Thursday, February 26, 2015

New York Style: Winter

I'm interested in what people around the world are wearing, so I'll post what the typical NYC person wears (in the winter, for now) with the hope that maybe you'll share what people wear in your city. All these pictures are from WWD street scene pictures.

NYC is the fashion capital of the USA, and all of our major brands are here. With stores like Century 21, Beacon's closet, and numerous sample sales, you could get runway clothing ($500-$1000+)for fast-fashion prices ($10-$100). Also, no-name designers who knock-off runway clothing also work in NYC, so our typical dollar store and ghetto fashion store will have some trendy stuff (I've got a post on knock-off fashion scheduled for next week) Bottom line is you could look great for not a lot of money.

The most NYC outfit ever. black-on-black, classic shapes, timeless pieces



That's about the only thing NYC has going for it though. There's a housing crisis here, and most people spend an entire paycheck for rent while living in a teeny tiny apartment. This affects the way we wear clothes--we don't have a lot of space and can't afford the space or money to buy clothes every season. So New Yorkers have a few quality timeless pieces. Unfortunately, this means that people who don't care about fashion wear the same "classic" pieces again and again. Chic and timeless. (and a bit boring, in my mind).


You tired of those black wool coats yet? Everyone's got one. I've been on rush hour trains when every single person is wearing a black wool coat. Even me. Even I bought one when I moved here:

"Are you posting only black clothes because you've got a 'dark fashion' blog?" you're wondering. NO. No I'm not. Everyone wears black in NYC. Every day. For reasons I mentioned (you don't have a lot of space, so you need timeless clothes that go with everything...that means black) plus this city is REALLY dirty. You're basically wearing designer clothes while walking past waist-high piles of dripping garbage like it's NBD


You'll notice that everyone wears boots and their pants NEVER touch the ground. It isn't just because of the garbage slime. The city has terrible drainage and it rains (or in the recent past, rain and snow). and WHO KNOWS what's in those puddles. I've seen lime green puddles.

see how pretty much EVERYONE's wearing black?

Want to go out for a night on the town? Get ready for teeny tiny bathrooms and yet another reason why your pants must NEVER touch the ground.


not enlarging this photo.
See, boots:


Shoes are the most important item in a NYer's wardrobe. No one drives and almost none of train stations are accessible, so you're walking and using stairs all the time. Most people wear flat shoes or low heels.

NYC men are some of the best-dressed men I've seen. My husband described it as such: "It's hard to look bad. You'd have to take a train and a bus an hour away to buy crappy men's clothes."

"Soho guy"

"foreign guy who doesn't care what he's wearing" (and still looks awesome, btw. there's a tumblr dedicated to "accidental asian hipsters" and half of those pictures are from NYC)


"Brooklyn dude"--all my single lady friends are in love with the bearded urban-farmer, home-brewing brooklyn dude. Here, he's thrown out last year's plaid shirt for something more old-man. 
So that's NYC (in the winter). Everyone's wearing black-on-black, is stylish, but a little boring.

12 comments:

  1. I found Paris a bit like that. The plain black thing, not the garbage. I did find it a bit boring, I like black, but I like some flair too, like that man's pink fluffy thing or the cross leggings that just show under your long socks.

    OMG the rubbish and puddles and toilets sound terrifying! I don't know if I want to go to New York anymore! Then again three of my favourite blog friends live around there, including you!

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    1. haha the garbage piles are the worst on garbage days and most places do a pretty good job of keeping them out of the way. In the winter it doesn't smell...but OMG the roasting garbage in the summer. I found Paris to be a lot like new york too (minus the garbage, of course...people said it was dirty...but those people haven't been to NYC). most people didn't think we were tourists. Well, I guess two fashion capitals...

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  2. Hi there! Just started following your blog and this post is making me giggle. I used to live in NYC and oh those lime green puddles, yikes. Memories. But when I was there, the style was to dress like your closet threw up on you, and I got so. much. lip. for wearing black all the time. Then again I moved 5 years ago, so that is like, a million eons in NYC fashion-time. That large green plaid wool coat delightful and I miss seeing Hot Urban FauxFarmer Dudes.

    If you're so inclined, check out my blog. Maybe we can be bloggy-pals. Cheers!

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  3. People in Buffalo are SO unfashionable. Starter jacket and Buffalo Bills and/or Sabres gear, dumpy and frumpy. I see people wearing sneakers and hoodies with no hats/gloves/etc. It's INSANE! I love NYC fashion even if it is a bit boring because it's like wearing a prom gown compared to Western New Yorkers. Hehe ;) We always get asked why we're so "dressed up".

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    1. Swap out the bills gear for bears gear, and you've got the Chicago suburbs where my in laws live. We get the "dressed up" comments there too

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  4. I live in a super lame town about four hours away from Sydney. The basic outfit for winter are UGGs, blue jeans, hoodies and beanies. Oh, and can't forget those classy neon yellow $2 trainers! Urg!

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  5. Wow, that is interesting. Montreal is pretty diverse but I see a lot of ski jackets. I used to have a wool jacket but it is a magnet for cat hair.

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    1. Every time I complain about the cold, I have to remember there's Canada. I could believe the ski jackets.... There's nothing warmer

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  6. interesting post, I was hoping you´ll do it as I suggested it a while ago :) I see how the style is very basic and comfortable, and yes woolen coats are kind of boring, and are not warm enough in the Belrin winter! I´ll try to think about what people wear in Berlin, might keep it within the goth community since there are a lot of different styles! And yes, we do have a lot of the accidental asian hipsters too!!!

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    1. ooh I hope you do. I'm totally interested. I've always been interested because of all the german industrial I used to listen to.

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