Sure, our cover story shows there are plenty of snazzy dressers on the streets. But if you are style-challenged rather than stylish, take heart: The ordinary can be extraordinary in their own way, says one of the world's most influential fashion bloggers.

He's New Yorker Scott Schuman, better known as The Sartorialist, which is the name of his blog.

In a phone interview last Friday, Schuman, 40, stressed that style doesn't have to be perfect.

'It's more about seeing something on someone that inspires,' he said.

Indeed, the affable, dashing blond is the opposite of Miranda Priestly, the ultimate fashion snob from the novel and movie, The Devil Wears Prada: He sees elegance in an old Italian woman, face full of wrinkles, dressed in traditional village garb.

In his blog, he turns the man in the street into a fashion hero whose picture can appear right above that of French Vogue's editor-in-chief, Carine Roitfeld.

His project was named by Time Magazine as one of the Top 100 Design Influencers in the world last year and sees close to 60,000 visitors daily.

The former director of men's fashion at upscale American department store Bergdorf Goodman started the website in 2005 while he was a stay-at-home dad - he has two daughters, now aged nine and six, with his design-director wife, Christa.

'I just wanted to share photographs of people I had taken on the streets who I thought looked cool and it didn't cost a lot of money or involved a lot of work,' he said.

He spoke to Urban ahead of the launch of Gant's autumn/winter 2008 campaign, which he helmed.

The Swedish clothing label had hired him to direct and shoot the ad blitz, which rolls out next Wednesday.

Said a brand representative: 'We thought it'd be interesting to see how he, with his great sense of style and eye for details and exciting colour combinations, would interpret our brand.'

In March, Schuman got 10 of his favourite subjects into Gant's New York showroom. They were asked to pick anything from the new collection, incorporate their own style and were then shot Sartorialist-style.

The 'guerilla' campaign, said Gant's spokesman, is 'narrow, edgy and cost-efficient'.

The Sartorialist Scott Schuman shot his favourite subjects (above) for an ad for Swedish label Gant, showcasing their personal style in the brand's clothes.

What is style to you?

It is people figuring out how to wear clothes that express a little bit about the unique person they are and, at the same time, help them be who they are. You could be a doctor who wears scrubs but you could still wear them in a way that makes it you.

What do you look for most in a subject?

Anything to do with fashion. It could be silhouettes, colour, an interesting pattern mix or even posture. I put up a photo of a girl taken from the back recently. There was this gracefulness about the way she walked.

Are there really so many style fiends out there?

When I take a picture of someone, I'm not saying that person is stylish. These are people I don't know and perhaps I've caught them on the most stylish day of their lives. There's something they're wearing that inspires and makes me think.

Singaporeans often dress in plain tees, shorts and flip-flops because of the humid weather. Any advice on how to look hot while staying cool?

You can still wear those items but you'll have to take the next step and be very particular about details. For example, if a dress comes in a basic silhouette, make sure it has some sort of design detail, accessorise or put more focus on your hair. I don't like feeling hot myself so I make sure I look fit in the summer because I wear less clothes. Weather is no excuse for not dressing nicely.

Which celebrity to you has sartorial style?

Stars are not that important to me. I get a lot of inspiration from guys I don't even know much about. There are some Italian guys who hardly speak any English and I don't know their last names but when I go to Italy, I'll look them up to take their picture.

What message are you trying to send out?

It's my way of showing real people in real clothes that hopefully inspires one to think. When something is perfect, it tends to mean less to me because it's hard to imagine that outfit on anyone else and to relate to it. I don't like it when people start grading a person I've featured. They would have totally missed the point.

How do you feel about your blog becoming such a phenomenon?

I could tell early on based on readers' feedback that it could be something very good, even though I didn't quite expect it to become so big this quickly. I'll be proud if I can do this for the next 40 years. Hopefully, people will be looking at the pictures 100 years from now and still get inspired.

What do you say to critics who call fashion blogging frivolous?

I don't know about other blogs but I do know mine is making some cultural impact in the sense that there's no other magazine out there that celebrates fashion across different price points, races and ages. It's not frivolous. What I'm trying to do is capture a moment in history.

This article was first published in Urban, The Straits Times on Aug 15, 2008.