The street report: What people are wearing this week on the corner of 85th and Madison
The thing that stops us while we’re walking to mentally clock an aesthetic detail on a stranger is usually the result of one of two things. The first could be the dynamic way they’re wearing something.
When I stop to clock, it’s because the look (or a flourish from the look) tends to feel anonymous and unique to the wearer. That’s what makes it engaging. I think as humans it just feels good to witness other people being themselves with no regret or apology.
The second possibility is that you see someone wearing something that feels like you in some way. Either a piece they have on feels familiar or the way they’re wearing it aligns with your taste.
To the same point, the full look might resemble something that you can (and want to) make yourself — that inspires you to go to your closet and pull together an outfit you had not thought to make before.
This is usually the most satisfying stop: new things are fun but there’s nothing like seeing your own closet in a new way.
Last Monday, I spent about an hour seated on a bench outside the gourmet market, Butterfield, on 85th and Madison. It’s the brand’s second location (the first is on 77th and Lex) and has become something of an institution uptown. This space used to belong to uptown’s Dean and Deluca outpost — an iconic (now deceased) New York institution in its own right — and has made good on delivering provisions on par with those from Dean and Deluca (pretty good prepared food and sushi, a solid selection of small batch pantry items like crackers, chips*, and granola; the cheese selection is decent too and you’ll find more niche or bougie edibles — think salmon roe or taramasalata).
My one qualm is with the coffee. Or espresso, really. It drinks a little too watered down for my taste which might be more of a function of the milk selection but I’ll also never forget the rainbow of flavored syrups they offered at D&D. I’d get an almond flavored iced coffee with almond milk in like, a 24 oz cup almost every morning and over 45 minutes, drink it in bliss.
I’m digressing a bit now but the one other thing I do have to mention is that the place is probably best known for their frozen yogurt (think Pinkberry, with fewer topping options and arguably better branding).
I mean, you can walk by at 8am, which often I do on my way home from school drop off, and there is a 50% chance you’ll see someone eating it. It’s an indulgent breakfast choice but not a crazy one.
Anyway, I’m sitting here today, on one of five benches that wrap around the outside of the market to survey the style in the neighborhood. I picked up two hard boiled eggs and a Greek mezze dip I often buy and serve at home (with seed crackers).
If I sit here long enough I always experience the stop-in-your-tracks, what-are-they-wearing, I’m-gonna-try-that-too effect.
The profile type of the person who walks by varies. You’ve got your new mom taking baby to the park (if you need a stroller but are not sure about what kind to get, this is a great place to sit and survey the options rolling by).
You’ve got your otherwise kind of mom taking dog to the park — but don’t get me started on the dogs!
They’re the real style heroes of the neighborhood. The best dressed we’ve got. No q.
Then you’ve got your neighborhood school moms shuttling kids to and from schools on the Avenue (many dressed in at least one designer patch), which I appreciate amid the sea of leggings for such an early morning hustle.
There are also little details that just make you smile —
And full looks that wreak of divinely summoned self-respect.
Then you’ve got the advanced style of these other women (and men!) who look like they’ve lived in the neighborhood for decades. They’re almost always wearing something interesting, even if the whole look doesn’t quite add up.
The right sunglasses, a pair of turquoise pearls, some insane combination of wrist jewelry. A perfect, unidentifiable suit or coat.
And I’d be remiss to leave out the tourists — as in, those who come in from different neighborhoods to enjoy the park or go to work or whatever.
These people are cool. They keep me young and bright eyed and free.
I had the idea when it was getting warm out to start clocking the style that’s encountered outside when you’re seated at a cafe or on a park bench or doing whatever you do in New York. The outfits become so dynamic and honest, and these days there’s nothing that is harder to find than style being worn with no intention of documentation.
Maybe that’s the true ingredient that makes this process of stopping in your tracks to clock a detail on a stranger so seductive.
These are clothes being worn to live real life, created as a cocktail of function and pleasure. I love seeing the choices people make to present and convey themselves. And if I wait long enough to witness the trends of the neighborhood in question, the patterns that emerge from that too. They’re certainly not always my taste —
— but they reflect the true characteristics of a place. And I appreciate that so much these days.
Today we’re uptown, next time we’ll be somewhere else. Welcome to the first edition of the street report.
I love this edition. I know you will get to a more diverse neighborhood; there were no black or brown people here! But I really appreciated your appreciation of older people, who often feel unseen. You see them and all that they are doing with their clothing to speak in the world.
HEAVEN! Leandra! This gives me so much pleasure! You have brought Bill Cunningham BACK TO LIFE BRILLIANTLY.
I'd like to see this in The New York Times EVERY SUNDAY!