Snapped by Tommy Ton: “It harkens back to that old era of haute couture”

Tommy Ton Street Style Hanneli Mustaparta
Photography by Tommy Ton
Tommy Ton Street Style Hanneli Mustaparta
Hanneli Mustaparta at Paris Fashion Week Fall 2013

Canadian wonder boy Tommy Ton reflects on his street style photographs in a monthly column.

It’s rare to capture a quiet moment at fashion week, especially outside the Dior show, so when I saw Hanneli walking up, I knew I had maybe 10 seconds to run and get that photo before someone else walked into the background. It was one of those classic Irving Penn or Richard Avedon moments when a woman just looks so elegant, simply on her own, in the middle of the street. Everything was perfect: the setting, the look, the silhouette…. It very much harkens back to that old era of haute couture—almost like Dior New Look but much more modern. And I love the simplicity of wearing a coat on its own. Anna Dello Russo said last year in her video for H&M that one of her rules is to wear a coat as a dress, and if you’re willing to make a statement in early winter, there is no better accessory to a simply cut coat than a pair of bare legs. I just love how minimal it is, and also that it’s Calvin Klein, which is kind of funny and cool because she’s wearing a New Look at the Dior show but it’s not Dior. It’s An American in Paris.

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