As I was riding my bike to work today, shedding my lightweight cardigan on the way (it’s 81 degrees in LA), I was thinking that I should write a post about an ideal bike-commuting outfit. Because, like everyone I know who also works in publishing, I’m inclined to write what I know. But then I thought about how the people who are arguably most interested in what I have to say either live in Montana (a balmy 39 degrees) or New York (38, though apparently it was 11 degrees yesterday) and might find the fact that I’m riding my bike to work while they shiver by a fire (or loud furnace) really annoying.
But then I got to thinking about all the years I spent as an editor in New York City, where it supposedly was my job to digest trends and then provide shopping solutions for a wider audience, and realized that in the vein of writing what I know, I probably offered some pretty unrelatable advice. Or hit the same notes a bit too many times, and a bit too hard. Because these are the realities of living in New York City:
1. You are obsessed with shoes that are really walkable because you can easily do a mini-marathon during the course of a day in the city just trying to get around. Nobody needs to walk as much as New Yorkers, and thus, I’m guessing, nobody is nearly as obsessed. I wrote about a lot of “walkable shoes,” which, when I think about it, doesn’t even make sense as a term.
2. Or, you are obsessed with shoes that are insanely high and kind of stupid because you can dress Fashion with a capital F in New York City and nobody thinks you look insane. Honestly, most women probably don’t wear studded 5″ stilettos to dinner. Not sure why I was so encouraging of the concept.
3. In the same vein as point number 1—and because you don’t have a car to use as a dumping ground—you choose to carry oversize, preferably cross-body bags so that you can haul your wallet, your keys, your multiple phones, an iPad, your gym clothes, your dry cleaning, some extra magazines or books in case the subway stops mid-tunnel, some water, and probably a few snacks. And some Baggus, because you’ll likely be grocery shopping at the end of the work day, or shopping in general, and will need to get that stuff home. Did I mention you probably also have a canvas tote that you use to haul your laptop? I don’t think I ever wrote about a normal-sized handbag. Unless it was an evening clutch. Sorry ’bout that.
4. Because you spend a lot of time hoofing it outside (it can be hard to find cabs, particularly when it gets really cold), you probably own a Canada Goose jacket, or something similarly intense and Arctic-worthy. And under that Canada Goose jacket, you’re probably wearing upwards of five layers. I love to layer—I miss being able to really layer—but when I had moved into triple buttondown, double cardigan, blazer territory and was suggesting that readers do the same, I think I had maybe lost touch with the bounds of what’s normal. But in my defense, you don’t have a car to use as a sanctuary, and when the wind starts whipping up the streets it’s horribly, horribly cold. Like curl up on the sidewalk and die cold.
5. You think everyone only wants to shop for coats, hats, boots, and maybe long underwear (yes, I once wrote something about jeans that are roomy enough for long johns—or at least tights) from November through March. It becomes all-consuming, and you don’t even think about the readers who might live in Florida, or Texas, or New Orleans, or Arizona, or yes, California, who don’t need a coat, or Patagonia Capilene, at all.
6. All women only want to wear all black.
My Old Uniform:
Granted, LA might be equally extreme: I keep forgetting that it’s winter (I haven’t even busted out tights), I’ve downsized my bag to an inconceivably small satchel, and I pretty much just walk from my garage to my kitchen (in fact, I’m having trouble wearing new flats in), but I can’t imagine that it doesn’t have SLIGHTLY more in common with the way that most Americans live. I hope that the offenses we commit here at Beso in terms of forgetting that there are seasons aren’t quite as egregious as some of the offenses I committed at Lucky. Though I stand by those Canada Goose jackets. (And I’m totally going to write a post about commuting by bike, January or not.)
clockwise, l-r: IL BISONTE CROSSBODY BAG, $638.00, Lost & Found; BELLE BY SIGERSON MORRISON FLATS, $350.00, Endless; VERO MODA CARDIGAN, $77.27, Asos; CANADA GOOSE EXPEDITION PARKA, $695.00, Barneys.
