Style Without Boundaries - New Fashion narratives using iPhonography

There are current notions of who street style relates to both as subject and audience. Blogs and trend sites document various street-style trends of young people who curate themselves in offbeat ways. Major companies view these sites in the hope of picking up the next youth trend that can be analysed and then adopted commercially for a larger consumer audience. However, this current formula often depicts a narrow type of subject: young, Caucasian, and, in the main, female subjects to explore for trend analysis and observation. This research challenges these notions by using ‘iPhoneography’ to reveal a wider spectrum of street style that does not limit itself to this current practice. This presentation reveals the use of ‘iPhoneography’ as a vehicle to explore street style within a framework of the brief ‘Style without Boundaries’. The premise of which is to capture images of stylish individuals from around the world as inclusive practice regardless of age, gender and culture. The images captured as part of the Style with Boundaries project illuminate a more candid understanding of how people clothe themselves and construct identity in living scenarios. The project culminated with an event that highlighted how these new virtual communities are realising actual communities through ‘InstaMeet’ and commenting, exchanging and reflecting on narratives surrounding their own and other’s imagery. The social dialogue explored through this work places street style in relation to fashion narrative, people, meanings and the ‘iPhoneographers’ oeuvre.