The British photographer David Bailey and his girlfriend at the time, the model Jean Shrimpton, marked a before and following with their fashion editorial for Vogue UK ‘We’ll take Manhattan’ in 1962. For the first time, a masthead of that level surrendered to the power of the streets as a backdrop. Attitude, joy and a lot of spontaneity. That was the formula that marked the streetstyle in particular and the world of fashion in general.
They were not the only ones. The legendary Bill Cunningham published his New York fashion photography column in the New York Times for four decades. The photographer Johnny Cirillo does the same, but in Watching New York, an Instagram account. A few first steps in photography streetstyle that with the rise of social networks has only grown by leaps and bounds.
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The Internet has given rise to a new, more authentic and truthful photographic language, in which naturalness is valued above all else. It is no longer regarding race, size or age. The important thing is the attitude, thus celebrating not only diversity but also the style of each one, and New York is, without a doubt, the perfect bubble in which to reinvent yourself and be inspired on a daily basis. This North American city has held the reins of trends for decades, but it does so without imposing strings. It is the capital of synergies and 100% authenticity, a philosophy that it shares with Mango.
María Postigo, Spanish photographer living in New York for 22 years
With a spectacular store on Fifth Avenue in New York, the Catalan brand is betting, in its photographic campaigns for the web and social networks, to demonstrate that the female image is not one-person and that, precisely, the key is to show off what one is like yourself with total naturalness and freedom. What’s more, as has been brewing in New York for decades, absolute synergy between models, stylists and photographers is sought for the new campaigns, because unity is strength.
The communicator and #Mango Girl, Gemma Galán, and Ingo Kerstjens, the brand’s Global Brand strategist, recently visited the Big Apple to meet María Postigo, a Spanish photographer who has settled in New York for 22 years. With studies in Fine Arts, Postigo began working in an art gallery while she was studying photography. She is now one of the most coveted looks for streetstyle fashion editorials given her fresh, bold and highly personal style.
New York can be dizzying at first, but if you try as hard as you can to achieve your dreams, the opportunity is there.”
“New York can be dizzying at first, but if you try with all your might to achieve your dreams, the opportunity is there,” Postigo says. That is why this city and the stylistic dialogues that arise every minute in its streets have been a source of inspiration for MANGO, which has always encouraged creativity and collaboration in favor of an image in which customers can feel reflected. He says it following finishing a photo session in the studio, it’s the other part of his job. Hand in hand with their stylist Flor Traversaro, they work with models like Margot Gaspar, who have made a name for themselves in the Big Apple.
Gone are the days when only two large photographic productions were made a year, coinciding with fashion weeks. Now every day is a blank canvas that everyone can make their own. Photographers, like Postigo, look for that particularity that they know how to capture, better than anyone, in snapshots that infect, especially, joy and self-esteem. “I love going for a walk and absorbing everything that this city gives off and, at the same time, making it my own.” Because the magic lies in being and enhancing the value of each one.
The model Margot Gaspar, dressed by the stylist Flor Traversaro and photographed by María Postigo
This is also how MANGO understands it, whose campaigns are a direct invitation for clothing to be an ally to affirm our non-transferable personality, a reason that has led the brand to shun the corset that meant following specific sizes, while at the same time betting on the racial diversity and the advances of the LGTBIQ+ collective. Beauty is not canonical, but belongs to each one of us.
New York is also a leader in terms of sustainability in the field of fashion and one of the capitals with the greatest firmness in terms of the claim for gender equality. A capital that attracts talent and, therefore, absorbs and generously provides opportunities to those who do not stop.