Blogger Spotlight: Luke Ross, The Fashion Samaritan

Luke Ross, author of The Fashion Samaritan uses himself as the centrepiece of his blog to create high-fashion looks and inspiration. Inspired by fashion gurus like Andre Leon Talley, Luke shares shots from his fashion look book, including outfits from Paul Smith, Alexander McQueen, Saint Laurent, and Common Projects. Creatively shot in different locations across London and the UK, The Fashion Samaritan makes clever use of bold colours and avant-garde fashion designs. In this spotlight, Luke, who features on our men’s fashion ranking chats to us about what fashion means to him, the importance of social media to his blog and who his favourite designers are. 

What inspired you to blog? I started out with the one goal, to make a hub of creative content that inspired me and hopefully others.

Was it easy coming up with the name for your blog? A few years ago I heard someone describing themselves as a ‘Fashion Samaritan’ and I just thought it was the most ridiculous thing ever so it has always stuck with me….when I started blogging I knew straight away what I wanted to call the site.

Which blogs do you read on a daily basis? I’m constantly refreshing bryanboy.com, katelovesme.com, shinebythree.com,mikkoputtonen.com, didieryhc.com, bagaaholicboy.com and scoutsixteen.com all the time to see what’s new. They just know who their audience is and service them so well.

Which photographers do you work with? At the moment I only really work with one photographer, he just gets me, my references but most of all he knows what I’ve done creatively in the past and always pushes me to do something new.

What does fashion mean to you? To me, fashion is the ultimate opportunity to express yourself. I believe that my clothes should make statements so my mouth doesn’t have to.

Which are your favourite brands? Loewe, Paul Smith, Marni, J.W.Anderson, Skagen Denmark, AMI Paris, Dries Van Noten, Acne Studios, Our Legacy and 3.1 Phillip Lim. They make up 90% of my wardrobe.

Have you been able to build a relationship with them and how did you go about this? Some I have and some I hope to in the future. Most of the brands I have worked with have reached out to me usually because they like what I’m doing or because I already buy into the brand and naturally have a synergy with them.

Do you approach brands for collaborations? I’m currently working on a few proposals now so hopefully, they work out!

How important is social media for your blog? Hugely, even without advertising social media is basically an advertisement of what my blog is. It sets a tone and showcases snippets and teasers of what you can expect to discover on the blog.

Which fashion designers and fashion bloggers do you admire? I’ve always admired people who work hard and don’t complain, look at Karl Lagerfeld, he is in his 80s and works everyday producing 16 plus collections a year without ever complaining. So anyone in the fashion industry that has the attitude automatically gets my admiration.

Where do you see yourself 5 years from now in relation to your blog? Any personal goals? I’m totally open to the next 5 years, I just want to keep creating content and collaborating with amazing brands…but maybe in a new city.

What advice do you have for aspiring men’s fashion bloggers? You don’t need to know what you are doing but you do at least need to know who you are talking to. Everything is about targeting and if you know who you want to speak to you will soon know what you are doing. What’s the point of creating amazing content if no one sees it?