New York Look Book

"‘Look Book’ is a feature that New York magazine ran for five, six years. This is a very active, vibrant city where a lot of things are happening, but two of the biggest industries are, of course, publishing and fashion. So, how people dress in the city, and the way they think they’re presenting themselves, is always a big deal. (I work in the Condé Nast building, and it’s a big deal here in the building, and in so many ways, it’s also a big deal in the wider city.) And so this book, published by—I should point out—a New Yorker competitor, highlights this, pulling together features from several years of the magazine. The contributors talk to people on the street about what they’re wearing, and do these quirky little interviews about their sense of style and clothing, with questions like, ‘Why are you wearing a rain boot on your head?’ Yes – these are street interviews. As with the Time Out book, you get a real sense of the blood flow of the city. People you would think of as real downtown-y people are caught on a corner in the Upper East Side, for instance, and interviewed about why they’re there, and what they’re doing. There’s also a little guide in the back to buying costume jewelry and crazy shoes and whatnot. People come here and they look at buildings and they look at art, but, as with any city, some of the things that really draw people are the more personal pleasures—food and clothes. I like the idea that guidebooks recognise that. It’s great to give people a sense of what they’ll be doing in between visiting major tourist sites and museums. Most of us wear clothes—I would say that’s generally true. So I just think it’s a nice lens through which to see the city. At the moment, with Project Runway and all these kinds of shows, people do think about the city in this way; fashion week has become a bigger and bigger thing. The good thing about the Look Book is that it’s so diverse; it really depicts a range of people."