To quote the Beatles, “When two great saints meet, it's a humbling experience.” Well I’ve often joked to my mother that I should be canonized and New York City is a saint of a city. So we met, I was humbled. Feel big and important? Go to New York with a measly eight dollar an hour retail salary and a debit card limit of $180 a day, you will as sure as hell feel small and unimportant. Not to mention all the people, the buildings, the cars and the noise. Try and have a conversation with someone anywhere, and I mean anywhere in New York and it is literally impossible. My voice, for some reason, cannot over power the sound of taxis beeping. I’m a noisy human being and I have often over powered any sound a Honda Civic or Mazda 3 (official cars of Woodbridge) can make when beeping at me as I run down the street, so it surprises me that my friends could barely hear a word I was saying while in the Big the Apple. Arriving back to the bubble, I ultimately felt big and awesome again, but I missed feeling small and unimportant (wow I got issues). Turns out all the movies were right. You can fall in love in a week, but not with a boy, with a city. The city managed to overpower me, it managed to outdo me in every area I claim to be superior. Fashion, music, art, noise, complications, even in confidence! Then again I always liked the over confident. The love affair was not one that began from the first sight. At first I viewed the city as just another city, nothing special, but as the days went on and I saw more and more. I realized how much I was in love with this “just another city”. I loved all that noise, the people, the buildings, the creepy guy who followed a friend of mine and myself and I even loved the bad hot dog I ate in central park causing some serious cramps. I felt more at home and more comfortable in a city I had never been to before then I do in my home. I LOVE NEW YORK!
Now to another love of mine, fashion.
New York is the fashion capital of the world. The Upper East Side teens all dress to the nines looking incredible, and in Soho you see all the effortlessly cool. Every store you could ever wish to shop in was there. Bendels, Bloomingdales, Tiffany’s, Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Dylan’s Candy Shop and all the street vendors on Canale, in Soho and in Noho. I spent a total of $675 in three days. All time record for myself and my bank statement is going to be quite saddening when it arrives a few days from now. There was so much to look at and to buy that if I had a few more days I’m sure I would be in debt or be wanted by the NYPD for possession and trafficking of drugs in a sad attempt to make more money to buy more clothes!I, surprisingly, had never heard of Bendels until I was leaving for the City of Lights. Talk about an amazing store! I unfortunately did not purchase anything from Bendels because of the little to no time we had to shop. I did see lots of things I would have like to purchase. Bendels is a high end girl’s department store. Now I have an obsession, bracelets and within that large category of accessory, I love bangles. One I loved? The 1907 Narrow Hinged Enamel Bangle. Quite adorable and is great for easily and effortlessly adding a pop of colour to any outfit. I also found these beautiful bangles that had this silk fabric on them with a beautiful flower pattern on them. I would have bought a couple and stacked them up my arm, totally adorable. I am a fan of little leather notebooks and I spotted a few around the store and did not realize they were for purchasing until I spotted them once again on the website. Adorable little notebooks in bright pretty colours are a necessity for the creative types such as us acid city girls. You need somewhere to write down all your ideas! BLOOMINGDALES! If New York is my lover, Bloomingdales is the other man. Oh so pretty! I preferred the location in Soho with lots of natural light and space. Bloomingdales is also a department store and has quite the range of prices I would say affordable to ouch mom will kill me when she sees this receipt. While I was there they were shooting ads for that makeup line Heatherette so that was exciting! I also got a make over by Estee Lauder. I left looking like a sweet little seventeen year old wall flower just waiting for some boy to ask me to go to the dance, where we remain an arm distance away from each other the entire night, do not look each other in the eye and by the end of the night I’ll get pinned... er... wear his pin I mean (G GOLLY!). I quickly solved that by smudging the pretty pink blush off my face and wiping off the also pretty pink eye shadow off my eyes and reapplying my black eyeliner and smudging it, back to my effortless disaster look I strive for. But I was sure to leave the Shimmering Powder Pearls. It left my pale skin glowing and I highly recommend it for us girls with pale skin and are incapable of getting a tan. Now on a side note, if you do happen to have has a bit of a beautiful darker tone I find that when I do manage to an adding a bit of some shimmering gold powder over my cheeks instead of blush looks great! Bloomingdales is great because they have a petite’s section (WOOH)! Now for you readers less than 5’6” tall, how difficult is it to find skirts, pants, shorts, etc, that are the right the length? Yeah I know super difficult, Bloomingdales has all of our fashionable finds at our length!
TIFFANY’S IS FABULOUS. That is all. No other words. We have Tiffany’s up here in the great white north but to think, I was standing in the same room my beloved Audrey was, AMAZING!
Now most likely most of the people reading this, or all two of you (HI MOMMY AND DADDY!), have heard of these stores and have also heard of my next subject, URBAN OUTFITTERS! I love Urban Outfitters. I spent way to much there but I don’t care. They had everything I was looking for, including this great leather braided belt. I can pair with half my wardrobe because half my wardrobe consists of blouses. I plan to tie that around the waist of my loose fitting ones to add some feminine shape to a masculine style shirt.
My Zia (Italian 101 : Zia = Aunt) introduced me to Anthropologie. Adorable and well made clothes targeting the 12 to 20-something age group. Very feminine blouses and dresses with soft colours. A great store if you’re looking for a wear any where little white blouse, I bought one to add to my own collection! I also forgot to go back and purchase a totally adorable blouse with little fashionista girls pattern on it. I plan to purchase that online seeing as they now ship to Canada (HELL YEAH!) What I love about their stuff is it is simple and is not too complicated. I find that a lot of the time designers are trying too hard for the simple look and end up adding weird stitching and adorning random little beads, Anthropologie achieves the sweet and simple look. My favourite look by the way.
I recently found my home. AKA Dylan’s Candy shop. THAT SHIT IS BANANAS! ( no one says that anymore, me being no one.) CANDY IN THE FLOOR!! THERE WAS CANDY IN THE FLOOR!
Ah, Soho, Noho, why not just call the entire area no-doh, because that is what you leave with. Shockingly, I spent the most money where things are the cheapest! Noho is great to a certain point, if you get to far north there is literally nothing there, do not make that mistake, I didn’t so neither should you! Soho, awesome. So much fun! All the street vendors! I am telling you now. CHECK OUT THE STREET VENDORS IN SOHO! They are great! I told myself I was not going to buy anything, but how could I resist? All great little jewelery pieces and I love NY t-shirts. Now a few tips, number one, ALWAYS BARGAIN! Do not be shy, you will never see these people again. They are after money, you are after keeping your money. It is quite simple really. Just say, “I will give you (amount of dollas) for (amount of items)” If they respond “NO!” then begin to walk off and say “That dude over there had better (item) for (price)” you will suddenly hear “WAIT! Fine.” I did not want to use msn speak but I literally was ready to LMFAO! Actually I do not even know what that stands for anymore, oh right not important. Anyways, number two. IF THEY SAY IT IS SILVER IT IS NOT SILVER DON'T KID YOURSELF! That tip I got from a street vendor herself. I was talking to her about these really great enamel bangles she was selling and she told me, people in Soho cannot afford to sell silver. If you want silver, go to Tiffany’s. Audrey was in there, it has to be good. Number three, ignore street vendors who yell to get your attention. I know its scary all those dudes potentially with a gun ready to kill you, but if you respond you will, yes you will do not lie, you will leave with something you do not want or need. Just walk by all snooty and ignore them when they call you a witch (replace the w with a b). Canale Street is the best place to buy fakes. I personally do not enjoy carrying around a fake because everyone knows I cannot afford a real one, so why would I even pretend I can? Designers do not make an outfit. Well they do, but designer items do not.
So in conclusion, SOHO=best place to be in New York city. Most likely nothing new to you readers (all two of you, mommy, daddy... hello again) But it was a shock to me. I did not think it would be as easy as it was. I was expecting for me to hunt for stuff I was looking for, IT WAS ALL RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME! How amazing! NEW YORK CITY I LOVE YOU!
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