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For New Yorkers, fashion inspiration can be found on a walk through Central Park or a ride on the subway. For those outside the city, there are street-style social media accounts like Watching New York, NYC Looks, and OOTD showing the trends emerging in New York and beyond.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople like a New York City voyeuristic experience,\u201d Johnny Cirillo, photographer and creator of Watching New York, told us.<\/p>\n
Brands are taking notice. In recent months, Watching New York, which has more than 2 million followers on Instagram and TikTok combined, has worked with brands like Aerie, Lego, and JD Sports. OOTD, which has more than 400,000 followers across both platforms, has also posted organic-looking street-style content with brands like Free People, Rothy\u2019s, and Cult Gaia that have generated thousands of likes on TikTok and Instagram.<\/p>\n
Informal, documentary-style depictions of everyday style seem to be a hit with consumers, whether or not the content is branded. \u201cPeople want that relatability,\u201d Cory Muroff, co-founder of OOTD, told us. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing a big shift in the way that people consume content, and this style is working very well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stacey McCormick, CMO of Aerie, agreed: \u201cStreet-style photography is the ultimate trend report,\u201d she told us via email. \u201cThe rise of creator-led content and the shift toward organic, community-driven marketing make this an area with significant potential for brands looking to connect with their audience in a fresh, engaging way.\u201d<\/p>\n
OOTD, which secured its Instagram handle in 2017, started breaking into branded posts last summer. Its first post was with Free People in July, Muroff said, a few months after OOTD started a TikTok account and opened the website ootd.com, where it has recently begun experimenting with shoppable gift guides.<\/p>\n
Capturing trends in action means shooting footage on the streets of New York nearly every day, sometimes all day, and sifting through thousands of videos, Muroff said; about 90% of the footage OOTD posts are candids of people unaffiliated with the account. Branded videos are designed to appear just as candid, Muroff said, so it feels \u201cas if it wasn\u2019t staged at all.\u201d Alex Rogers, OOTD\u2019s other co-founder, said branded posts often feature friends or everyday people wearing a brand\u2019s clothes instead of recognizable models or influencers\u2014assuming the brand partner has given them that leeway.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been super thankful to have a ton of creative freedom to match the style that we do organically,\u201d Rogers told us.<\/p>\n
One recent partnership video with Sneex, which shows women walking around SoHo in high-heeled sneakers, has generated more than 2 million views and 70,000 likes on TikTok, which Muroff said is entirely organic.<\/p>\n
Watching New York also got its start around 2017, but it wasn\u2019t until 2020 when Cirillo started incorporating branded content into the account, starting with a Pandora partnership. \u201cThey asked me if I would mind putting a necklace on somebody, take a picture of them with it, and put it on my page,\u201d he said. \u201cI said, \u2018Well, how much?\u2019 And they gave me a number. And I was like, \u2018Holy cow.\u2019 I quit my job, got an agency right after that, and I\u2019ve been doing it since.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Cirillo says he now inks two or three brand deals every month, and often recruits strangers he\u2019s captured in organic shoots for branded campaigns based on their style. Other times, brands might present brand ambassadors who Cirillo may review and incorporate into shoots based on how well they \u201crepresent the people of New York,\u201d said Shoshannah Cutler, who works with Cirillo on brand partnerships as CEO, founder, and creator manager of Shoshalmedia.<\/p>\n
Like OOTD, the account generally steers clear of models or creators and is careful to feature styles that are the right fit. \u201cThe idea of a post is to get as many eyeballs on the content as humanly possible,\u201d Cirillo said. \u201cWhen [the models] all look kind of similar\u2026and it\u2019s clothing and style that I don\u2019t usually post, I think I lose the audience that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Watching New York has also shot candid-style photos for brands like Aerie to use on their owned accounts. McCormick said street-style shoots can \u201cspotlight the diverse ways [its] community styles the brand,\u201d while also helping to keep the brand culturally relevant.<\/p>\n
Rogers said he plans for OOTD to begin producing candid-style content for brands\u2019 owned channels.<\/p>\n
While there\u2019s \u201cno blueprint\u201d to Watching New York\u2019s brand work, Cirillo said he\u2019s seen success when brands \u201calmost gloss over\u201d a product, like subtly mentioning or showing it in a man-on-the-street interview, as opposed to heavily focusing on the item. As for showing one product on many people or many products on one person? It all depends on the brand, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnything that we\u2019ve done that was much higher end, people love seeing head-to-toe,\u201d he said, citing a 2022 Gucci x MLB collaboration he photographed as one example. \u201cWhen it\u2019s other products that are more affordable, I think people like being like, \u2018Oh, I wouldn\u2019t have thought to put that shoe with this outfit.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Cirillo has also branched out into brand event photography, which he did for Aerie in December. McCormick said guests at the event were \u201cgenuinely excited\u201d to be photographed by Cirillo, and that those photos helped amplify the brand\u2019s presence across social media. Aerie and Cirillo also worked together on a recent on-the-street shoot for the brand, which McCormick compared to user-generated content, calling it an \u201cextension\u201d of the strategy.<\/p>\n
The street-style content, she said, \u201callows us to engage our audience in a way that feels natural, aspirational, and highly shareable\u2014bridging the gap between editorial storytelling and everyday fashion inspiration.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Cirillo said he can sometimes \u201cfeel the pressure of\u2026\u2018selling out\u2019\u201d when working on branded posts, he said he keeps them spaced out and in line with his overall look in an effort to satisfy his followers while continuing to run the account full-time.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou got to look at it as a commercial in a TV show,\u201d he said. \u201cThese are the commercials. Bear with me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n