Street style’s newest star

“Just a minute,” says Adam Katz Sinding, interrupting our conversation outside the Christophe Lemaire show in Paris, before darting off to pursue and snap a potentially big name. “I’m very direct; sometimes people think I’m an a—hole, but you need to say what you want in order to get it,” asserts the photographer.

Those could well be the words of a paparazzo, but actually Sinding is the street style photographer of the moment. It’s a competitive world, but he believes that there’s “always room to squeeze your way in.” Not that the 31-year-old sees himself as a blogger; his website — Le21eme.com — clearly states, “This is NOT a street style blog.” So what is it?

“It is, of course it is,” the self-titled photojournalist admits. “But personally, I see the word ‘blog’ as a derogatory term. If somebody were to call me a blogger, I’d be very upset.

“Street style is very commercial, and there is nothing wrong with that. Some people do it very well but it’s just not my thing,” he adds.

From his point of view, the clothes are “complementary” to a more artistic statement. Sinding’s goal is to give his followers a unique viewpoint into fashion. Now with an impressive résumé that includes photographing names like Alexa Chung and Olivia Palermo for the biggest fashion publications such as Vogue, W magazine, InStyle and Style.com, Sinding has no lack of work.

But even though he can count some of the most prestigious names as his clients — including a recent ad campaign with Italian accessories brand Furla — why is he happy to keep pounding the pavement?

“I work 20 hours a day, every day. I wake up at 8 a.m. I shoot until the sun goes down, and then go home to edit the pictures until 5 a.m. I just love taking photos,” he enthuses. And that doesn’t seem to be fading away.