Chic NYC tour - Art Scenes

NYC

CHIC

NYC became a mayor producer of garments thanks to the production of military uniforms: first for the civil war in the 1860s and then for the world wars in the first half of the XX century; so these “factories” created trends through magazines to stay alive post the wars and distributed their products through departments stores until the 70s when it became Chic — and today you can have a sneak peak to industry.

Time period:1970-now

Movie/book: Sex and The City (2008)/Vogue USA

Soundtrack: Madonna/Frankie Knuckles’ music

Fashion: Be yourself in American brands

Budget:

Running for Crayons: Illustrated Map of New York; 2023

This tour would take you through the garment district/meat packaging district where different fashion houses have their headquarters along huge department stores; and latter through the West Village where woke nepo babies from the world and influencers shop/dine and hang around. The area is characterized by tall skyscrapers, the fashion walk of fame, and fabric stores. During the Civil War (1860-1865), clothing factories to mass produced the uniforms of the soldiers got built on lower Manhattan and after the war these factories started mass producing clothes with sewing machines (invented by Elias Howe in 1846) and implementing standardized sizes for the first time. Before clothes were handmade usually by a family member, they were ceremonial almost uniformly and usually past down from generation to generation — but that was about to change in NYC thanks to: the department stores, fashion magazines, and American designers. Department Stores, a Parisian revolution that migrated to the Americas, got bigger and fancier in NYC, where you could find more prefabricated items including ready-to-wear. Some of the still operating are the iconic Macys (1858), Saks Fifth Avenue (which used to be Gimbel founded in 1842) and Bergdorf Goodman (1899). Fashion magazines got created to promote trends: Harper’s Bazaar started being distributed in 1867, Vogue in 1892, and Elite Styles in 1897; and thanks to them plus news papers and publishing companies, New York City became the media capital not only of the US but the world in the first half of the XX century with new advertising companies operating from Madison Avenue. Manhattan started dictating the trends, firstly looking at Paris for inspiration but then at it self. A key player in this shift was the publicist Eleanor Lambert who stablished the CFDA, the Coty Awards and the New York Dress Institute plus launched Press Week (the predecessor of NY fashion week) in 1943 and the Met Gala in 1948. Another iconic editor of the time was Diana Vreeland who put the avant-gardes/hippie movement in the covers of Harper Bazaar (1936-1962) and Vogue (1963 -1971) plus took the Met Gala to new heights (from 1972 till 1989) creating the block-buster theatrical fashion exhibitions the met is known for. 7th Avenue became the epicenter of the garment district: where you can still find fashion studios, fabric stores, and few manufacturers. The most iconic brands with headquarters in Manhattan that define its preppy/business casual aesthetic are Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Michael Kors, and Coach; and the most iconic fashion designer that defined the edgy style of the city were the immigrants Halston, Carolina Herrera, Oscar de La Renta, Diane Von Fustemberg, and the local Marc Jacobs. The reality is that the fashion industry is struggling with department stores, publishing companies and manufacturers leaving the city due to the internet and offshoring nonetheless still employs 180,000 workers become more high end. The tour suggests visiting 2 museums including the MET exhibition plus reading a fashion magazine at a Starbucks in the morning; the Highline, the Chelsea Market and window shopping in the meat packing district in the afternoon; and to end the day dinning and bar hopping around the West Village.