Cool Hunters Think You're More Important Than Celebrities - Fashionista - Fashion Designers, Models, Shopping, Style

Another sign that celebrity style might take a backseat to yours in the eyes of Corporate America:

Look-Look, a popular cool-hunting company in Los Angeles, just sent an email to the thousands of kids in their “tribe” asking for street style shots of their favorite outfits.

The memo includes Sartorialist photos as “examples” and says, “We’re looking for insight and inspiration on style! This is an opportunity to showcase you and your friends’ style. Be sure to take head-to-toe shots, including everything from shoes, to outfits, to accessories, to hairstyle…

For each photo, be sure to note a first name, age, city/ neighborhood, and the inspiration for the look (you can name the attitude as well, if you like.”

The attitude in this case might be “cheap” - LookLook will chose 10 photographers total, and pay each snapper $20 for images that major companies will shell out thousands to analyze (and probably, to copy).

But is it cool to have your style copied by the masses, or would you rather be left alone?

posted by scarlettholly

May 16, 2007 11:53AM

this seems like slave labour for cool hunters, no?

posted by albertine

May 16, 2007 12:03PM

its totally gross. its bad enough that there are professional "cool hunters" who are paid to do this, (like my stylist friend who was paid to go thrifting for the gap--they then took what she found, made patterns and sold watered down versions of it in their stores) but to get a bunch of kids to sell their souls for 20 bucks a pic? ugh. culture vultures.

posted by excess ain't rebellion / drinking what they're selling

May 16, 2007 12:17PM

DeeDee's clients? Coca Cola, Mercedes, Calvin Klein, Nike, Unilever, Sony Pictures...

see – she just can't afford more than $20 :)

posted by Phil

May 16, 2007 1:28PM

*sigh* Whenever I hear "cool hunting" I get this awkward sick feeling in my stomach. "Culture Leeches" is more like it: "Hey! Send us pictures of yourself and your friends looking AWESOME (you'll get $20!! OMG) and we'll pass them on to (insert giant, lazy company here) in a pdf for like $10,000! Cool! MySpace!"

For more insight, check out the cool-hunting documentary on PBS... You can watch the whole thing for free online: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/etc/hunting.html

I love the part where it shows MTV gathering all this qualitative data... and then to think of where MTV sits with youth today (nowhere near where as high it used to)... Har.

What is the best way to do this kind of research without seeming like a vulture, though? As a graphic designer I have to do this type of research. Is there no way you can comb through sub-cultures without looking like your trying to co-opt it?

posted by excess

May 16, 2007 1:37PM

ha! luv the click through to Look-Look at the bottom, Phil :)

btw, this post's Look-Look graphic-girl wearing Converse? too-too funny! big giant hearts to Fashionista!

ironic that Ms. Converse Slide is (A) behind on the sartorialist-ick trend & (B) giving her tribe such specific instruction

posted by Stephanie

May 16, 2007 1:41PM

Co-opting culture, whatever culture that may be, has been happening for ages, on millions of levels. The great thing about street style is that it is always changing, there is no way for cool hunters and marketing people to ever be truly current. Gathering focus groups and analyzing their findings takes time... not to mention the 'cool' factor they so desperately seek out is elusive and not easily replicated for a mass audience. Like skinny jeans, vintage tshirts and Palestinian scarves- how quickly they spread, but who actually considers them edgy?

Either way, at the bottom line, it is about making money. Fashion is a business first for most people in the industry.

posted by Faran

That girl's name is Ashley. I met her at the Kooks concert last week and I thought her dress was great, so I took her picture. Not quite right for a Streetwalker post, but I thought it would fit well here, since she's exactly the type of "cool kid" these firms want to copy.

posted by anon

May 16, 2007 2:00PM

i don't know, i don't take issue with it, i think it's a pretty great idea on their end. as a whole i'm not too keen on the idea of my personal style being analyzed/co-opted by others, however i must admit i saw myself on the sartorialist during this past fashion week and i was excited. i think at the end of the day it's flattering, like the saying goes...

posted by rachel

May 17, 2007 12:01AM

the sartorialist is better and classy. the look-look magazine is lacking.

May 17, 2007 12:57PM

Clothing and the clothing industry is political though, everything is. These mass market jerks copy then sell our looks for profit in clothes made by sweatshop labour. After 2 seasons the clothes fall apart and end up in landfill or being sold back to 3rd world countries as bulk fabrics, ending up in street markets being peddled to the people who made them in the first place, taking the p[lace of thier own local clothying insdutries anbd indigenous fabrics and styles.
Disgusting. Thats why I wear mostly thifted clothes. They have: 1. Already been made, so the pollution /labour issue is over. 2. Are better made than most current clothes.3. Are more stylish than most current clothes. When I dont wear vintage I wear local labels. ....If we all shoped for clothes politically, the world would be a very different place...