http://www.businessoffashion.com/2011/10/the-business-of-blogging-the-sartorialist.html

The cell phone (mobile) has replaced the cigarette.

Remember the anti-smoking campaigns with pictures of ugly people smoking cigarettes? Like that ever stopped anyone. The fact is, cigarettes are cool (and sexy) in the right hands. The same is true of cell phones. (and comparably unattractive in the wrong hands)

I just passed another birthday and I’m feeling extrra middle aged and unhip. I thought I’d check out the Sartorialist just to feel worse. Ouch. That worked.

And, I’m still contemplating the question you asked in the face of Alexander the Great’s accomplishments; ‘what did you do during your thirties?’ I don’t even remember. Except that, unlike Mr. the Great, I didn’t kill anyone. There was six minutes when I created my family and before that, I vaguely recall a long run interrupted by episodes of Seinfeld.

The video was interesting, although the one that I saw was more powerful.

“….she’s looking for connections. She wants to understand how every piece of news relate to each other and how she fits in that equation…”

“… We came to believe that she represents many of the smart people in her generation. It’s about the connections in stories, it’s about how every story is somehow our own…”

You’ve got it! And you guys communicated it very well. Connection, intimacy, engagement: that is the challenge, for new and old media. I am thinking about how we might be able to achieve more of this at The Economist–without looking, you know, just plain silly….

Andrew Haeg did the video interview you saw. We did the first interview together — you can find a glimpse of that here. (But the second filmed interview is way better…)

I think you’re quite right: it’s not out of snobbishness that she has The Economist as her homepage. She’s incredibly smart, a Stanford student after all, and she feels she must follow the news in a smart way. Ergo, The Economist. But it’s not attractive to her.

She has this very strong sense of aesthetics, she’s quite visual in the way she looks for the news or information in general. After going back and back to her we came to the conclusion that she’s looking for connections. She wants to understand how every piece of news relate to each other and how she fits in that equation… that’s something that The Sartorialist delivers. It’s about fashion, yes. But it’s also splendid photography of day to day people. She sees herself in that world and that’s what really makes it incredibly attractive.

We came to believe that she represents many of the smart people in her generation. It’s about the connections in stories, it’s about how every story is somehow our own, it’s about how the best stories are about very visual scenes (even if those are described in writing…) Quite digital, indeed. And, yet… that’s what Homer did, isn’t it?

But, just to clarify… The project is a joint venture of the Stanford Design School and the Knight Fellowships. The d.school does have connections with IDEO, but it’s not the same as… =)

This I can’t disagree with, even though I enjoy the Economist immensely.

I also bookmarked the Sartorialist, though I know nothing about fashion.

SB

If you feel like it, Pedro, give your version of Rebecca’s answers. (is the video on YouTube?) I am sure that I garbled her story in the recollecting and retelling. You were certainly making a powerful point with it!

Cheri, I might qualify as being educated above my intelligence. But Rebecca actually seemed anything but snobbish. I know her Economist home page might make it sound that way, but….

Steve, if you do indeed get onto The Sartorialist, I promise a special post for the occasion. But why does his minor in costume construction mean that he has no substance? The man loves clothes and has some special gift of perception that touches people such as Rebecca. That’s something, isn’t it?

Mr Crotchety: Latin sartor = tailor ==> sartorial=having to do with tailoring. I think it’s a good blog title, because it sounds like a cross between satire and sardonic, and with The and ist it also seems to wink at The Economist.

I’m not exactly at risk of being featured on The Sartorialist, nor a likely reader, but I say: power to him!

Adrian: thanks for the link!

I have a thing this minute.
I’m at a hotel’s restaurant with my laptop (my Dell, not my Apple). I get about 10 possible places to connect to wireless internet. Surely all these places are not operating at capacity. I’ll pay, but I want to bid. For sport, I’ll even give my waiter a competitive fee – if he’ll give me a ‘free’ access code.

Whenever I think of Rebecca, I think of the “Oddfellows and Rebekahs. Then, I keep thinking about it. What do they do?

I get a queasy feeling looking at the Sartorialist’s website; like I just walked into a party and realize how hip I am (not). Where does the celery-boats-filled-with-cream-cheese Complex fit in? And I don’t mean the kitschy or kinky celery boats. I mean the kind you have on a ‘special night.’ What’s the origin of that word, Sartorialist?

I’ve thought of three or four comments about the do-rag, but they’re not interesting. Rock on.

Nice that you were there to share the anguish, Andreas =)

I found the following description of Mr. Satorialist

“Schuman is a journalist who is most famous for his blog on which he features images of stylish people on the streets of cities all over the world. The diversity of the images—colorful street fashion in India to haute couture in Paris—reveals that style is more than just a label; it is also a personal expression. The success of The Sartorialist blog has gained Schuman a great deal of accolades and attention. He was recently named by Time magazine as one of the fashion world’s 100 most influential people.”

In his own biography he touts his education at Indiana University majoring in Apparel Merchandising, with a minor in Costume Construction.

The Minor in costume construction makes him perfect for “successful” people these days from the office clerk in New York right on up to our political leaders. NO SUBSTANCE. Not to pick on Obama but he is in costume-wouldn’t you agree? He is absolutely beautiful. OK, to be egalitarian with my cynical observations, Reagan and the Bushes are in costume with their 10 gallon hats. The result? They are Imposters, all of them.

And I hate to admit it, but during our rendition of Glory Days at my gig on Saturday night, I donned a do-rag so I would feeeelll like Steven Van Zandt of the E-Street Band!!! I even had a compliment from a, believe me, well-costumed 30 year old woman!!! Wonder if I could get in the Satorialilst?

http://mark-twain.classic-literature.co.uk/fenimore-coopers-literary-offences/

In it, he criticizes Brander Matthews, Professor of English Literature at Columbia.

Matthews offers an effective quotation about snobs.

A highbrow is a person educated beyond his intelligence.

I know several highbrows who read tabloids for entertainment