The new Glasgow boys

Four years on and I’m walking with Pryce on Glasgow’s Buchanan Street. Now he’s the man with the camera.

Pryce, 24, is one half of the team behind Les Garçons de Glasgow. He started the Glasgow street-style blog in 2009 with friend Daniel Stern.

The site gets up to 2000 hits a day and is viewed as far afield as Tokyo and Tel Aviv. Its popularity has led to a string of creative collaborations with, among others, House of Fraser, Urban Outfitters, Mulberry and Vivienne Westwood.

Last year, he photographed the likes of Jonathan Saunders at the Scottish Fashion Awards.

This year, Pryce will stand alongside Saunders as a nominee after the website was nominated in the category Communicator of the Year.

It’s a fitting category for a website that is all about portraying the city in a good light.

“It’s really cool for me that the site is becoming part of Glasgow and the identity of Glasgow,” says Pryce. “I want people in New York or London or Tokyo to think, ‘Wow, Glasgow’s cool.’ I am representing Glasgow in the way that I want people to see it – and that’s important – but I want it to be the people’s thing as well as my thing.”

As such, Pryce rarely goes out without his camera. “When we first started, it was guaranteed that if you didn’t have your camera, you would see someone who was just so unique and incredible,” he says.

The site’s was originally billed as “documenting the style of Glasgow”. But Pryce has since changed that. The looks reflect his taste which is, he says, “vintage inspired, sometimes sharper looks with a twist, tailored and the occasional club kid type/outrageous person.” His own style is the epitome of dapper – with an edge.

Today, Pryce navigates Buchanan Street, seeking out the sartorially stylish, with the same stealth, swift movement and keen instinct as a predator searching for its next victim. “I scan into the distance so I can see people coming and have time to figure out if they look good or not,” he says. “Sometimes it’s awkward because you’ll be looking someone up and down and they’ve seen you, and there’s this moment ...”

He trails off and suddenly springs into action. Weaving through the crowd, he goes after a young woman who catches his eye. She’s wearing a short camel-coloured skirt, demure purple cardigan, sandals and the ubiquitous black Ray-Ban Wayfarers. He delivers his set speech: “Excuse me. I’m a photographer. I work for a street style blog. I think you look really cool. I’d love to take your photo.”

The woman agrees and Pryce escorts her to a quiet spot while engaging her in friendly chat.

That’s the hard part, Pryce explains to me later in the Citizen M Hotel. “As you’re taking the photos, you’re thinking about so many different things – getting the focus right, getting the right number of shots, making sure they’re not nervous.”

The latter wasn’t a problem with our girl on Buchanan Street. “That’s something specific to people in their early 20s,” says Pryce. “They don’t care who takes their photo so they relinquish all value of their image. It’s this whole idea of getting your five minutes of fame.

“You’ve giving people a real compliment. Everyone wants a mini part of fame and that’s the success of street style blogs – you have your photo taken, you’re excited to see it, you check the blog and then share it with your friends.” This, he says, is why the site has quickly gained a following.

Pryce and Stern were influenced by websites like DirtyDirtyDancing, which showcased photos of London club kids circa 2004/2005. But it was while Pryce was studying in New York in 2007 that Stern told him about The Sartorialist, a blog that showcased the work of Scott Schuman, the pioneer of street style photography. Pryce attended Schuman’s first exhibition in the city and was blown away by the hundreds of people queuing to attend. It made him think: “Why doesn’t Glasgow have one?”

Soon, Pryce and Stern introduced street style photography to their respective university magazines – Stern at this point was in Toronto studying for a year, Pryce was back home at Strathclyde University. Upon graduation in 2009, Pryce launched a social media marketing company and the pair decided to launch a street style blog. After bandying around names like the Glasgow Style Network, the name Les Garçons de Glasgow came into Pryce’s head.

Like Schuman and The Sartorialist, Pryce is keen to develop the site into a brand – without it seeming forced. “Ideally, I’d love to be seen as someone who knows about fashion and is an expert in what I do,” says Pryce. “I’m always learning and always trying to develop. The blog is my learning curve.”

Advertising on the site – from brands like Topman, Acne and All Saints – brings in money but, more importantly, says Pryce, it gives credibility. In terms of the amount of hours the pair dedicate to the site, he admits: “We wouldn’t even break even. But I’m a perfectionist. I’m want it to look a certain way.”

Pryce says taking strangers’ photos on the street is almost like a social experiment. “I’ve met so many different people doing this. I’ve even made best friends,” he says.

It’s something he loved about his time in the US – the way people just struck up conversations. “Americans are bred to be great communicators and business people,” says Pryce. “The reason they boomed in the 1950s is because they were all about making connections and talking to people.”

Pryce regularly attends London Fashion Week, where the concept of street style photographers is more commonplace.

“People are like, ‘Just take my picture, come on, I’m standing here waiting.’ But here in Glasgow, you’re really making someone’s day.”

What is it that makes Glasgow’s style special? Pryce cites its shift from being a predominantly working-class city to one with a burgeoning student population. That and the mentality Glaswegians have for “living for the weekend”.

“Obviously, I’m biased,” says Pryce. “But I do think Glasgow’s high up in terms of being experimental and willing to try something new.” Paris is one his favourite cities, but, he says: “It doesn’t have the same style as Glasgow. There, it’s about rules and following them – looking beautiful and classic. We take it less seriously.”

When it comes to Glasgow’s eastern neighbour, Pryce is complimentary but clear. “I’ve been to Edinburgh a few times but I didn’t get many photos from it,” he says. “It wasn’t because they weren’t friendly or accepting of the process. It was more that the style in Edinburgh is very controlled. They don’t tend to take risks. Although I do like that style, I don’t get that excited, inspired feeling where I have to run after someone.”

One girl on the site has had her photo posted three times. “It’s interesting because I see the same people on the same streets,” says Pryce. “The people who are the true stylish people are the people I see on different days but they always look great.”

Pryce has faced criticism about locations, but negative comments, he says, come with the territory. “There are certain places you just know there’s going to be well-dressed people,” he says. “So we don’t really do east Glasgow or the south side much, which is a shame, but it’s just about clothes.”

Pryce also moderates comments on the site. “This is the generation where everyone has the ability to be heard but I don’t see the point of hurting anyone’s feelings.”

Born and raised in Kilmacolm in Renfrewshire, Pryce always loved fashion. In high school, his art teacher would bring in her old Vogues and Pryce took them home to devour. “Fashion was in my heart,” says Pryce. “It’s cheesy but I love clothing and the way people express themselves. I was born to do something like this.” His mother, a former singer from London, influenced him with her Biba dresses and high heels. “I loved looking at them and not really understanding why I did,” says Pryce. “She was a big influence.”

Pryce’s parents split up with he was 11 and his dad moved to Glasgow. “Coming up to Glasgow at the weekends opened my mind to a world beyond Kilmacolm,” he says.

Now Les Garçons de Glasgow has developed into a site with reaches far beyond its name. Pryce posts pictures from wherever his travels take him and Stern contributes from London, where he now lives.

Pryce sees his next creative outlet as being fashion film and he’s just finished a film shoot with Scots designer Hilary Laing. “It’s about pushing my boundaries to see how I can develop as a creative person and make this my life,” says Pryce.

He maintains “five or six” other jobs – ranging from stylist to photographer. He admits it’s a risk being in a creative job – not having that monthly pay cheque. “But I love what I do,” he says.

“In essence, street style photography is all about that moment – seeing someone on the street and seizing the photo. And that translates to life. I want to live by the philosophy that you have to grasp life by both hands.”

www.lesgarconsdeglasgow.com