(FACEBOOK and PINTEREST) - IT'S RARE THAT Giuseppe Santamaria will stop a well-dressed man on the
street
to take his picture. Instead, the photographer and art director—a Sydney,
Australia-based Canadian expat—tends to capture subjects as they stroll on by,
often when they're freshly dressed and en route to work. Mr. Santamaria, 28,
who cites photographers like '60s-era Magnum lensman Ernst Haas as inspiration,
said, "It's about freezing that moment, seizing what that guy's life is
like." As a result, authentic energy infuses the images he shoots for his
four-year-old street-style blog, Men in This Town, which he has turned
into a book of the same name, available Sept. 2.
Mr. Santamaria traces his menswear fascination
to his Toronto childhood and a dapper Italian father partial to polos, short
shorts and wicker shoes. "I thought his was an older way of dressing,"
he said. "But now I wear the same shoes and shirts. It's this influence I
never realized I had."
Today, Mr. Santamaria's appreciation for
menswear is global. His new book documents five cities he's deemed menswear
capitals—New York, Sydney, Tokyo, Milan and London. His hometown didn't make
the cut. He explained, diplomatically: "Toronto is one of those cities
trying to find itself." Here, five images from "Men in This
Town" and Mr. Santamaria's take on the unique sartorial charms of each
locale.
ARTFUL TAILORING IN MILAN
"Milanese
men are born with taste, and not much changes," Mr. Santamaria said.
Still, he sees a difference between the generations. Younger men wear sportier
clothes, he explained, while more-tailored looks seem to be reserved for older
men. "There's almost a rite of passage," he added. "You have to
earn the right to pull off that suit." Having clocked a little time on
planet Earth can make a man more photogenic, added Mr. Santamaria: "[I
like] that you can see the experience and tradition in their faces." Many
of Mr. Santamaria's Milanese photos focus on these older gentlemen like fashion
showroom owner Alessandro Squarzi. Mr. Squarzi's élan comes via
spezzato—artfully mismatched jackets and trousers. Try it with a plaid blazer,
vest and khaki pants.
TOYKO'S SENSE
OF PRECISION
The Japanese city is hands-down Mr. Santamaria's
favorite to shoot. "[Tokyo residents] pay so much attention to what they
wear," he said. "They execute a look to the very last detail."
And that's true whether a guy is working an old-school dandy flourish or
parsing the finer points of high-quality raw denim. Regarding the latter, few
people do cool Americana better than the Japanese, who worship selvage denim,
chambray shirts and limited-edition sneakers. "It's the most amazing place
I've been to," he said. "You feel like you're engulfed in this other
universe."
MARRYING
PAST AND FUTURE IN LONDON
Mr. Santamaria pronounced men in London as
high-fashion-obsessed: "When you see something on the runway, you see it
on the streets a few weeks later." But it's not all about the
fashion-forward. London style mixes the new with the old. It's a look perfectly
captured by Dan Rookwood, the U.S. editor for e-commerce site Mr Porter, whom
Mr. Santamaria interviewed for his book. "He has this heritage look about
him but is always on top of whatever is new," said the photographer.
"It's not about wearing vintage, it's about wearing modern clothing but
sort of following the traditions of his dad's wardrobe." Note the
slimmed-down, contemporary cut of Mr. Rookwood's camel coat and his soft-frame
briefcase. For a similar effect, try AMI's camel coat, a classic Dunhill
pinstripe suit and the dandy-like flourish of a floral silk tie.
NEW YORK'S LAND OF
OPPORTUNITY
"New York is the most fun when it comes to
fashion," said Mr. Santamaria. "You have everything, from big-box to
luxury stores. This is where fashion is most accessible, and there's so much
opportunity to do things with your clothes." And not just clothes. About
the picture here, he commented in his book, "Nowhere but New York does a
mode of transportation become a fashion statement." To underline the
city's sense of fashion freedom, "Men in This Town" features an
interview with womenswear designers Jeffrey Costello and Robert Tagliapietra,
well known for their twinned uniforms of plaid shirts, suspenders and
lumberjack beards. "They've been doing it since the '90s," Mr.
Santamaria said. "They anticipated the hipster movement. They're
pioneers." Key elements of Gotham style: a subtly refined version of that
sportswear classic, a fisherman's knit, and a basic backpack recast in striped
wool and leather. The final touch is footwear that earned its street cred
decades ago, Converse's Chuck Taylors.
SYDNEY'S LIGHTER
TAKE ON TRADITION
Perhaps because he lives there, Mr. Santamaria
is a vocal proponent of Sydney's burgeoning menswear scene. "Especially in
the last five years or so, it's started to boom," he said. Men dress
appropriately for the mostly warm climate, but that doesn't mean flip-flops and
shorts. "You're starting to see looks done in a Neapolitan way, but it's
lighter and more free," Mr. Santamaria said. "It's a mix between
sartorial and beachy." Certainly a sharp-shouldered jacket worn with a
T-shirt and dashingly looped bohemian scarf strikes the right balance. As does
an unlined Boglioli jacket and smartly casual, moccasin-like boots.
