Philadelphia Street Style: Kelsey, 17th Street

I love the phone booth in this image, a feature of the background I originally tried to cut out of the frame. It immediately changes the mood of the photograph, our interpretation of the context, and our reading of the subject. Kelsey is dressed quite contemporary, mixing elements from the girlish to the severe, the rugged to the dainty, juxtaposing boots and short shorts, for example, and a nose-ring with heart sunglasses, and yet the image, with the phone booth present, suddenly reads as anachronistic. Her style looks retro, a throwback to the early '90s. And it lends her style a kind of street urchin authenticity as well, a waifish quality that is far less present in the image below. 

Here her style reads as much cleaner and more innocent, for sale, perhaps, at Abercrombie and Fitch or Hollister, and perfectly at home on any American college campus or beachside retreat. The waifish quality disappears. Getting rid of the phone booth mainstreams her.

Notice the title I have given this post: Philadelphia Street Style followed by a colon, a first name, and a location. I'm trying this out as a new standardized titling scheme. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, it makes good sense in terms of optimizing search engine results. I want my blog to appear on the first page when someone Googles "Philly Street Style" or something of that sort, instead of buried on the third page where no one bothers to look. Second, I'm tired of the pressure to be clever all the time. Standardization takes the weight off. And finally, as usual, I am stealing the idea from other blogs. Standardized titles have begun to read to me as professional — simple and clean.