Scott Schuman may have revealed that his blog, The Sartorialist, rakes in a seven figure sum in a new interview with Elle UK, but during the same conversation, his partner and fellow street style snapper Garance Doré, noted that street style blogs have perhaps lost their authenticity somewhat. ‘What we call street style isn’t actually street style at all, it’s fashion-week style,’ she explained, suggesting that designer partnerships with bloggers and a focus on outfits worn to the shows fashion week mean that resulting images are ‘more elaborate than any magazine editorial’. 

Indeed, earlier this year, a video by fashion journalist Tim Blanks for Garage and an article by Suzy Menkes for New York Times caused the debate on showy street style, which had long been bubbling under, to boil over and created a serious backlash on the subject. 

But with the next round of fashion weeks approaching, and the revenue Schuman manages to generate with his blog, there’s clearly still an appetite out there to see what fashion figures, or simply, stylish people, are wearing, so is it time to look elsewhere for this fix?

Perhaps the rise of the social media based selfie will fill the hole Google Reader (RIP), once saturated with street style blogs, has left. Of course, people with a huge twitter and Instagram following will still be gifted clothes, and no doubt photograph themselves wearing them, but the sense of immediacy that constantly photographing oneself from your phone lends, means that you’re likely to get a more rounded view of someone’s style, both on and off duty. 

Grand masters of the selfie, Rihanna and Cara Delevingne may post plenty of promotional shots of themselves to their phenomenally followed Instagram accounts, but you’re equally likely to see them in all sorts of downtime attire, from travelling hoodies and birthday dress-up, to poolside swimwear or a T-shirt for a Miami cab ride. 

The Man Repeller's Leandra Medine has all but purged her blog of the balcony outfit posts that made it famous in favour of essay-style content, but that’s not to say she’s stopped giving her readers what they loved her for originally, she’s simply switched to another platform, favouring social media for that strand of her empire, where as well as seeing considered outfit posts, you see her everyday bedside mirror shots. 

What makes the rise of the selfie as a street style replacement most viable, is that you’re probably seeing a lot more of your mates posing in the mirror, even if they’re not the kind to fill a whole blog with their outfits. I was recently privy to my friend’s entire Vegas wardrobe via Instagram, and loved every beer-in-the-hand shot she posted, but she probably wouldn’t have posted them to her blog, which is more about style gems she’s uncovered around the internet. And she’s not the only one – another friend often gets the response, ‘oh yeah, I saw on Instagram, it looked great’ when she tells me about her latest fashion find. 

So even if the warehouse for the Wang party, the cobbles at Somerset House, the tram tracks in Milan or the Jardins Tuileries are as packed as the red carpet with photographers snapping and style stars posing, as they inevitably will be come September, perhaps your social feeds will go back to being as democratic as street style blogs were when Schuman first started showing us what New York was wearing. At least, if Medine keeps up her bedside manner, and your mate continues to share what they wear down the pub every Saturday, it will.