The New York Experience

The Sartorialist: After One Year In New York - Kara

Actually the line that I think was the most telling but that she said like a throw-away qualifier was "I didn't know anyone in New York when I moved here...."

I think that is such a huge factor. To move to a city where you are not afraid to try something new because all the people that labeled who THEY think you are (parents, childhood friends) are not their to say " that's not you" or "you've changed". Well, maybe that person didn't change but finally became who they really are. I totally relate to this as a fellow Midwesterner even though my changes were not as quick or as dramatic.

I bet if you ask most people what keeps them from being who they really want to be (at least stylistically or maybe even more), the answer would not be money but the fear of peer pressure - fear of embarrassing themselves in front of a group of people that they might not actually even like anyway.

I'm used to looking at the Sartorialist for the great photos... I don't know what I'll do if he starts putting out profound tidbits like this!

To be a balance, though, have you ever been to Oakbrook, Illinois, especially in winter? In the first picture her look is very Chicagoland. In the second pic her look is very New York--where she now lives. I agree with what he says but there is also much to be given to the tendency that living things possess to adapt to their surroundings.

What do you think?