Ky Cao, Ps and Qs Shop, South St, Philadelphia

Ky is wearing a Dickies 1922 Duck Canvas Jacket over a Gant Rugger Denim Shirt and a Norse Projects Aske. His jeans are Baldwin Denim's The Henley Duck Selvedge Denim. His sneakers are New Balance 576 (Made in England). His socks, which you can't see, are solid green, and are by American Trench.

Saeed Ferguson, behind Ps and Qs Shop, Philadelphia

Saeed is wearing a Norse Projects Classic Twill Logo Cap, a Norse Projects windbreaker, a Naked & Famous Blue Vintage plaid shirt, Nudie Dry Navy Grim Tim jeans, and a pair of Tretorn white nylite sneakers, all from Ps and Qs Shop. 

Rick Cao, behind Ps and Qs Shop, Kater St, Philadelphia

A few weeks back, my friend Alex contacted me suggesting I shoot the guys from Ps and Qs, a casual menswear/streetwear shop on South Street. Seemed like a good fit for the blog. I've been wanting to feature more Philly brands and businesses, in part as a way of exploring the contours of "Philly style," but also as a way of supporting the local fashion scene. Philly fashion is coming up in the world, and I want to be part of chronicling its rise. So a week back, I met up with Rick, Ky, and Saeed, the Ps and Qs gang, to do some street style shots in the vicinity of their shop. I'll be posting other shots from the shoot on Wednesday and Friday. All of the clothes featured are available at Ps and Qs.

Rick is wearing a wool work shirt from Topo Designs with a Waffle Grandpa from Gant Rugger underneath it. The pants are The Henley in Dry Selvedge by Baldwin Denim. His shoes are the Natural Vibram Sole Campboot by Oak Street Bootmaker. 

More Shots from my Collaboration with Goorin Bros

Classic Philadelphia Cool, outside Goorin Bros

This is one of my favorite looks of the last few months. It's classic, unfussy, and sharp as hell. He picked out that hat from the Goorin Bros racks for this shot, but he was wearing one that was equally cool coming in. 

Kayla in a Goorin Bros hat, Walnut St, Philadelphia

Another Shot from my Shoot for Goorin Bros

Urban Fieldnotes X Goorin Bros

Next Thursday, October 23, 6-8pm is the grand opening of Goorin Bros Hat Shop at 1427 Walnut Street, Philadelphia. There will be live music (Drew Nugent & the Midnight Society), drinks (Bluecoat American Dry Gin), and a "guest appearance" from Philly-based celebrity chef Brian Duffy. There will also be a gallery of my photographs, which I shot outside the Goorin Bros shop last week. The pictures in this post are a few of them.

I've been in contact with Goorin Bros for a few months now. They emailed me over the summer to pick my brain about the local fashion scene and invited me to their soft opening a few weeks back, where they outfitted me with one of their Heritage Line fedoras, and introduced me to their current CEO, Ben Goorin, heir to the Goorin Bros legacy, and fourth-generation milliner. Ben and I discussed the possibility of me doing some shots for them to post in their shop in coordination with the opening. We later discussed it again on the phone. I was interested. The idea of having a permanent display of my work, in the very location where I most commonly shoot it, was appealing. The sticking point was that I would have to feature Goorin Bros hats in each photo. Nothing against their hats. I really like them. They are well-made and have that classic Americana feel. But the idea of either A) scouting people already wearing Goorin Bros hats on the streets of Philly or B) putting their hats on the people I found seemed daunting, and highly time-consuming. It can take me several days to even find a single person to shoot sometimes. Ben wanted 8-10 subjects. I wondered if it was even possible to find enough people in the week or so I had. And I was worried too that the people I stopped might object to having their images used for marketing materials. It's one thing to be asked to be on a blog. To be asked for your photo to be printed for a gallery, posted online, and then used for God knows what marketing purpose, is a different thing entirely.

Eventually I decided, fuck it, I want to know if I can pull it off. At the very least, this would yield interesting data. I gave Ben the thumbs up and parked myself outside their Walnut Street shop last Thursday afternoon for several hours after a dentist appointment. I waited for people I found intriguing to walk by, stopped them, asked for their photo for use in the Goorin Bros opening gallery and marketing materials, then one of Goorin Bros' staff members would (temporarily) outfit them with a hat. We would find a place to shoot nearby (I didn't want to take the hats far away from the shop), then they would sign a photo release form back at the shop and be on their way.

So what did I learn from the experience? Well, a few things. First, I learned that it just wasn't that hard to sit still on Walnut Street and find cool people to shoot. It took me just over 3 hours to find 11 people. That's way better than my average. This makes me question my whole approach to scouting street style. Am I moving around too much? Am I being too picky? Am I missing all sorts of cool people passing right in front of me? I'm thinking yes, that's exactly what's happening. Second, I learned that no one—not a single person—objected in any way to having their image used in marketing materials for Goorin Bros. The last guy I stopped was an attorney, and he altered the photo release form a bit, but he was still cool with the basic concept. With Facebook and Instagram exploiting our images on a regular basis, we are all over it already. People were flattered to be stopped and more than happy to have their picture up in the shop. It was no harder to stop people for this purpose than for the blog. Finally, I learned that there is absolutely no way to tell whether a street style image is "organic" or not, i.e., whether the person featured is entirely in their own clothes, chosen and arranged by them, or whether they have been styled by someone else for the purposes of the shot. The people I photographed for Goorin Bros looked so incredibly natural in the hats we put them in, it is almost surprising they weren't wearing them before. Of course, it helps that a couple of them (like the guy below) were on their way to buy a hat from Goorin Bros when I stopped them. How much of street style photography is staged? How much of it is "real"? Is there a hard and fast set of guidelines we might use to make that distinction? Makes you wonder. In any case, I'm really happy with how my Goorin Bros shoot turned out. You'll be seeing more of my images from it in the coming week. And you can see the whole gallery of my work, printed and framed, at Goorin Bros Hat Shop starting October 23.

Nabile Quenum, West Side Highway, New York

Who is the subject and who is the object of a street style photograph? That designation gets harder and harder to maintain as the photographers who shoot at Fashion Week cross the line into becoming style stars themselves. Nabile Quenum of J'ai Perdu Ma Veste is one of the most immediately recognizable photographers at Fashion Week. His signature high-end streetwear look is popping up all over the blogosphere. He is one of the few people I have seen successfully wear the Pharrell Yogi Bear park ranger hat, and paired, at that, with chrome-tipped sneakers and fringe. His visual brand extends from his photographs right through to his person.  

Outside Jeremy Scott, 15th St, New York

Crocs are about the last brand of shoes I would have imagined this kid wearing with this outfit. But strangely, they kinda work. 

Miyako Bellizzi, outside Jeremy Scott, 15th St, New York

The art of correctly labeling one's Fashion Week posts with their subjects' names is a combination of on-site inquiry, post-facto investigation, and luck. The luck part happens most often when you stumble upon someone's else's picture of that person on Instagram. It also happens when one of your Instagram followers tags the name of that person for you. I stumbled upon Miyako Bellizzi's name from a tag, added by a follower, on someone else's post on Instagram. I figured it was a sign, so I posted her photo today.

Yvan Rodic, outside Public School, 15th St, New York

Justin O'Shea, outside Thom Browne, 22nd St, New York

Vanessa Hong, outside Cushnie et Ochs, New York

Dapper Lou, outside Costello Tagliapetra, New York

In Drapey Black, Outside Peter Som, 15th St, New York

More Street Style from Fashion Under the Shambles: Headhouse Square, Philadelphia

Camico

Alexa

Brie and Evan

Carolina

LaVeda