New York Photo Journal

For as long as I can remember I’ve wanted to go to New York City. NYC has consumed my imagination since I was a little girl. Certainly I have been consuming NYC… in film, television, music, fashion, style, news, politics. It’s hard to know what is the real New York and what is imagined fantasies. But nevertheless, it is a place that has such strong cultural influence over the rest of the world, even us here Down Under. In real life the “city that never sleeps” turned out to be everything I thought it would be… and more… but, a bit less shiny. It is the biggest, the tallest, the busiest, the noisiest place I’ve ever been and it was easy to convince myself that I was in the centre of the universe. There seemed to be a lot of hype about it being the greatest city in the world, but what I most loved most about it where the simple moments like spending a lazy afternoon reading in the open air library at Bryant Park or taking part in a community yoga class with hundreds of local Manhattans. A special mention goes out to vintage and second hand shopping scattered throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn. Here you will find super delicate turn of the century cotton chemises, luxurious 1930s bias cut gowns, 1950’s “New Look” dresses, 1980’s printed pullovers and everything (from every era) in between. I was lucky enough to stumble across some very special vintage Japanese printed cottons which I’ll be working into the H&S debut range coming out later this year. In the interest of full disclosure, there were times I found the city grimy, unforgiving, and just heartbreaking. New York is everything from the highest high to the lowest low. It is energising and exhilarating in one moment, and exhausting and depleting the next. It is like no where else in the world.

New York I love you, flaws and all.