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Volante: Lucire travel featureNew York City lifestyle guide

Most people venture to New York for the lifestyle, shopping, dining and entertaining. But what’s truly in and not overly touristy? Blink New York’s Pamela Carpio and Joanna Black provide the answers

Photographed by Henry Hargreaves

Originally featured in the April 2005 print issue of Lucire


 


United Travel Kilbirnie

Initial capHERES THE Empire State Building and the Rockefeller Center, the Statue of Liberty and Central Park—all unmistakable calling cards for New York City. Just try wending your way through any of these on a typical weekend day—virtually impossible and certainly no fun. The progressive, entrepreneurial creative root of each, however, reflects the essence of New York City’s allure: people (and loads of them) and their ideas make this city tick. We suggest fast-forwarding past the never-ending queues of some of these major attractions (we suggest hopping the Staten Island Ferry with a zoom lens camera
and being done with the big, splashy spots), in favour of discovering the living, breathing locales that the locals crave day in and day out.
   Finding the local haunts that are not festooned with Hawai’ian shirt-wearing tourists and camera-toting, paparazzi-proportioned mobs in New York City is like playing the lottery: the typical odds are as steep as the concrete landscape in this town. Living and breathing here means pounding the pavement and carrying wee bits of paper and nubs of pencil in your pocket ever ready to take down a name or a recommendation from a cool- (or hot-) looking stranger on the street. Where shopping and entertainment, food and drink venues number into the multiple thousands on the island alone, it’s crucial whether visiting or a local to know where to go, if you don’t fancy finding yourself marooned at a Starbucks thumbing a Zagat guide.

New York City shopping
THERES NO SHORTAGE of shopping: New York City is the home of Madison Avenue after all. If your taste leans hard-to-find though, you’ll have to branch off Madison and make your way to the locally attuned shopping scenes downtown, such as the Lower East Side, Nolita (North of Little Italy), and Alphabet City. Suzette Sundae is one such absolutely must-stop and shop spot located in Alphabet City. An haute vintage and refashioned clothing and accessories boutique opened by Suzette Sundae (Susie) in January 2003, its æsthetic sensibility is perfectly mirrored in Susie’s own delightfully dichotomous self-description: ‘Jackie O. meets Wendy O’ (Wendy O’Williams, the lead singer of the notorious 1980s punk band, the Plasmatics).
   When asked about the relation between the two, Susie remarked, ‘My own style is pretty distinctive and firmly rooted in a deep love of vintage and punk rock. I tend to a mix between rock n roll and ultra-feminine elements.’
   One does not stroll into Suzette Sundae, one weaves into and out of and around apparel and accessories, where every single square foot of retail (in a city that makes one sweat for every square inch it gives) has been transformed into a rock girl-cum-new front guard socialite “it” girl’s closet. Suzette Sundae stocks an eclectic mix of vintage and reworked vintage (Susie’s original designs using new and used materials), and accessories for days and days. Expect to find best sellers such as Sarah dresses and jeans by Harlow, Twist and Oliver, along with Susie’s favourite designers including Alexia Admor, Charlotte, Catherine Brûlé, and Loungewear Betty, and tees by Johnny Was. Accessories’ lines include bags by Hype, Ipanima (look for bags by Bulga shortly) and baubles by Karen Silverman, Arianne Jeannot, Katie Thompson, and Suzette Sundae’s own collections—a new and vintage mix of charm jewellery and the Astral Plane line, which features laser cut line drawings in 10 and 14 ct gold and sterling. Oh, and did we mention that there are too many colours and styles of perfectly preserved sleek, sexy vintage sling-backs, pumps and boots?
   Check out www.suzettesundae.com and look for Susie’s preferred shopping seasons— spring and summer—to be all about the girl in light colours and white; the one that’ll be wearing cotton circle skirts (think ’50s garden parties) and ’70s-esque sundresses with loads of print and hand-painted bodices. You also won’t be disappointed if you’re looking for refashioned vintage pieces that are ultra-revealing, with plunging necklines and lace off-set by studs and delicate, leather appliqués! Suzette Sundae is located at 182 Avenue B; 1 212 777-7870.

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We suggest fast-forwarding past the queues of some of these major attractions in favour of discovering the living, breathing locales that the locals crave day in and day out

 

 

 

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Lucire: fashion magazine homeLucire Fashion FeaturesLucire Living and Beauty Lucire Volante: travel, accommodation guide Lucire fashion news, bulletins and events Fashion shopping guide and directory
Lucire Community: interact with us, read letters to the editorLucire Updates' service: sign up Lucire Feedback