style
May 4, 2024

What fashion tells about people

Blogger Smilla Dankert, 42.

Dressing up her blog differently, Cologne-based Smilla Dankert shows people you just have to like. She addressed them on the street and photographed them: because they have an individual style or an infectious laugh, or because they simply stand out in the uniform beige of the pedestrian zones. Often, these people also have a lot to tell. That's why Smilla Dankert asks about her job, chatting with her about her current favorite reading or her hometown Cologne. Sometimes it is also about existential things, for example, what is important to them in life. Smilla Dankert, who works as a costume designer for films, likes to photograph older people. Her lightheartedness and the ease with which she wears her sometimes eccentric style, she finds fascinating.

On the following pages you can meet some of the people Smilla Dankert photographed. In addition, she explains in an interview why she now devotes more time to her ways and why clothing is much more than what you wear.

Kirstin is an artist and likes it colorful.

ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: Where do you meet all the interesting people you photograph for "dressing differently"?

Smilla Dankert: Actually everywhere. Of course you will find the fastest in colorful mixed crowds, for example in the city center. But even in very remote corners, I can suddenly become aware of someone. Sometimes I go specifically to take photos. But I often talk to people while I'm on my way from A to B. Since I have the blog, I'm planning more time for the paths.

Serkan just had breakfast when Smilla Dankert approached him. He studies communication design and likes to take photos and videos.

ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: How did you come up with the idea of running a streetstyle blog?

Smilla Dankert: I do not do a streetstyle blog in the traditional sense. It's more of a blog about 1. people and 2. his clothes. My interest in people on the street, ie strangers, has always been strong. In addition, I'm a costume designer for contemporary films, so I have an interested look because of my job. And it's not so much about current fashion as it does about the individuality of a person and their very own, perhaps even very old-fashioned clothing style. When I started, I did not know exactly where the blog trip took me; meanwhile it is clear to me that a picture alone is not enough for me. I would like to know something about the people I photograph.

Ms. Rühle is almost 70 and, according to Smilla Dankert, a good-tempered person. She has always been interested in beautiful clothes.

ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: You say you have a thing for older ladies. What fascinates you about their style?

Smilla Dankert: It's not just the style that fascinates me about the older ladies and gentlemen; it is the whole lived life that you can see, of course in clothes as well. Some are very reserved, some quite conventional. But most of the time, the older people really tell me something about their lives. Often they have a tremendous wisdom of life: they take themselves and the conversation with me very seriously. There arises relatively quickly a special liability. At the same time, they just do not take everything that seriously anymore. If you have experienced a lot, you can see many a relaxed. And that brings a humorous lightness with it. This combination has its own charm, which I succumbed to immediately. In addition, especially the ladies understand how to celebrate, and some treat a bit of eccentricity. It's simply fun.

Alexandra had to catch her train and had little time. Nevertheless, she has been photographed by Smilla Dankert and tells that she is reading Milan Kundera's novel "The unbearable lightness of being".

ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: How do people react when you ask for a photo for your blog?

Smilla Dankert: Generally positive and interested. I rarely get rubbish.

Ms. S. is a teacher at a secondary school and thinks, "Giving knowledge is not the main task of a teacher."

ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: In your entries, you often write why you noticed the person. Is fashion more than clothing for you?

Smilla Dankert: In any case, clothing is much more than just what you wear. It's something to identify with and show to the outside world. Clothing is thus dumb language, a form of communication.This communication does not necessarily happen consciously. But she is essential. I realize that at the latest in my work as a costume designer, when people should wear clothes in which they do not find themselves, but which is consistent for the role. Sometimes this gap has to be overcome first. Everyone knows this also with borrowed clothes: It is a strange skin in which one hatches. Your own clothes are an expression of something very personal. This shows much; whether one unfolds or limits one's self, whether one allows oneself to be out of line or to be compliant; whether one - even with the clothes - takes up space or makes himself small. For me it is interesting to check the clichés and related judgments. People who dress in a special way are often assigned to a particular group at lightning speed: student, philistine, poor, rich, old, businessman, worker and so on ...

Mr. Pleuger is 76 years old, a cloth merchant and only wears tailor-made, from shirts to shoes.

ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: Who would you like to meet and take pictures on the street?

Smilla Dankert: Honestly, nobody in particular. I'm just happy about the discoveries of everyday life, they are small gifts for me. The everyday life is colorful, if you look closely. I would like to travel through different regions and states to take pictures, preferably older people. I think that's exciting.