At fashion weeks around the world, the show begins hours before the first stony-faced model saunters onto the runway.
Some of the influencers, students and off-duty models might be carrying invitations to the runway show still minutes away from beginning, but on the asphalt runway it hardly matters. The goal is to appear in one of countless street style galleries, increase their number of social media followers and promote clothing they have been gifted or find their way onto those gift lists.
“That’s what got me interested,” says Melbourne-based street style photographer Danielle Castano. “I would follow the work of Phil Oh, as well as Adam Katz Sinding forSince taking her first street style photograph at the Melbourne Fashion Festival in 2012, Castano has gone on to work with Chanel,“I was in love with the way street style managed to capture the history of fashion, trends and the thoughts of designers,” Castano says.
“The only time I have ever ran and joined the fight for a shot was to get Christine Centenera outside the Chloe show... You have to face a few elbows, but that’s being a female in the photography world.” That joy is tempered by the economic challenges facing the fashion industry, which is trickling down to street style photographers. Both Leong and Castano have noticed an increase in demands from media and fashion clients and a decrease in budgets.