With his new Canon G12 in hand, hair swept up off his face, and a clean ensemble that neatly translates European dressing into a distinctly Australian summer, Yvan Rodic, better known to many as the Facehunter, sits down with On the Streets of Sydney.com for a chat and a couple drinks in Surry Hills, his favourite suburb in Sydney for its perfectly relaxed vibe.

Admittedly, he wouldn’t be capturing someone for his blog (or should we say ‘brand’?) if they were attired the same way he is today, but he’s happy laying low, and comfortable, as he scouts the streets for what next catches his eye. Hailing from Switzerland, with easy access to such intriguing and less-explored cities as Reykjavik and St Petersburg, it’s no surprise that Australia is a touch more challenging when it comes to the sheer quantity of quirk; but given the heat, Yvan thinks few cities are as “well-dressed in warm weather” as Sydney. Which local labels does he think hit the mark? Romance Was Born, Sass & Bide (whose A/W 10/11 collection he witnessed earlier this year in London), and Ksubi’s women’s line.

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“Fashion, clothing can be all about status … I guess I really look for people that reveal a little more about who they are in their clothes”, says Yvan. This doesn’t mean you’ve got to be sporting a Nintendo Gameboy necklace for Yvan to stop you in the street, but clinging to the latest Prada handbag or Sportsgirl clog won’t help you fit the bill either. He is unabashed in asserting his general disregard for trends but, at the same time, almost uncontrollably, Facehunter has become an evolving, inspirational mood board of sorts that some designers consult before settling on what next trend they will help generate. The notion of evolution, constant change and reinvention and novelty, is what draws Yvan to the realm of fashion as clothing is the quickest and most obvious means of documenting his “cultural exploration”. And that’s what Facehunter is, and always has been: not a blog that simply panders to what’s in, but a platform that captures cultural zeitgeists that can be then retraced at any point in the future.

One such defining zeitgeist of the current era seems to be a fearfulness intrinsic to the Y chromosome. While Yvan admits that men “take more pride in looking after themselves” in Scandinavia, Japan and South Korea, for example, the epidemic that centres around straight men being scared of representing themselves as possibly gay doesn’t even escape the fashion capitals of Paris and Milan, let alone cities such as Sydney. Thanks to his new book, Facehunter, published by Thames & Hudson, and pre-launched in January in Colette, Paris, Yvan is doing all he can, intentionally or otherwise, to show the average man the error of his ways.

A fan of other street style blogs himself, including Scott Schuman’s The Sartorialist, with which his Facehunter blog rarely escapes comparison, Yvan admits there is no simplistic formula behind who he chooses to focus his lens on. Quirkiness, or at least a hint of it, seems to be the common denominator, but there is no checklist that he prescribes to: “I have photographed people I like, and whose look I like, and my audience has come to enjoy, so if people trust my eye, why shouldn’t I?”. People trust it so much that Yvan is now a full-time blogger and photographer, with a growing audience also captivated by his eponymous online street diary, and various projects that call upon his time, such as The Facehunter Show. One other such enterprise is tonight’s book signing at Ariel Books in Paddington; but relax: if you can’t be at your sartorial best this evening, Yvan’s here in Sydney for another week. For the guys may we suggest rolled cuffs, bubblegum coloured socks, a glitter bowtie and a boombox. Oh, then again, he’s after true identity, so maybe just stick with who you are… And if you don’t get the sort of validation you’re after from the Facehunter, just wait till On the Streets of Sydney.com spots you out from amongst the crowd.

Yvan Rodic Facehunter book signing and talk begins 7pm tonight, Wednesday December 8th, at Ariel Books, 42 Oxford St Paddington.