Fashion in New York

Hats.

I was never one to wear hats, but, here, I do. I love hats. Plop! Bad hair day fixed...and you can go get things done, and still look good. Now, I'm used to baseball cap hats...but, here... oh, here, the hats are great, and I take advantage of what is about.

Of course, I may not have a place to live as of May 1st, but, I'll be homeless with good hats and shoes.

I love the hats that the people who have the elaborate rasta braids wear...they are knitted, and with all the braids stuffed inside, they look like they have an inverted beehive attached to their skull. I watch as the sit on the train, and wait for buzzing to start.

It never does.

You've got the boyfriend/girlfriend matching chapeau.... you know, the flat cap that she wears frontwards, and he puts on with the bill in the back. He usually has a shaved head. She's very thin, and they both wear white cotton shirts and short black leather jackets.

There are the berets, favoured by old ladies and me. The heavy knitted beret, the wool beret, the billed beret, the billed wool beret. The cute Russian army look hat in all kinds of materials. Hats in every colour and material for sale on every corner. Who needs a milliner when you've got Ming Lu and her traveling hat table?

Weather means nothing to those who live here... yesterday, I went to work in a cotton shirt and a vest...and I saw everything from heavy coats and woolen scarves to shorts. Granted, the shorts were on the UPS guy, still, it counts.

Heels and skirts run, run, across streets. I applaud their dexterity. I wear heels, with silk and going out to see tall men. I don't run in them...although, if I saw Gary Sinese across a crowded room, I may be tempted.

With the weather bouncing 'round, we are in a bad place, fashionwise. One day, you are comfy in cotton, the next day, you need wool. I'm almost ready to give up and live in a coat with removable sleeves. I have added a between season coat to my coat wardrobe, which will join me and my hats in my homelessness.

I give kudo's though, to the best, best, bestest most confident dressed man I've ever seen. Walking up Church, he had on a white suit, white hat, white tie and white shoes.... they were accented by the orange..not peach, not amber, not apricot, but orange hatband, shirt, spats on the shoes, and.....the top of it all... a full length polar bear faux fur coat in his beloved orange, walking with sureness and power, assisted by his white walking cane..

Yeah,, I know what he does for a living, even so... that is fashion in New York.