Amy Arbus Returns to Shooting Style, This Time Focusing on Headwear

Ms. Arbus, a New York native, started photographing street style in the 1980s for The Village Voice as a way to meet the cool downtown crowd. "Self-expression through clothing was so strong at that point," she said. "Making a mark by showing who you are was the way to get noticed." After taking a break from street style to focus on personal projects and commercial work, she recently returned to it. "I thought for a long time that people weren't as interested in style as they used to be," she said,  adding that "something about the resistance has brought back what we wear as a statement now."  

Ms. Arbus was never a stranger to the field of photography — her mother was the acclaimed photographer Diane Arbus, and her father was the actor and photographer Allan Arbus — but she didn't pick up a camera until after her mother was no longer making images.  She alsostudied with Richard Avedon, a longtime family friend, in the '90s. "He gave us the responsibility to do something new for the medium," she said of her experience with Mr. Avedon. "He said: 'Otherwise you're just making more pictures. We don't need more pictures in the world.'"

Unlike a typical street-style photographer, Ms. Arbus enlisted some people she knew to show their identity through their head coverings and asked them to be photographed.  That was the case with Lashaia Artis, an artist and jewelry designer who goes by Reign Apiim (meaning All Power is in Me), above, who dresses in this fashion daily.  She was introduced to Ms. Artis through a mutual friend and gave her a call. "I said: 'I've seen pictures of you, you are perfect for this. What are you doing for the next couple hours?'" Ms. Arbus said.

Toshi Reagon, a musician and activist, was wearing this beanie cap with a play on the words "She" and "Hero" when Ms. Arbus saw her at the Women's March in Washington.  Ms. Arbus later asked to photograph her in the hat in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. "She's an advocate for all kinds of things: women's rights, Black Lives Matter and more," Ms. Arbus said. "But I loved that she was taking back the hero and giving it to the women at this point in time."

Ms. Arbus was attracted to Chesray for her hairstyle and the ankh earrings she had made herself. "She said to me: 'I love New York. You can just be going to have lunch and all the sudden somebody wants to photograph you,'" Ms. Arbus said.

Lori, who works at Bergdorf Goodman, is known in the area for always wearing period clothes and being covered in tattoos. "She has sleeve tattoo coverings," Ms. Arbus said, adding, "What do you call them when they are on your legs? Pants? Tights?"

Israa was coming out of the subway when Ms. Arbus stopped her. She had moved to the United States from Egypt when she was 4 and wore her head scarf in a more modern way occasionally. "I just was very moved by women who took pride in showing that kind of commitment to their religion, their lifestyle, their morals," Ms. Arbus said.