Think of fashion shows - and Paris, Milan, London and New York probably spring to mind as the world's fashion capitals.
But a University of Queensland researcher is on a mission to prove that the more interesting fashion styles are on the streets of emerging world fashion cities - such as Shanghai in China.
Dr Toni Johnson-Woods recently spent 10 days in Shanghai taking photos of everyday fashion and speaking with passers-by about their style for a book she co-authored with University of Technology Sydney's Dr Vicki Karaminas. The book, entitled Shanghai Street Style, is yet to be published is already book of the month at a UK book chain.
Dr Johnson-Woods describes the book as a “celebration of everyday fashion”.
"What we choose to wear says something about you – the mood you are in, the gender you are, the reason you are out. Fashion is part of our everyday performance,” Dr Johnson-Woods said.
“In Shanghai, I carefully did not choose young people or those who wore ‘designer' clothes – I chose those who wore an item that told me something about them or about fashion.”
"The opportunity to go to Shanghai for the project was not only due to Dr Johnson-Woods' expertise in popular culture, but also a matter of ‘being at the right place at the right time'.
She was going to Taiwan as a keynote speaker for the South East Asian Popular Culture Association and was asked by Dr Karamanis if she was willing to take a one-hour flight to Shanghai afterwards to take the photos and do the cultural research.
"This was an entirely new area for me. I call it my guerilla assignment – we chased people, took photos, collected data and permissions, and rushed away before the police could stop us,” Dr Johnson-Woods said.
"No doubt about it, Shanghai is one of the most stylish cities I have visited – less costume-y than Tokyo, less formal than New York, and more colourful than London.
"Many of the people we photographed were living in Shanghai but came from other places – Korea, Europe, Japan.”
Over the 10 days in Shanghai, Dr Johnson-Woods and her photographer took 1,500 photos and interviewed more than 300 people about their fashion style. They captured everything from people's shoes to handbags, hats and accessories.
"We focus on the emerging fashion capitals because it is there we believe the real ‘play' with fashion happens,” Dr Johnson-Woods said.
"Street fashion is not about designer labels, it's about the playful space between personal style and fashion dictates.”
Dr Johnson-Woods and Dr Karamanis have plans to travel to other cities to capture fashion culture in light of the success of Shanghai Street Style.
"We are doing Sydney and Mumbai this year, and Cape Town, Sao Paulo and Moscow maybe next year. I am particularly keen to get some cricket fashion in Mumbai, so that will dictate when I go there,” she said.
Dr Johnson-Woods is the founder and inaugural president of the Popular Culture Association of Australia and New Zealand. She has written on reality television, animation, manga and popular fiction.
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