How to view street fashion without ever leaving your room

I hate flying and I hate airplanes.
The irony of it all is I love traveling and I love airports. There’s nothing like landing in a foreign country and immediately having a whiff of what the fashion is like just by watching people at the airport, starting at immigration.

I can usually pick out which ones are Japanese based on the bag, hat, shoes, hairstyle, cut of pants. I confirm this by hearing them speak in Nihongo and seeing the red passport.

Whenever I land in a foreign country, I get bag or clothes envy, wishing I could get whatever that chic person is wearing.

I feel like my style is out of date and that makes me want to go shopping and get something new for myself, something I don’t have in my wardrobe.

In the early ’90s I discovered Street, a Japanese magazine with no articles, only pictures documenting street fashion from Paris, London and New York.

Its publisher, photographer Shoichi Aoki, began Street because he believed "real fashion is what people wear on the streets, (not) what you see in fashion magazines, on models (which) has been styled and is more commercial."

In the late ’90s he followed up with Fruits magazine, showcasing Japanese street fashion mostly from Harajuku and Omotesando.

"I don’t include people who are really into brands," said Aoki in an interview with The Night Air. "My taste is: it has to be something that’s high in originality, not too obsessed with brands and lots of things mixed together and layered."

Any serious fashionista knows that fashion begins from the street, picked up by fashion watchers, stylists, editors and designers who eventually translate it into a sellable style the mainstream can understand.

You know those hipster pants everybody wears these days? Ana, my designer friend in New York, used to literally cut the waistband off her jeans with a pair of scissors to make them hipsters. That was in 1993 and now, 13 years later, it’s, like, the norm.

I used to buy all sorts of Japanese magazines abroad. The problem is my luggage gets overweight and I end up with the clutter of magazines in the house.

These days, thanks to the Internet, I no longer have to buy those magazines. I can save money and luggage space, and still have my dose of world, street fashion without the clutter and having to fly.

Inspired by Aoki’s magazines, there has been lately a trend of new street-style websites springing up from around the globe, giving us an up-to-date view of street fashion, and not just from your usual London-Tokyo-New York, but even Helsinki-Berlin-Stockholm.

There’s a lot going round online, but I’ve filtered my list to the more interesting ones.

1) The Sartorialist (
Since September 2005, Scott Schuman has been documenting New York street fashion in his blog, which stands out from most style blogs because it isn’t bitchy.

"It’s about style, not about how expensive things are," he says in his blog. "Something has to strike me about (the subject, like) seeing something quickly and deciding if I can find something interesting about it. Sometimes it’s not the whole outfit, sometimes it’s just the shoes."

The Sartorialist began by featuring mostly well-dressed men and tailoring. But now it includes runway photos, off-duty models, editors, all sorts of fashionistas, and just really classy people on the street.

2) Misshapes (http://misshapes.com/index2.php)

Manila’s "club-goers" can get a reality check on what first-world club attire looks like by viewing the Misshapes photo gallery.

Misshapes is a dance and DJ club on Greenwich and Spring Streets, popular on Saturday nights with New York’s hipsters and scenesters.

Their website has been documenting photos of its club-goers since September 2004. The opposite of the Sartorialist, this site features New York’s children of the night. And it’s not about labels, it’s about the hair and the attitude.

Unlike Manila "scenesters" who typically get dolled up to the heels and nines, Misshapes regulars are seen in edgy, casual outfits meant for a night of serious dancing, not just posing.

3) Face Hunter (http://facehunter.blogspot.com)

My favorite. Described as "eye candy for the style hungry," this blog began in January 2006 by "a man out and about in Paris" who attends a lot of events, exhibit openings, concerts and the occasional Louis Vuitton party.

Photos are mostly headshots or taken above the waist. There is so much style and information here, leaving no doubt about Paris being the center of fashion.

4) Hel-Looks (Fruits and Street magazines, the pioneers of street fashion photography."

5) STHLMSTIL (