"Everyone you meet will come back in your life somehow."

I have no idea what fashion is. What people wear. What looks best. It can be hard to distinguish what we actually like and what we are subconsciously lead toward. The words, "Fashion" and "Style" are almost completely interchangeable in their usage and meaning, depending on who you are talking to. 

And since I have no place talking about fashion and have a penchant for wearing my clothes into oblivion where I am then forced to throw them away, because I look like a character out of a Charles Dickens novel, I started up a conversation with Chantal Adair. A young woman in New York who started at 16 as a High Fashion model and over the past few years has transitioned into photography and fashion journalism. 

Chantal Adair

When she was still in Highschool, Chantal began doing runway modeling and commercial shoots for companies like Estee Lauder and L'Oreal. But, after working for a makeup company and being a part of their Fashion Forecasting staff, she realized that what she loved was being behind the camera. And a great part of being a photographer instead of a model is that you decide what the pictures will be. 

"Eighty percent of the people I photograph I just meet on the street. I try to find people who have their own style, who are  confident in what they are wearing." Chantal has her own idea about how popular fashion can present itself. Her website, NYCStreetFile.com, is an exhibition for people who decide on their own what makes fashion, "They couldn't care less about any sort of approval." When there is someone on the street who has that intangible quality, she stops them and snaps their picture. She doesn't care what their face or body looks like, all she wants are pictures of people who bring their own flair to what fashion means for themselves. 

In addition to her ambitious take on freelance Fashion Journalism, she also does work for world

renown companies like Steve Madden, Galore, Bullett Magazine, and Elle Japan. Which has taken her from doing photo shoots in the streets of New York to Fashion Week in Milan, Italy and Paris, France. 

But what is most important to Chantal, the thing that trumps any of her success and work as a photographer, are her relationships in and out of the Fashion Industry. "I really enjoy connecting with and meeting new people. [I'm looking for] any way I could expand friendships. I love people. Everyone you meet will come back in your life somehow."

You can find Chantal and her work on her website: NYCStreetFile.com

Or, on twitter at  @nycstreetfile

She currently lives in the East Village.

- Jeff

All photos by Chantal Adair