Thursday, March 11, 2010

New York - Capital of Fashion

I’m having a fantastic time here in New York. I should be totally down and in chaos and very jetlaged but I’m still having a blast. To be here in New York, by my self, is just fantastic. Surreal. Yes. It feels like I’m in a movie or in one of the TV series. I just said that to my sister that we grew up with Amercia in our backyards. Well we started out with the McCayans and the cowboys, the Little house on the Praire and that’s partially how we learned english. Then came the 90210 Beverly Hills where we got a lot of inspiration on how to look, escpecially Kerry’s hair, and Melrose Place. I remember I went there being 24 years old and went to the Melrose Avenue and was in a happy place. They are so good at that, the American Film industry. To create a world we just want to be in, or at least take part in. Like Friends. I watched it so much so half of my jokes comes from Chandler and Joey. And I had a lot of identification with Monica, being over controlled, (I don’t cleaned that well though and don’t get off on it, but the organizing and planning is very spot on.) So seeing the buildings here with all the fire escape stairs on the facades makes me feel comfortable. I know it from the movies. I have ‘been’ here before. Our 'Friends’ live in a house like that...
Then came Sex and the City. With our big love for the city of New York and all the fabulous fashion. And that’s where I’m now. In the capital of fashion. Yesterday, it felt as if I was walking around in a fashion magazine. All the brands, designers, clothes, stores are REAL and they are HERE! And I’m cruising around them. So just close your eyes and imaging that you’re walking through Soho, as a start. The streets are still under development and it’s all very lively, the yellow cabs passing by, people - very fashionable - walking, talking loud. They all talk very load here and in all languages. I’m now having breakfast at a bagel place, with my almond smoothie and almond coffee latte, two very pretty girls are sitting next to me, speaking lovely French, I love French it makes the girls even prettier. You pass by the huge Broadway street with al the big brands as Starbucks, TopShop, Gant and walk on the smaller street as Green and Spring street and you pass by a very nicely renovated store front, one level up. The Prada store. You have to stop and take a deep breath. A Prada store.
















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How many prada stores have I really been in to. One I think. In Monaco. But none like this. This store is gorgeous and have more accessible designs, their Ready to Wear collection. So I can actually buy one piece if I want. But I don’t. Today is just a day to scan. The shopping I will do on Saturday. That’s my plan. Then I have seen all the must buys and can make my pick.

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You keep on walking and find a crossing that there must have been a Swedish agent selling store space here. In one corner you have the J Lindeberg store, further down on your left hand is the Hästen bed store and opposite you have the Bo Concept store. So I call it the Swede-street.
You turn to the next street and you have the D&G stores, three of them in a row. Women, Men and Apparels, meaning bags and shoes.


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Next store is Chanel, next DKNY, and Marc Jacobs and it goes on.
But their stores here in SoHo is not the haute couture collections so you do fit in here and can walk around without feeling like a farmer, which I do when I visit the upmarket stores. I will do that later today. Have a meeting with an agency on the 3rd Avenue, meaning Midtown and will report about that experience tomorrow.

The fun part about New York is that you have a lot of small worlds and cultures in one city. Some other cities have that too like London, Berlin, Madrid. but here it feels and is stronger. In China town you meet Chinese people, all signs are in Chinese. In Little Italy all restaurants have red/white table cloths and Soho is Soho and upwotn is...uptown.
If you walk the Bleecker Street uptownish-west, you will first pass through a not so interesting neighborhood a lot of I love NY t-shirt and cups stores, but keep walking and you will enter the Greenwhich Village and I actually like the Hudson Street better even though everybody recommends the Bleecker. Here the houses are lower and more like London. You feel that this is very people live. There are a lot of café´s and restaurants around the corners and the stores here are somewhat in the middle of the spectra.
I walk in to a store I believe sell cool baby clothes. I look at the very over designed clothes and the owner ask me “You have a dog right?” And I look at her, look at the clothes again and realize it’s clothes for dogs...! Oh my god, I have to laugh out loud. There a down jackets, dresses, jeans, everything you can think of that you would put on a woman or man and you can dress your dog in the same style...
In the Village hood you can also find very nice stores as the Marc by Marc Jabobs' store for example (Bleecker Street). Very pretty gay guys working there, very thin. I walk in proud of my bag from the same brand. I belong here too.







You keep on walking knowing the Meat Packing Districts waits for you further up. I have been there once in lounge bar, remember the special atmosphere here. Pretty, fabulous dressed up people watching wanted to be watched. Walk around the area and you will find the Alexander Mc Queen store, the Stella McCartney store and other stores like the Theory store with for me new brands that I like a lot. Designer is from Kansas I learned from one of the employees, but she had no idea and had to look it up. You don’t meet that many bright people store hopping...but they are all very nice. And the strong charcters of the American people, they are very compassionate.



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Many stores are selling the Help Haiti-t shirt, and of course I have to buy one. I think the Amercian celebraties have raised more money then many contries to help Haiti.

But it is a little bit dark here and not really my kind of place. I don’t know why. Even though the sun is shining it does feels dark and there are no colours. I think that’s the downside of New York. There are no green spots anywhere. You have to go to Central Park to get it. So I understand why people live close to it, to breath, to know there’s more than fashion, cars and people to this city. I will go there later today.

1 comment:

Gudrun said...

Hej vilken fantastisk berättare du är. Kunde jobba för modemagasin t ex. Ska läsa om det senare o titta mer på bilderna i datorn. Är så litet här i iPhonen!