated Guide to Style” is, as with human conception, the direct consequence of two independent factors converging at an auspicious moment.  The first was a day in October when I had the pleasure of looking up and seeing only exquisitely stylish people.  One such person is a rare occurrence in Seattle; a panorama of them representing a complete spectrum of killer sartorial perspectives is pretty much unheard of.  The euphoria this produced in me was, and remains, remarkable.  

The second, less starry-eyed factor: my friends are sick of me talking about clothes and (I suspect) pushed me towards a more active outlet for this most passionate of hobbies to just shut me up already.  Yeah, that’s going to backfire on them.

Why illustration?  Well, I wanted to play the rich history of fashion illustration off the dynamism of documenting street style - the evocative power of lines versus the clarity and “objectivity” of the lens - and also, um, circumnavigate my lackluster photography skills.   

So from here on out, I’ll be roaming the streets in search of (some might say) comically oversized accessories, a little thing I like to call Barbarian Chic, shift dresses, quiet men in cuffed trousers, and whatever other stylistic flights of fancy catch my eye.  

xx
Amanda