Just a little bit for starters

With a delay of only a few hours, caused by the chaos that followed the volcano eruption in Iceland, I returned home from NYC on Saturday, and now I’m returning to blogging as well. I did enjoy the heavy dose of non-augmented reality, yet I do find comfort in being back to my online routine, check mail, check facebook, answer emails, check bookmarks, post on facebook, check blogs, write post for blog, check facebook . . .  

As for New York . . . It was grand, one minute you’re having lunch and the next you’re visiting a new designer’s showroom and seeing the city from a skyline terrace. It was big, too big for someone who has an exhaustive approach to basically anything, aka me. It was vibrant, so many engaging things where happening everywhere at anytime. It was loud, this city really doesn’t sleep at night does it? But more than anything, it was so utterly inspiring. In two words, it was New York, everything you would expect and some more, a city which accommodates so many nationalities, that it has morphed into a space that caters to mostly all tastes.

For a city that lives of consumerism, the mass-ification of anything from designer goods to art is evident everywhere. We’ve all seen designer lines extended to a younger, more financially conscious clientele, but art is being mass-ified as well.  The transfer of meaning from product to self that empowers the luxury industry and justifies the high price point of its goods, is just as evident in the art world. No Broadway show is complete without a few show-inspired goods that can be bought before or after the show.  Street vendors offer both designer know-offs and art reproductions, or at least a portrait of the artist who’s more famous than his artwork, Andy Warhol. Aside from the traditional gift shops, museums also feature stand alone shops across the city. The merchandise offered ranges from affordable art goods or even fashion goods to t-shirts printed with famous paintings. And thus, Warhol’s living sculptures concept, self-promotion, and mass-market ideals seem to be just as current, if not more so, today, than they were in the 60s. 

Just to better illustrate the concept, one day, I wore a D&G painting printed shirt, with a pair of dark blue harem pants from Stefanel. The knitted cardigan is also from Stefanel, while the turquoise shoes, which are among my favourite ones at the moment, are from a thrift store in Bucharest. 

 Alexis Bittar bracelet fom the Store at MoMA

self-promotion basics: singing in the park

Someone whom I met on this trip said that the first journey is always like an appetizer, it opens your taste buds, giving you a taste for what is to follow. I think it’s a rather appropriate comparison, as the first trip usually only gives a feel of a place, and sometimes getting to really know a city cannot be done in a matter of years, let alone a couple of weeks.  So if we are to accept this, regarding this NYC appetizer, I must say that the proportions where really a bit too generous for my taste, but it was diverse enough to leave one wanting more. 

(fashion in museums and on Broadway, plus other city icons to come)