You can’t quite put your finger on it, you can’t quite describe it, how it is, how it became, when did it happen… but walking, talking, eating, taking a cab, drinking are, among everything else, just cooler in New York City. And until you’ve been, you can’t understand.
Shopping (you guessed it) is also just that bit cooler.
First stop; the Armoury, which is home to a truly beautifully created collection of clothes and accessories. Think Classic menswear, with a touch of the dandy about it, where lapels are that bit wider, trousers are that bit higher on the waist and off the shoe (where they should be). Think wool ties instead of silk. Double instead of single. Turn ups instead of clean hemms. Beware; Passionate, knowledgeable staff and a welcoming atmosphere puts your wallet at risk, major risk.
Jump a few blocks up to Bloomingdales. An oldie but always a goodie. Their buyers are always on point with their selection for the current season. More Avant guard than timeless classics, but you’re bound to find interesting and well selected pieces here. Think Theory, Moncler, Ferragamo and Y-3.
Scoot on down to Soho for Saturdays NYC on Crosby Street. One of the coolest brands around. Crosby Street, their flagship opened in 09 as an oasis to artist, poets and surfers from the hustle of Soho. With laid back beats and charming baristas in the back, you can see why surfers, and then eventually almost everybody else headed here in their droves to unwind with a quartado and pick up a t-shirt or two. Still going strong today and offering the coolest laid back apparel going, Saturdays NYC is a must for cool clothes and cool coffee.
Now seeing that I’ve said cool/coolest way too many times, it would be unfair not to mention the current king of cool neighbourhoods, Williamsburg. And king of menswear stores in Williamsburg is Gentry. As soon as you see it, as soon as you walk in, you know it’s undoubtable cool, verging on the intimidating. Bringing together the best and most relevant brands of the today under one roof with Kendrick blaring through the speakers at 3pm on a Wednesday afternoon verges on the pretentious, but it never crosses the line. From Comme des Garcons, to Belstaff, to Eidos to the classics Sunspel and Smedley, your wardrobe will never have a better chance to up its game than it does here.
Food? Its new York. Walk two minutes, hit up a street corner deli. Eat a sandwiches, a roll, a sub, a melt, a wedge, a hero that the English can only dream of eating.
