NYC Study Tour: The Garment District

What were your expectations of the garment district before your tour?: 

Moving to New York has been an adventure, and moving to Midtown has just been crazy. Before I moved to the city I'm not sure what I expected. Scenes from Sex and the City? Effortlessly hailing a cab like a regular old fast walking, fast talking New Yorker? The Garment District has always been this sort of fairytale that I’ve made up in my head. I always thought there would be designers running left and right and streets full of stylish people running to their stylish jobs. 

How do they differ now?:

While The Garment District might not be the movie set I had imagined it still is a beautiful little section of the city to call home for a while. There are not as many women in stilettos running to work with Vogues in hand. I think my reality is that New York is crazy and there are stylish people everywhere, they're just stylish in a different way. I still love The Garment District but I see it in a whole new light. It’s so exciting to pass by all the little fabric shops and to walk over to Bryant Park and watch the people go by. I am very grateful that the NYC Studio is nestled in The Garment District so that we had the opportunity to really become a part of this world of fashion, and live in the heart of it all. 

Describe three things that were memorable to you after your tour, and why?:

While on our scavenger hunt around The Garment District we definitely took a few wrong turns but over all we made our way pretty well. There were so many highlights to our afternoon wandering. Poking our head into Mood Fabrics and browsing their beautiful selection of designer fabrics was so inspiring to me. I texted my mom after and asked her to mail me my sewing kit! I am an avid fan of Project Runway and I always love running around Mood like I’m trying to “make it work!” Not to mention it’s always fun to search for Swatch, the shop dog, and give him a pet. You might even be able to catch him while he is on his walk in the afternoon. Walking up the steps of the New York Public Library made me feel like I was Carrie Bradshaw herself. So fun and ironic that this was on the scavenger hunt because I had just seen Sex and the City the movie for the first time the night before! You might remember this spot as her wedding venue from the first movie. If only I had her Vivienne Westwood wedding dress with me! I will definitely be back to this spot to explore a bit more and maybe even check out a book or two. Another highlight of the tour was the Fashion Walk of Fame. I didn't know that this existed so stumbling upon it while we were out was amazing. It’s such an interesting stretch of all my fashion icons, Marc Jacobs, Oscar de la Renta, Diane Von Furstenberg. While The Garment District may not be as glamorous as I had expected I definitely can see how this city pushed all my favorite designers to be who they are today. 

A Salute to Septemeber

 I remember seeing The September Issue when I was in middle school. It was the first time I had heard of Anna Wintour or my now idol, Grace Coddington, and most importantly it was when I fell in love with a realistic depiction of the fashion world. Shortly after seeing The September Issue I dragged my older sister down to our public library’s book sale and begged her to buy me old Vogues for ten cents a piece. I remember seeing the Vogue that was featured in The September issue and being so fascinated by the magical images that Grace Coddington created. 

Fast forward to now, lets just say 2017 is very different than those blissful young summers in 2009. As a young woman in this country its hard to not be involved in our political climate when it comes to fashion. This fashion world today is evolving, its progressive, its new, and its expanding our view of beauty. For years, discussions of race, gender, sexuality, and age, have been at the forefront of the fashion world. It feels like very recently politics have been a part of every aspect of our lives, and if you aren’t making a statement you aren’t keeping up with the times. Which is why I was very surprised to see so many September issues this season that featured caucasian cover stars. Vogue, chose Jennifer Lawerence as their cover star because as Anna Wintour says “who embodies this countries optimism and openness more than Jennifer?” While I beg to differ on this subject I felt the cover was classic and elegant especially for Vogue’s 125^th anniversary. 

Vogue also kept things interesting by creating not one but four covers for this years September issue. Three by photographers who have a history of working with Vogue and a stunning renaissance inspired painted portrait of Lawerence by John Currin a New York based painter. While this Vogue lacked diversity in it’s cover they made up for it in their content. Stories on LeBron James and his wife (representing my hometown of Cleveland), Oprah, Serena Williams, and Iman all on touching issues including the death of David Bowie, and raising the graduation rate in Cleveland area schools. A nice finishing touch on this anniversary Vogue was the pages upon pages of personalized ads all reading “Congratulations on 125 years!” flooding the center of the magazine. It’s clear that Vogue is a seasoned player when it comes to September issues and the obvious winner here. Even thought Vogue has some minor flaws, it combines fashion with editorials and captivating stories. While its hard to even begin to compare other magazines to the pages of Vogue, I guess we can try. Other magazines have become more focused spotting trends and digesting them for their readers. There is very little written content which makes these magazines feel more like fast fashion and less of an experience. The pages of InStyle, Marie Claire, Bazzar, Glamour, and Elle, identified the newest ways to have “It girl” style. Western themes, velvet, animal prints, and metallic shine are all on the forefront of the fashion world this season.

While the fashion trends may have changed since that summer in 2009 when I bought four dollars worth of ten cent Vogues, my love and infatuation for fashion has stayed the same. Its amazing to me the continuous amount of creativity and imagination that teems from the pages of magazines. It brings me back to the Nigel monologue from the ever iconic movie The Devil Wears Prada, “Don't you know that you are working at the place that published some of the greatest artists of the century? Halston, Lagerfeld, de la Renta. And what they did, what they created was greater than art because you live your life in it. Well, not you, obviously, but some people.” I think about this quote so often, especially while I’ve been here in New York. It’s so special to be living in the pages of magazines everyday here.