The Lifestyle of Style: An Interview with Karl-Edwin Guerre of Guerreisms
I do most of my interviews in a coffee shop near Union Square. I get there early, set up, sound-check my voice recorder and wait. When my interviewees arrive, I treat them to a drink -- coffee, green tea, soy cappuccino, whatever. I try to read people by their drinks of choice. I met Karl-Edwin Guerre of street-style blog
Guerreisms (formerly Swagger 360) on a Sunday morning at Joe the Art of Coffee. He arrived as dapper as anticipated -- a man who has probably been the subject of as many photographs as he has taken. We did the smile and handshake, and I offered my usual beverage treat. "Tea, please," he said with a humbled smile. "What kind of tea?" I asked. "Your choice," he responded. I was thrown -- too many options to process on my feet: black, herbal, green... milk, honey, size?! Moreover, how was I supposed to pass proper judgment on him? I decided to go with chamomile. He seemed pleased -- or at the very least, gracious -- because he drank it.
Karl-Edwin Guerre wears many hats. Metaphorically, but also quite literally. That is to say, this gentleman owns a
lot of beautiful hats. Fedoras, newsboy caps, boaters, you name it. Figuratively, Guerre is a modern renaissance man. "I've been called a blogger, a photographer, a writer, I've directed a short film -- I've been called a couple of different things, I leave that up to the public to decide what they want to call me," Guerre says evenly. "I don't want to insult a photographer or the craft of photography by calling myself a photographer -- I don't know the technical side of photography." Hm. Interesting -- considering that his work has been featured by the likes of
Vogue Italy,
Essence,
Details,
The Fashion Spot and more.
Regardless of title, Guerre's artistic focus lies in the depiction of style and the stories behind his subjects. His blogging began as a platform to honor great style in both men and women, but it evolved after some time. "Now my niche is men. I used to photograph both men and women, but people would comment -- saying things like 'wow your men are fantastic -- your women are just ok.' My ego wanted to keep doing women, but a point came where I checked my ego and decided to do what the public told me I was better at."
So what makes Guerreisms different from other street-style blogs? "[All bloggers] have their own personalities in what they do, and that in itself makes us different from one another. I live what I have on my site. It's more than just images -- to me it's a lifestyle. There are styles that I'm not necessarily crazy about, but I post them because I respect style.
Style is style -- if you got it, you got it."
