Garms of the metropolis
Urban spaces have often been coined as hubs of innovation, and trends are not an exception to this rule. As globalization continues, the move to urban centers becomes even greater. And yet, each major city maintains its unique flare. The cultures of major cities in the US control many aspects of their feel, from food, to housing, to the popular styles their residents enjoy.
Within each city there are unique environmental aspects that can lead to an ‘iconic city look.’ Whether the cause is weather conditions, social norms or comfortability, the typical street look changes in each major city. Focusing on Los Angeles and New York gives a great scope of what fashion looks like in different parts of the country.
New York maintains a uniquely strict dichotomy in their representation of street style, and this is not a new idea. Money plays a large role in what people end up wearing as ‘street wear’ as well as even specific locations within New York City. There may be someone wearing a casual outfit in Soho with more designer pieces than someone in another part of New York has ever seen.
Some online blogs and youtube channels focus around examining this diverse street style, and dissecting looks in their aspects of high end and low end branding. The most telling of the diversity of price point come from first person accounts of street fashion through series like ‘What Everyone Is Wearing In New York’ on karenbritchick’s Youtube channel and instagram accounts like watchingnewyork. These personal blogs narrate fashion in New York in a completely organic way, the personal eye of the individual creators are what draws what is seen as stylish, and people listen. With each creator having upwards of 300k and 600k people respectively watching their curation at all times, there are bound to be examples of street style from every walk of life.
Though there is natural diversity in thought, the brands and looks that people wear in 2020 and 2021 tend to fall into two categories, high end or homemade. In the past few years vintage and second hand pieces have become important in making both of the previous categories possible as well. The strange thing, is regardless of if each person is wearing high end or low end pieces, they follow similar trends.
In fall and winter of 2021, this means layering, vintage patterns, and an emphasis on texture. Whether those trends are orchestrated by Rick Owens and Prada or a personal sewing machine is where the true gap can be seen, in Manhattan at least. What is great about New York street style, is this gap’s lack of immediate visibility, which also might have to do with high end goods following paths of workwear, as they tend to do.
Where that gap is much more visible is in Los Angeles. Not just trends in fashion, but wealth brackets are much more geographically distant in LA, mostly due to its lack of general walkability. There then becomes a very visible chasm in what people wear, between the wealthy and those who are not. The DIY culture of New York City is very prevalent in Los Angeles, often residing as an alternative to the regular fashion rather than a part of it the way it is in New York. Styles are less immersed in one another and more on a basis of individual interest, which means more focused subcultures.
Many believe that trends start in New York and trickle to LA over time, and that LA can never truly be a fashion ‘hub’ because its ideas are adopted from thought out New York designs. This is where the trickle of high fashion to wearable fashion is seen with heavy clarity, because this is due directly to where most designers show their clothes. The increasing number of LA designers and the increasing popularity of LA Fashion Week is working to make high fashion bicoastal rather than singular in origin. What will stop LAFW innovation is exactly what keeps NYFW intact, the community it is being presented to.
California is stagnant. The weather is similar year round, and people don’t interact face to face unless they have intention to. New York's interaction of all types of ideas and people creates consistently changing trends and constant restructuring of what it means to have artistic expression. Whether LA will be able to keep up with that freshness is yet to be seen, but the culture of New York provides a great breeding ground for continual fashion innovation.
Maddie J