1. The Armoury has a large and loyal following on social media and street style blogs and Instagram, what are your general feelings on that? In what ways does street style help to get The Armoury's message across?
The message that we try to get across is that we really believe in our products and are happy to be personally seen in them. We don't use models and we don't enforce a dress code. If you work at The Armoury, you should have an understanding of how to dress in the classic style. What I love is that though we all draw from what's available from the shop, everyone can still be dressed in a way that is unique to them and true to their personal style. The fact that people like our content and want to follow us, is of course very flattering and good for our business.
2. Looking at The Armoury and people like Nick Wooster, do you think there is a trend of retailers becoming style icons themselves? If so, why do you think that's happened?
Yes, there is definitely a trend for that. For me, it all started with Scott Schuman. I remember reading his blog in its nascent stages ten years ago. It was not only visually beautiful but also very informative in terms of displaying how things could be put together. I think a lot of people who grew up using street style photography to learn and develop their style feel very comfortable with that method. Some of these people, such as myself, have ended up in the clothing industry still practicing that same method, roles reversed, to display and inform.
I personally have a love/hate relationship with the trend. What I want to promote is dressing in the classic style but as a way to be yourself, not to follow someone else. As long as no-one takes what we do too seriously and just uses it for a bit of inspiration, I'm happy with that. It's not in my nature, or The Armoury's nature, to be flashy but social media is to a certain extent, shameless self promotion and I wrestle with that paradox constantly. However, ultimately I also feel that it is just part of my job. If I'm not producing content on social media, I'm not doing my job.
3. Which street style photographers do you work with and why?
We don't specifically work with any street style photographers. If we are all in the same place, we might get our photo taken. There are a few that like what we do and so we get photographed by them more consistently. Tommy Ton, formerly of Jak and Jill and Style.com, Neil Watson of A and H Magazine, Robert Spangle of Thousand Yard Style, Michelle Junn and Carmen Chan to name a few.