Wearing a blue velvet blazer, a light blue button-up, blue trousers and blue desert boots, Yvan Rodic sits at an outdoor Yorkville café sipping on a grande mocca frappuccino. Rodic’s coordinated style champions his artistic esthetic. Never swayed by “It-bags,” killer shoe, and you can forget logos, he says “I’m looking for beauty, creativity, quirkiness, self-confidence, charisma. Someone who’s not just a stereotype,” says Rodic. “I’m talking about people who are who they are and express that identity.”

If you’ve never heard of the Face Hunter, it’s high time you get in tune with the digital times. Four years and 30 cities later, Rodic’s site (
http://facehunter.blogspot.com) has grandfathered the street style craze. Easily confused with thousands of imitator street style blogs, Rodic’s photographic sensibilities carry him over the din. And the proof is in the payout.
Face Hunter, a curation of 300 images from Rodic’s archives and peppered with his commentary, is a veritable smorgasbord of fashion and creativity. “I was expecting a book to be just a book, but it’s actually pretty powerful,” says Rodic. While blogging gains notoriety in the publishing world, it seems the traditional staple of success remains, well, being published.

Street style bloggers are gaining some serious cred in the fashion world. Scott Schuman, girlfriend Garance Doré, Tommy Ton and Tavi Gevinson have become household names. From being featured in
Vogue spreads, to shooting the international fashion circuit, sitting front-row and hob-knobbing with the industry greats. But street style blogging hasn’t always been so triumphant. “My first fashion week, in June ‘06, I think Scott was the only one I remember there,” says Rodic. “Now it’s just so intense that I feel almost embarrassed to ask for a picture, it’s become like paparazzi.” Fashion houses, PR and luxury companies have gotten wise to the power these individuals wield online—boasting more readers then big name magazines


More from Yvan on the next page …

Check out our Street Style Snaps from around the world here!
SYc-yvanrodic.jpg

Rodic’s shots reveal an intimacy with each subject. Something he chalks up to his tool of choice, a point-and-shoot camera. “I think it’s much more subtle and discreet and much more like an intimate connection,” says Rodic. With no formal photography background, Rodic was gifted a digital camera in 2006 and found he just couldn’t stop snapping. His book is now sold-out in the UK. “When I started my blog I thought ok, this is going to take me zero effort, zero euro and so whatever…” From meager beginnings to a must-have style page-turner Rodic exemplifies today’s Internet star.

Face Hunter published by Prestel in US and Canada: April 2010.

Read more

Street Style Snaps: Seoul Fashion Week, Fall 2010-11

Top five trends for fall 2010-11 from the runways of LG Fashion Week

A flouncy, floral skirt is the easiest way to punch up your wardrobe