The Spovangelist

Spokane needs a dedicated street fashion photographer.

Portrait by Austinspace

We’ve issued an appeal to round out the local blogosphere before, but we’ve learned if you really want something done you’d better be prepared to roll up your sleeves and do it yourself.

Consider: There is a world-renowned street fashion blog called the Sartorialist. It was one of the first in its genre  many years ago and helped to set the stage for the dizzying number of street fashion blogs that are around today. The basic format is a regular digest of full-length portraits taken of interesting-looking people on the street, commentary optional. The appeal? You get to gawk and opine all from the comfort of your own computer. People watching at its anonymous best.

Now some might scoff at the prospect of true fashion in Spokane. To those (you know who you are) I say “get over it!” Fashion is not about striving to look like a Nordstrom’s catalog, it is about self-expression and people relating to the social and cultural context to which they belong. People who don’t have the luxury of being chronically self-conscious are some of the most beautiful and interesting looking around.

Who might be caught in the lens of the Spotorialist? The answer is anyone. Everyone. It could be the punked-out tween by the Bloomsday runners that actually manages to pull it all off. It could be the stately grandmother in an over-sized pea coat inching her way back to the car after a show at the Fox. It would be that girl with the red glasses who works at CUES, and the painfully pretty barristas at Madeline’s just down the street.

The bus station is also ripe for the shooting. Just this morning we saw a bombshell blond of a basketball player. She was wearing Ugg boots (a fashion faux pas seemingly everywhere except for Spokane – OK, maybe even here too) with these awkwardly cut-off gray sweat shorts.  The look was topped with a bulky white cable knit sweater and a slouchy black purse. To describe it sounds appallingly generic, but I swear, there was something intimidatingly sexy and slightly off about this girl. It would take a picture to believe it.

Half a block later I rode right past this crazy skinny androgynous looking kid in a trench coat and nothing else, save some black heavy-soled boots and a pair of bright blue sun glasses. His hair was slicked back on his skull. Some people in this town know exactly who they are and they don’t give two cents about contradicting the omnipresent mainstream. They aren’t different for the sake of being different like the masses of hipsters in Portland, all scrambling to differentiate at once. No. They are simply raw and unedited versions of their adult selves.  Sometimes the gamers hanging around Merlyn’s are the most creatively dressed dudes in town.

Another thing the Spotorialist would do is help dispel the ridiculous notion that there isn’t *any* ethnic diversity in Spokane. The attractive young black man riding his chopper bike on the sidewalk around the smoke shop would get captured. The ultra-preppy Saudi students that have taken up residence at Starbucks would be in there too. Mukogawa women in Riverfront Park, the traditionally clad Indian girl getting into a minivan outside Bollywood Video – these are the fascinating, sometimes striking faces of Spokane.

They deserve to be documented, iconized. Through such self-reflective photojournalism a community can uncover it own unique style. We have something special to offer here. It is just a matter of seeking it out and appreciating what is often staring you in the face.

Tags:   Breaking Boundaries · Creative Culture · Identity Crisis · Local Fashion · Pretty Things · Social Observations15 Comments