Ulyana Sergeenko, An Icon in Search of a Brand

Ulyana Sergeenko, the Russian socialite turned style icon, was famous in the fashion world before she was famous for anything in particular, an icon in search of a brand. Now she has her own couture line, one thing leading to another. Fame, it would seem, is a variety of social capital easily converted into other kinds of capital. But hers was not an instant fame, as some of her detractors might suggest. It was hard won, like any other kind of fame, fought on the pavement outside catwalks. She had to win the affection of the street style bloggers before she could charm their readers. I hope in these pictures, shot in succession outside Rodarte at New York Fashion Week, some of that hard work shines through. My favorite part of these pictures? The blurred out photographer in the background. 

It occurred to me today, when I should have been working on something else, that I still have dozens of perfectly good images from New York Fashion Week that I have not yet bothered to post on this blog. I'm going to remedy that now. I will begin posting these on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and keep Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for new street style pics. I guess I'd gotten bored of my NYFW pics. I wanted to show new stuff, and stuff that felt somehow more "real" to me, as if Philadelphia street style is instantly more authentic and genuine than what is shown at fashion week. And maybe it is. But when the folks at fashion week fake it long enough it becomes the real thing. So here's my first batch of new images from Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Fall 2013. Everyone else is still posting theirs. Why shouldn't I?