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(exciting music)Scott: When I started my blog, it was with a simple idea;
travel the world searching for people whose style defined who we are today.( perky music)
My name is Scott Schuman and I am the sartorialist.
( calm music) Real style can be very subtle like a whisper.
People don't always have to yell to be heard.
Someone can look great and have the most incredible right-off-the-runway dress,
but if they don't have the grace, and mystery, and desire,
it's not going t make a great photograph.
The image of Julie offered, in one photograph, an image
that to me had layers of depth.
What'd you think when the first time that I took your picture?
Julie: It's interesting when you shoot me because you pull a quietude out of me
that seems more true to who I am as opposed to my shyness.
It's just one of those moments, those quiet moments where you just pause and
take a photo and it just so happened to have something special in there.
Scott:The photograph became more beautiful to me the more I got to know Julie
and the more I got to know who she is as a person.
It's the fact that she is so real.
I think it's the sincerity that you see in the photographs.
Yeah, that's really cute; I thought it was going to be
way, way, way, way, way too big.
It's close enough in the shoulder.
Julie: Yeah, it's just a little bit big, that's okay.
Scott: Yeah, that would probably look great on me.
Can I try it on?
Julie: I like your pop collar.
Scott: For me, a photograph is the experience of taking the photograph,
and the interaction with the person.
It's beyond the clothing; it's beyond physical beauty.
I think they make you want to learn more about who that person is.
I met NI'ma and she just looked like a dream out of a different period.
I just asked, like I do sometimes, "Where's the dress from?",
"Where's the coat from?"
I could tell they were vintage pieces.
I wasn't expecting to hear her say that they had all come from members
of her family and mainly from her grandma.
Ni'ma: This was my grandmother's.
Scott: It's a [robe].
Ni'ma: This is her; and then this is her with her sisters.
This is a perfume that came from her apartment.
I was just trying to ... all these pieces are hers.
Scott: You grew up watching your grandma go to church.
Ni'ma: Um-hum.
Scott: How did that influence you?
Ni'ma: It just inspired me to put more effort into my attire getting dressed.
Just seeing her apply makeup, selecting accessories.
At the time, I didn't know what church really was.
Scott: Uh-huh.
Ni'ma: I just knew she was getting ready to go to church.
Scott: Um-huh, what did you imagine it must be?
Ni'ma: A place that people would just get dressed up and go and,
beautiful people were just going.
Scott: Yeah, almost like a nightclub.
Ni'ma: Yeah.
Scott: You can't fake a natural gracefulness.
With her, it's in the calmness of her face; it's in how relaxed her eyes are, but
to me her entire beauty and gracefulness
is captured in the calmness of her hands.
When I started thinking about doing the second book, of course
the very first thing you think of is what's the cover going to be?
By this time, blogs had been around long enough;
and the first thought obviously would be to put somebody known.
For me, that just didn't seem right.
The more I thought about what I wanted the cover to say,
the more obvious it became that that photograph of Ni'ma would be the perfect one.
It seemed like a perfect door to open people up
into the world of what that second book was going to be.
For me, I found a camera is a device to let people share who they are with you.
With both Ni'ma and Julie, having been the cover girls of my books,
they've become friends.
I see them quite a bit; I'm always curious about what they're wearing.
I often shoot them when I see them.
They have such a chameleon-like character that I never know
what Julie I'm going to meet on any particular day.
I never know what Ni'ma I'm going to meet.