We are thrilled to announce that Simbarashe Cha is joining The Times as a staff photographer and visual columnist focused on style and fashion coverage.
Simbarashe has been a contributor to The Times since 2020, when he began photographing for the Metro section. He went on to write about and capture street style and fashion in his Fashion Week Diaries and Style Outside columns. He has photographed and reported for The Times from New York, London, Paris, Milan and Dakar, showcasing street style at Paris Fashion Week, Easter hats, men in pink, the layered look, Wimbledon looks and more. Simbarashe’s fresh eye and singular voice are anchored in the tradition of the beloved Bill Cunningham — in which fashion coverage comes alive through people off the runways as much as on.
“At Styles, we are always trying to decode the messages of dress and help readers identify what’s noteworthy and forward-thinking. Simbarashe is able to both focus our gaze on what’s interesting and then explain it,” said Stella Bugbee, editor of Styles. “His perspective adds depth and dimension to our robust fashion coverage.”
As an Emmy-winning filmmaker and photographer, Simbarashe has created editorial photography for Harper’s Bazaar, Architectural Digest and The Atlantic, among others. He has photographed commercially for a wide variety of clients, including Ralph Lauren, Veuve Clicquot and Saks Fifth Avenue.
Before becoming a photographer, Simbarashe spent nearly a decade working in banking. Outside of his day job, he spent much of his time pursuing art via music and writing, both fiction and nonfiction. He bought his first camera at age 31 and began street photography as a hobby. In 2012, he created a blog called Lord Ashbury. Though the site was widely known as a fashion photography blog, it originally started as a technical read where he wrote about the process of learning photography.
His big fashion break came in 2014 when the brand Carolina Herrera hired him to serve as their unofficial house photographer, a job he stayed in until Mrs. Herrera’s retirement in 2018. He credits her and her team for giving him his informal fashion education.
Simbarashe was born in Los Angeles and has called New York home since 2007. He’s a lover of both the N.B.A. and E.P.L. A lifelong Dallas Mavericks fan and a supporter of Tottenham Hotspur, he tries to squeeze in a Tottenham match whenever schedules allow during London Fashion Week each year.
Please join us in giving Simbarashe a very warm welcome.
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