Brooklyn Street Style: The No-Rules Guide to Fashion by Shawn Dahl and Anya Sacharow is not really a book about Brooklyn and its style icons. No. It is a book about you, the reader. It is about how you see the world and how you interpret style.
This paperback is a salad made of the most delicious stylish Brooklynites with a very cosmopolitan seasoning. You will see a variety of styles influenced by different countries and ethnic backgrounds starting with Kenya, India and ending with Poland and Russia as well as everything in-between.
One of my favourite quotes from Brooklyn Street Style is by Jenn Rogien, the costume designer of the popular HBO series, Girls:
It’s hard to describe Brooklyn style because as soon as you come up with a way of describing it, it’s moved to something else. It’s constantly evolving.
Much like the other book I reviewed, Paris Street Style: Shoes, this is an easy breezy read that is designed to inject positivity into your life. Brooklyn Street Style does it beautifully: The colours, the eccentricity, the down-to-earth, human approach to fashion – all of these aspects get the reader’s endorphin levels up.
Suddenly, style is not something only grand couturiers can dictate, it is something that you, yourself, can participate in the creation of, just like the inspiring icons in this book. Think of Brooklyn Street Style as fashion caffeine. Within five minutes your pupils will widen, your heart will start beating faster as your mind puts together a few new looks to try out this week.
This is why Brooklyn Street Style is about you, the reader. It’s about the outfit you’ll wear after you put this book down. It’s about how you’re going to feel wearing it. And most importantly, it’s about you being happy in your own skin.
A huge thank you to Abrams & Chronicle Books for my copy. You can get one here.