Fabulous and funky

The Sartorialist: Closer

It was still bitter cold and gray on Saturday, so the bookstore seemed like a good outing with my daughter Kate, who's 13. Kate's a shopper and lover of anything fashion, so I knew exactly the aisle she'd head for. She also had a gift card with her.

I thought for sure she would choose kate spade new york: things we love, and she was awfully tempted. But in the end, she made a different choice. Earlier this fall, we were supposed to go to a book signing but had to change plans at the last minute because one child wasn't feeling well or another needed to be picked up - I don't remember now. I just know that street photographer and blogger Scott Schuman was in town to read from his new book, The Sartorialist: Closer, and Kate was mad she missed it. So she bought the book, and last night when she was sleeping, I took it for myself.

I didn't expect to like it as much as I did. It's a little quirky, with commentary on bullfighting, cowboy boots, and even a Mennonite girl on Route 45 in Pennsylvania. But that's what's best about it, I think. It's not just about fabulously and funk-ily dressed people on the streets of New York and Milan, though there's that, too. In the introduction, Schuman says he now wants to understand the people he shoots more than he once did, and for this book he tried to photograph a greater variety of people. That's why, he says, there are pictures of house painters, bartenders, fashionistas, and nomads "just to name a few."

More than what they're wearing, I love the faces of the people in this book. There's one photograph of two girls sitting on a sidewalk in Paris. Their arms are crossed over their legs, and they're leaning forward. They're smiling, and I feel like I know them. They're probably 17 or 18, but they remind me of a certain 13-year-old.