Scott Schuman (The Sartorialist) and Garance Dore

[Katie123]

true, she's been uploading loads. i remember one of her tweets being' thanks for the help on how to tweet from my bberry!' or something, so she's probably been tweeting from her phone loads.

i've always always liked garance but i was doing some research on a profile i was writing about her and you can find the same amount of interviews as the sartorialist where she's boasting about dating him, and how amazing he is, dating back to when they started dating (when, a lot of people say, he was still married). i was a bit disappointed to see she's as indiscrete as him and becoming as cocky as well, which is such a shame

 

[tigerrouge]

I was reading from a collection of Quentin Crisp's letters [an English gay man who had a dapper and flamboyant appearance] and in 1993 he says:

In Manhattan, every fifth person is a photographer.

Yesterday I was photographed by a Brazilian and the day before that by an Indian. When you ask them why they want your picture, they reply that it is for their portfolios.

This was a small and unrelated moment which made me remember that the concept of taking pictures of interesting people on the street is absolutely nothing new; the only 'new' part of the concept is putting them on the internet, and it's not as if that is anything out of the ordinary (and it's not as if The Sartorialist invented the internet).

It's because the site has become a brand - and when something becomes a brand, it doesn't mean that its values are properly meaningful or genuinely innovative, all that's required is that people buy into the brand.

But I do believe every brand deserves a competitor, survival of the fittest and all that. Sharpens things up, makes things exciting. So enough with this romance. Imagine a world where he becomes the inconvenient ex sitting beside her on the airplane. Let blog-battle commence. Now that would be interesting.

 

[fashionista-ta]

^

For that, I would start reading both their blogs Should she need a handy source of insults when the time comes, this thread wouldn't be the worst place she could start

 

[chanelnumber5]

Its quite amusing how I've been a fan of quite a few bloggers, found their Twitter, read their 'Tweets' and gone off them completely. Reveals your true colours, when your reporting every thought that crosses your little mind.

 

[Katie123]

^ couldn't agree more. some of then sound so self-indulgent and shallow (as opposed to their carefully written and edited blog posts) that i have been 'unfollowing' a lot of them lately!

 

[GrungePrincesss]

^Likewise. And now it's time for me to go through my tweets and delete about 95% of them lmao!

 

[marjanthelion]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/karl_hab/3669251542/

 

[Harumi]

^LMAO!

I think the funniest thing about him, aside from his attitude, his ego inversely proportionate to his size and his exhibitionism, is that he has absolutely no style. He always looks a mess. In the above picture he looks like a Texan tourist at Disneyland.

Anyway, I still visit his blog. The fact that he might be a tool doesn't really bother me (I don't have to date him after all). At regular intervals he makes posts like this or this that are worth my while.
And I do love Garance's blog. Her pictures are like stills from a Sofia Coppola movie: they have that soft, romantic girlishness and bubblegum charm. It's pleasant and harmless. Her ramblings however are insufferably dizzy.

Basically, they both are in the business of eye candy: look at the pretty pictures but don't go beneath the surface, you'll find a douchebag and an air-head.

 

[mamasarollingsto]

he does wear some of the most atrocious outfits. i know he needs to be comfortable but REALLY?!

 

[marjanthelion]

did you guys see this (the article's title!) ???
http://www.hanneli.com/?p=1136

he is going to have such a fit ...

 

[balmain1914]

please don't do promoting..

 

[mamasarollingsto]

how about this: http://www.theawl.com/2010/01/the-sartorialist-speaks

 

[dumbfairy]

I only just read this thread for the first time and it has made me giggle so much I don't check either blog that often,but I'm pretty bored of how every other post that Schuman makes seems to be about Garance. Like the blog is an ode to their love. But he is THE funniest looking little man I have seen in a long time!

 

[Les_Sucettes]

He's insufferable. I do not visit is blog, because besides the fact that i do not like his style of photos, i certainly do not want to give him hits. On the other hand i like Garance's photos, but her posts are getting ditzier and ditzier by the minute and she seems totally oblivious to the fact that her boyfriend is someone that most of us would only date we if had a gun pointed to our heads.

And him saying in that video that obviously she was very influenced by him at the beginning, nice one...

 

[t-rex]

http://threadbared.blogspot.com/2009/10/picturing-politics-on-pride-in-his-work.html About Scott's posts of the homeless man and his driver in San Francisco

 

[fashionista-ta]

http://threadbared.blogspot.com/2009/10/picturing-politics-on-pride-in-his-work.html About Scott's posts of the homeless man and his driver in San Francisco

Wow

Some of the comments (quoted from the blog) are something else. Wrt all the mentions of 'clean' and 'nice teeth' ... all I can say is those are all too familiar to me--they are the comments my grandmother always made about black performers when I was watching TV and she came through the room. And her attitudes are not anything anyone at all in this century should be emulating

If the driver owns his car (and even if he doesn't), I'd be willing to bet that he's making a better living than Scott was making from his blog for quite some time So enough with the 'whatever the job' comments ...

 

[Harumi]

http://threadbared.blogspot.com/2009/10/picturing-politics-on-pride-in-his-work.html

That article was blow-hard. It makes good general points but applied to that particular Sartorialist post I think it's reaching.

Scott's text was condescending, yes, but racist? No. It was condescending because the guy is a driver and that's not a glamorous/prestigious profession. His commentary would probably have the same tone if the man was any other race. If the same guy had been a lawyer, you would not have heard that 'proud' nonsence.
That 'oh, look at how brave the little people are' attitude isn't racially motivated but status/class motivated: that's snobbism and elitism, not racism.
Through you make a good point fashionista-ta, he's probably living much better then Scott once was.

Next, while some of the quoted comments are f***ed-up ('he looks clean'? wtf) or as patronising as Scott's commentary, I think the author is totally paranoid about the others:

Pure style indeed. Could you post his contact information? I am in the Bay Area every few months and would like to book him. Yep, asking to hire the services of a professional who happens to have a recommendation and free publicity in the media? That's the White supremacist manifesto right here. The guy was probably more interest in the opportunity to have something in common with Scott anyway.

What a nice-looking man! You're right; taking care in one's appearance definitely inspires confidence. I'd definitely trust him to drive me anywhere. As if it wasn't a universally accepted fact that good presentation inspire immediate trust.

"He looks proud of his job," express pleasure at what is presented as the scene of a black man proud to be at the service of others.

Hello? He is a Black man, he is providing a service (against a fee), and he looks like he enjoys his job.
Just because there are some bigots who think all the Black man is good for is to serve doesn't mean those who have chosen to work in the service industry shouldn't be pleased what they do. Or that it's wrong to note when and if they are.
Jesus!

 

[Dkammern]

^^i pretty much agree. the comments are more classist than racist really. i could imagine the same text with any other guy.

i also agree that the author is a it paranoid about the comments.
however, with the "clean" comment, i think it's just being misinterpreted. in this context it sounds awful, but you wouldnt be surprised if you read the same words if it was, say, the Jil Sander FW09 collection thread. clean could've also been/meant sharp, sleek, impeccable...

 

[Party_Vixen]

Did anyone else watch the video of him at the Sydney signing?

I think he's been watching too many project runway episodes .

He sounds exactly like Tim Gunn, but it doesn't sound natural. Like he's purposely speaking like that .

 

[fashionista-ta]

^^i pretty much agree. the comments are more classist than racist really. i could imagine the same text with any other guy.

i also agree that the author is a it paranoid about the comments.
however, with the "clean" comment, i think it's just being misinterpreted. in this context it sounds awful, but you wouldnt be surprised if you read the same words if it was, say, the Jil Sander FW09 collection thread. clean could've also been/meant sharp, sleek, impeccable...

I wonder how much time you've spent in the US? I don't think for one minute that all the people making those comments meant clean in a Jil Sander sense ... did you read the one about his clean teeth??

I agree about the comment asking for his contact info--nothing wrong with that.

I think the classism (snobbism, whatever you want to call it) does come through loud and clear in what Scott wrote, but I think the person commenting did not get it wrong that there is something else there too. After all, when you patronize someone of your own race vs someone who is not, both are wrong, but you have done two different things. Yes, it will be a great day when Scott can be an equal-opportunity a$$hole, but I don't think we're there just yet

When he was taken to task, he starts the PC hue and cry, rather than considering whether there might be something wrong with his own attitude. I'm not calling him a racist, but you don't have to be a racist in order for racist thoughts to cross your mind, or to take a racist attitude, or for words that are racist to flow out of your pen. We live in a racist society after all ... I'm sure there are some saints and people who have a different level of awareness who never notice race, but for the rest of us, there's a choice--you either provide a nurturing environment for racist notions, or you make haste to root them out. And sometimes that means giving serious thought to whether there is something wrong where you thought there wasn't.

That's how I see it anyway ... and I appreciate the article commenting on the post because it made me think. It may be a bit extreme, but there's a reason why people are sensitive. I never thought before how potentially charged something so seemingly innocent and insignificant as a smile can be.

There's a guy where I live who owns a limo company, is also a radio personality (that came second), and attended probably the most prestigious boys' prep school here. This guy is most certainly middle class, if not upper middle class. So the assumptions about class made in the original post and comments could be all wrong ...