By: Katherine Wellman

I’m a people watcher. I have been since I can remember. I have distinct memories of my mother telling me not to stare at people when I was younger and I never really learned. I have been called on it by many of my friends who catch me staring at people on buses, in restaurants and on the street.
When I was in university I actually couldn’t study in  the student centre or places where people walked by regularly because I would just stare at them and wouldn’t get any work done. It was terrible and totally unproductive.

Photo from Face Hunter

Strangers are so interesting though. When staring at a stranger you know nothing about them except for what you can see. It is easy to make conclusions about people and their lives based on what you see, but you will probably never know if those conclusions are true or not. More importantly, they have their own sense of fashion which has developed in a very different way than your own.
It’s interesting to watch other people and see their fashion sense in a completely objective way.
For those of us who enjoy people watching purely for style tips and ideas there are websites popping up all over the internet from all over the world which focus on just that. Photographers take pictures of people who are fashion forward and have a unique look. They are pioneers in their own way and are able to pair simple or extravagant pieces together to create an amazingly beautiful look.
Websites such as Face Hunter (facehunter.blogspot.com) and Sartorialist (thesartorialist.blogspot.com) allow the viewer to people watch without leaving their desk.

Photo from The Sartorialist

One of the most important parts of people watching is the fact that these people are and always will be strangers. You don’t know their names, ages, occupations of hobbies. These sites work in the same way. They are picture blogs of strangers. These street wear websites are catching on and if you type “street wear” into Google you will find many sites that can feed that same need to people watch.
How many times have you walked down the street and thought to yourself, “Wow! I love her dress!” These sites allow you to do that from your desk. The people pictured on these sites are some of the most fashionable in street wear and the photography is impeccable.
Scott Schuman, for example, who created the Sartolialist shoots for style.com. His pictures on the Sartorialist show people in their natural habitats and dressed in beautiful clothing that I can’t even imagine owning.
Check out some of these sites and satisfy your need to people watch. Or take some tips from these people – choose your own unique path when it comes to fashion.