SPECIAL REPORT: trends from LA & NYC šš“
A deep dive into things seen and heard in America's top coastal cities (and global trend capitals).
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Forgive me, America, for it has been well over three years since I have enjoyed your company: after moving to Spain in July 2022, I took a brief blip back to Los Angeles in October of the same year before popping into Seattle for a week in February 2023 for AWP ā then the gulf grew, for the not-obvious reasons (Money.) and more obvious reasons (Money.) Thus began a years-long relationship from a distance, of watching and interacting with the states through media, social media, and the many friendships I kept digitally and within Europe. It didnāt feel ābad,ā other than being left-out of certain crises like the Los Angeles fires or the devastation that was the 2024 election. Those things were all felt from where I was but more akin to a dear friend losing a family member or having physical harm done to them āĀ and I was held back from helping: I can only do so much after the fact, from being not-with-them, a small crisis of secondhanditis. Thereās a fight happening in another room and Iām unfortunately sitting downstairs, hands tied, trying to pretend it doesnāt bother me.
And some of this is by design, mostly that there was a post-partum or greater bereavement that came with moving that threw me into a multi-year depression that was less about being away from family and from home but that I was no longer a part of culture, that I was no longer at the center of it all. There was the feeling that part of my own dream for life had been divorced, that I had removed myself from my own wants, that I had quit, which was not the desired result of a relocation. Was moving akin to giving up? Was moving akin to severing opportunity? Was moving akin to a premature retirement? In many ways, it was all of those ā but none of those were desired, hence a mental breakdown that played behind the scenes of this publication. Bobby Aaron Solomon and I were looking for a change and a challenge when we moved to Europe but what we got was that plus life with the volume turned way down, novelties and peculiarities captivating for the honeymoon period before serving as reminders of the aforementioned loss. Pair this with your geographic ex constantly being paraded all around you, as you are the person from the far away land no one wants to be with but many want a piece of, you start to feel lost.
I say this as context for what was a long-awaited trip that I had spent much of last year stressing about: Would friends and family forget who I was? Would my home world be abstract to me? Would I now be caught between a former life and a life that never quite formed? Would there be an anger of our abandonment? Would there be a desire to run away only to be welcomed by nothing? I had no idea, but it was a lot of baggage to tote along that was far too costly to check or try to stuff into my pockets to carry-on with Bobby and our dogs.
Such fears almost immediately vanished as a place like Los Angeles ā the city I lived in longest, the place I call home ā was very much the warm hug it always has been and always will be: itās exactly what I didnāt know I needed. New York ā a place Iāve had a long and complicated relationship with, given family history ā felt similarly too, a shock given the place always carried a Trump coarseness that always rubbed me wrong. Both cities were nicer and happier on a vibe-basis than I ever could have anticipated: it was beyond a warm hug but more like an extended cuddle as bombs went off around us, as government murders and kidnappings and abductions played out only for us to care about each other and the communities weāre a part of more as a result. It was rejuvenating and like a callback, a bit like the end of Before Sunset, a call to miss that plane and stay forever: it was all good.
Nowā¦what does this mean for the trends? What did I notice and not-notice? Wellā¦there was a lot. That feeling-like-a-hug thing was real as I was back in my element, the lights of irl trendspotting turned on in ways I had forgotten was possible as it had been years since Iāve been āinā such an environment. It was a blessing! And Iām here to share the findings!! Weāre going to break this down in a few ways: trends shared between the two cities, NYC trends, and Los Angeles trends. VĆ”monos!
šļø Noticings Between NYC and LA
Here are some general things I noticed between the two citiesā¦
The shadow of ICE is inescapable, which is very obvious but it was expressed in very different ways: in Los Angeles, it was very direct in that I spotted signs in neighborhoods where persons had been kidnapped along with more specific details about what to do, how to protect each other, and the importance of community action; in NYC, it was more subtle ā or less immediate ā which likely speaks more to the areas I was in (around Brooklyn, north and south of Midtown Manhattan) but was made up for with various āICE Outā and safe space signs. The political circumstances were very much at finger tips and on-the-mind, lines drawn from almost every conversation to what was happening in Minneapolis but also in parts of the city as close as our neighbors and as far as the stateās edge. We will look back at these times and see these confrontations as battles, as a modern civil war played out in normalized ways: these are fucked up times, but weāre working our way through it together.
Chicory is the lettuce of the moment, which I saw on so many menus between both cities, which I took to be a very Los Angeles oddity until it also turned up (not-as-much) in places like Cove in NYC. There were too many spottings to count!!
Everyone is watching Industry, which feels like the rare ā And exciting! ā return to form of appointment viewing, something I have not experienced in years. I donāt think thatās geographic either as the Los Angeles TRL and live HIP REPLACEMENTs saw other non-enthused talks of shows from the past few years emerge: no one was as excited or as hyped as they were with Industry. I am racing to catch up to the present, lingering in season two with Harper in Berlin. Wish me luck!
The āperformative maleā Trader Joeās bag is everywhere ā but thatās not the real story about it as it instead reflects the Los Angeles trend pipeline. For example: in Los Angeles, the bag wasnāt just everywhere but ubiquitous, coming in big and small colors, used as purses and as totes, hauled by abuelitas on the bus to cool girls at spots like Quarter Sheets. This exposed a missing chapter to the story: the bagās popularity is less about men ātrying to fit inā to a certain female compatibility but more a utilitarian and homegrown Los Angeles item that was copied and copied throughout the city and then country that was easily exported, becoming the new London Review of Books tote.
While not surprising in Los Angeles, everyone was overwhelmingly pleasant, which I couldnāt place as a seasonal disorder or a happy-to-see-literal-me as strangers and friends and service workers and family across all identities: everyone was happy, everyone was trying, everyone was trying to make each other feel good by being good. This was a shock but also reveals something so beautiful about America and Americans: the spirit of hope, which felt as if it were at an all time high. That is what patriotism looks like!
The coolest look is looking like shit which makes me crazy (and may be a young person thing). This is expressed from spotting a lot of pajama bottoms being worn by people who were not-in-high school all the way up to variations of Essentials and other slumpy post-Yeezy styles. Itās an awful look that should have stayed in the late 2010s ā but is somehow ubiquitous now! I get that life is hard, yet lazy wear is not the answer. (Granted: as my friend Monica Sotto noted, she heard some young people talking about āhard pantsā like jeans being too much to deal with given life is so hard. I get that. Valid! Butā¦everyone is wearing āthatā and that makes it deeply uninteresting, slovenliness aside.)
Masking is alive and well in these cities in ways it is not alive in Europe, both on public transit and out and about in general. Most shocking to me? I spotted more people masking in Los Angeles ā where the kind winter weather enables more outside activity, where there is more being-in-your-car ā than I did in New York, where there is much more public transit and it was super fucking cold.
Everyone is using red light masks. It is the product of the moment that I saw in many houses and many stores, that was brought up in many conversations and in many media items.
The right wing tug felt more present in Los Angeles than New York, which I pin more to this feeling never being the case in LA while that has always been āpresentā in NYC. I heard so many stories about coworkers and lovers and friends in LA who have had right wing pivots, some based on clout chasing and some based on mania. Wild sign of the times.
Weāre approaching peak Millennial city parent, an economic echo from the whole of the country as some in cities finally have money to have kids, as theyāre now parenting in their early forties. This was mostly tracked by dudes wearing Millennial staples like Carhartt beanies and wide-brim hats chasing down kids with names like Maverick and Saratoga, sometimes while holding cloudy wines but almost always holding wooden toys.
Americans are deeply obsessed with Paris in ways that are cute but are a bit much: Los Angeles has spots like Juliet and Damn I Miss Paris while NYC has a suite of spots along with things like Paris Bar. Betty Bulle popped up on both coasts as Parisian expressions like Buddy Buddy in NYC and Casablanca in LA emerged too. There are also some very Parisian gestures being flung around ā cozy apartment lounges in NYC, chic sidewalking drinking in LA at Capri Club and Seco ā which shows just how much love these American cities have for the French capital. TrĆ©s chic!
The LA/NYC pipeline is still up and running, as both cities seem to be in conversation with each other as Sugarfish and Erewhon and Gjelina and Canyon Coffee set up shop in NYC while the New York Post and Kettl and Salās Place pop up in Los Angeles. The pipeline definitely favors more LA items popping up in NYC, yet the bicoastal vibe is very much alive and well ā and suggests that the two cities may merge in unexpected ways.
ā¦and here are some things I noticed that were less geographically-specific but that represented larger, international trends afoot.
Vintage is the future, as Iāve felt in so many cities in Europe and had that reiterated as places like American Rag on La Brea expanding their vintage offerings as parts of Williamsburg were littered with vintage stores. This is great but also says a lot about the state of fashion: there are too many clothes and anything ānewā has become uninteresting, common, and consumerist.
Spain continues to be on-the-minds of the world given funky Catalunyan wines are everywhere as are gildas (which I saw on a menu as an āanchovy on a stickā). This has been the feeling in London and northern Europe too!
As noted again and again, Denim Tears is taking over the world and I hate it because it plays into the aforementioned everyone-wearing-sweats thing. No thanks!
š Noticings from NYC
