NY Diary #2 - Street Style rules

In New York, if you want to see next season’s fashion, proposed by the coolest stylists, you don’t have to wait for the February and September fashion weeks and slip into glossy parties with incorporated catwalk. It is sufficient to have a walk in Alphabet City on a quiet midweek evening or stroll in Union Square on a Sunday afternoon. The young New Yorkers’ instinctive and confident nature is reflected in their spontaneous way of dressing which turns the streets into open-air fashion shows.

Jennifer, a Parson Fashion School of Manhattan student, who, with the help of other young designers, is finishing her first hipster collection, affirms that being a fashion designer in New York means above all being a good observer.

“The street is my real source of inspiration” she says, pointing to a wall in her basement-atelier in Lower East Side, covered in a collage of photos taken on the street.

I am struck by the photo of a young girl wandering with an easy-going look in Tompkins Square Park, with a Boston Terrier on a leash, black leather boots with studs and a simple short dress, in spite of the snow.

There isn’t a catwalk or imposed trend which can compete against the simplicity and natural vitality of that Village girl’s beauty. That’s the real origin of the fashions that many designers try to re-propose. But only a few, the most intuitive, succeed in recreating such a vibe.

Lory, a long-time fashionista and buyer for several stores in Soho, admits that the street is the only crystal ball to predict new trends. But often, fashions arise so fast and unexpectedly that they are not easy to decode for professionals like her either.

"I don't know what's the deal with those glasses. They're everywhere!" she tells me with an hysterical air while we are having a coffee in a Starbucks on Broadway.

"All the hipsters and fashionistas are wearing them. Plastic frames but so big that your face is really just glasses, like your grandma."

Then she continues, more and more animatedly, pointing to a small group of teenagers on the street : "And those slouchy sweaters that hang like blazers and are flowy... these guys are driving me crazy! When I start to get what's going on, it has probably changed already!"

"Lory, chill out please," I tell her "you are gonna get on top of this as always. But do you know where all these trends are coming from?"

"I don't really know, if I only knew Nick! Must be some freaking Brooklyn peep or a trend among artists or whatever..."

Yes, whatever. Some phenomena must be taken as they are and are fascinating precisely because they arise in a mysterious and unexpected way, as if the City, one morning, suddenly tired of a certain trend, sees itself reflected in the glass of the skyscrapers and decides to renew its look.

 

Nick Landucci