Another great trip to NYC for all things not available on our small isle. We were met by rather inclement weather (high 60s – brrrr!) – something definitely not found on St Barts, so a great excuse to make the most of my winter clothes, which spend most of their life stored away in a trunk.
The aim of our visit was to enjoy the wonderful culture that New York has to offer, plus capitalize our time in one of the world’s best shopping and restaurant districts. I have divided the trip into these three categories, as follows:
SHOPPING
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| Eccentric East Village |
Dressed warmly in a colourful mix of styles collected over the last couple of decades, I looked surprisingly trendy in the context of NYC, where anything goes on the forever recurring fashion wheel! I was thus all set for my shopping mission in downtown New York (Soho, Chelsea and further afield in Midtown and Upper Eastside), where I confidently ventured forth to find a few, much needed wardrobe staples – new jeans, sunglasses, sandals and a little black number.
My initially confidence was soon deflated when faced by the aged 20-something shop assistants proffering the endless list of jean styles (from ‘boyfriend’ to ‘skinny boot’, which apparently had to ‘hurt to look good’!) and array of platforms, talon heels and gladiator style sandals – not a classic item in sight, for this island girl out of water! Even sunglasses had joined the fashion parade with saucer-sized lenses which made my little face look miniscule!
After exhausting myself, plus the whole designer jean range in Barneys, not to mention all the others that proceeded, I finally found the pair, magically made-to-measure, in none other than GAP. As high street as it may be, GAP somehow always comes up trumps supplying most of the jeans/cords in my wardrobe!
My morale was equally re-instilled by good old timeless Ralph Lauren – still very classically equestrian with its autumnal coloured tweeds, cords and leather attire, plus regular-sized sunglasses.
The hunt for little black numbers was just as fun as the times I hope to have in this dress! We discovered the East Village vintage shops, reminiscent of Notting Hill circa 80s. It was very interesting hunting through the eccentric, esoteric racks for hidden treasures (one of which was a fun pair of 4 ½ inch Prada heels, for a mere $40!). The shop assistants were just as eccentric – young and very trendy or middle-aged hanging on to days gone by. I found a selection of Twiggy/60s-style dresses which fitted like a glove, but sadly rather too short for my 40-something years! We then ventured into another part of the fashion spectrum in Chelsea/Meatpacking District, where we found Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen et al including a fun trying-on session in Diane Von Furstenberg where many a sophisticated black dress was to be found!
ART AND THEATRE
We then moved from the world of fashion to the ground roots level of creative art in its fine art form. This coincided with a temperature rise and bright warm sunshine as we made our way to Romare Bearden’s Centennial Exhibition at the Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, 5th Avenue.
This event was made all the more poignant by the fact that R. Bearden not only lived in St Barts’ neighbour island, St Martin, but was also the mentor of Barbara Joyce, a great artist friend of mine. His artwork bears echoes of Barbara’s work, with its quasi-art primitive, abstract collage montages, albeit mainly depicting US working class society and Afro-Americans during his lifetime, 1911 – 1988.
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Willem De Kooning
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Romare Bearden was followed by Willem De Kooning’s ‘The Figure: Movement and Gesture’ at the Pace Gallery. This was another fascinating exhibition featuring De Kooning’s abstract transformations of the human figure merged into landscape. To quote De Kooning ‘The figure is nothing unless you twist it around like a strange miracle.’ The large contorted shapes on canvas certainly provoked thought, inciting me to expressively release my creative energy on a larger scale…?
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| Picasso – L’Amour Fou |
The Gargosian Gallery, Chelsea hosted another impressive figurative exhibition – ‘Picasso and Marie-Thérèse – L’Amour Fou’. It was quite an incredible collection of artwork, 81 pieces in total, which in quantity alone epitomised the mad love Picasso had for his muse Marie-Thérèse. The simple pastel shades and bold, minimalist brushstrokes paradoxically portrayed a lot of depth and meaning, further exemplifying Picasso’s emotion and passionate sentiment for his subject/amour.
This exhibition was much more inspiring than a neighbouring exhibit by Jasper Johns featuring shrunken plastic toys as a supposed art form – a prime, sad example that a name can cloud many a vision! On the other hand, a trend can also cloud one’s view, as seen by the modern art forms at the East Village New Museum, which need a lot of imagination to appreciate their talent, beauty and meaning. (A redeeming feature is the creativity found in the New Museum’s Bird Bath Café – super homemade goodies for brunch or afternoon tea!).
Alexander McQueen’s ‘Savage Beauty’ at the Metropolitan museum certainly didn’t require imagination to be appreciated – the exhibition and content were simply spectacular with magnificent, breathtaking designs, theatrically displayed in a macabre setting. It was rather morose and thus very emotive making one mournful for the loss of a precious life and talent.
We paid our respects to another great loss, at the ‘Elizabeth Taylor – Golden Era’ exhibition at the Lincoln Center. Equally moving, but a brighter depiction of this great silver screen beauty.
The Soho galleries on our doorstep were just as fascinating, including Chris Marker’s ‘Passagers du Métro’. Interesting, but confirmed my opinion that underground transportation is charmless and depressing – forty plus photographs of passengers on the Paris Métro, only one of which features smiles of two Muslim women in their modest head scarves!
We had a fun afternoon at the Metropolitan Opera Theater seeing a great performance of a ballet compilation, both classical and contemporary, set to Bach, Britten and Stravinsky. The whole ambiance of the theatre, with its famous (Lobmyer) celestial, crystal chandeliers, adds to the glamour and thrill of a theatrical experience.
RESTAURANTS
The shopping, galleries and theatre were punctuated by enjoyable times in cafés and restaurants. We enjoyed long, lazy brunches in many interesting locations, which featured great homemade fare (not always that easy to find in the US, but thankfully easier in cosmopolitan NYC).
Coffee also surpassed our expectations this time. My previous experiences made me resigned to accept and expect the ubiquitous burnt roast flavour, but somehow there had been a dramatic change in the last eight months since our previous visit…strange but true (I was, however, ordering espressos in good restaurants, so a general conclusion cannot be drawn, but it certainly made me happy).
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| Balthazar |
We somehow managed to pay homage to a fellow-Brit, Keith McNally, more so than anticipated, visiting a total of five restaurants in two weeks…We love K. McNally’s great formula of authentic brasserie-style dining – from the more casual Pulinos and Schillers (for a fun, young, informal artsy ambiance); followed by the star-spotting, ‘happening’ (and very loud!) French-style Pastis; then the relatively modest Italian, Morandi; to, finally, the more sophisticated Balthazar.
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| Yummy Bucatini! |
Great food at all locations and just up my street, especially Morandi’s sardine, artichoke and walnut bucatini (I love this tubular spaghetti – how can a hole taste so good?). I was equally impressed by Pastis’ grilled sardines on a huge bed of rocket (yes sardines again, but I cannot resist these little chappies, which are not available in St Barts). Even casual Pulinos ‘pizzeria’ has an array of creative salads to complement its wood fired pizzas (very Italian according to PT) – the Jerusalem artichoke, rhubarb confit, pecorino and rocket salad was simply delish! PT also appreciated Morandi’s vin santo and cantucci – what better a way to end a meal (and good to dip into my espresso too!).
I almost forgot the good brunch at Balthazar, which was a first for us, having just dined there on a previous occasion. I broke my ‘when in Rome tradition’ (only ordering what a country does best), and was pleasantly surprised by the very authentic brioche à l’orange; the staff were rather French in manner too, i.e. aloof versus sycophantic, which is more to our liking! (P.S. K. McNally restos have great, artsy, retro loos – good enough to deserve a photo during a quiet spell in Schillers!).
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| Schiller’s Loos! |
Other notable venues were afternoon tea/sundowners; firstly The Standard Hotel, where we sat in a strange little café just off the lobby, which had a surprisingly fun atmosphere, albeit strange to sit on nursery-size, psychedelic style 60s furniture!
The Surrey Hotel was rather contrasting being elegantly in tune with its smart Upper Eastside surroundings. It felt like a scene from the 20/30s, with sophisticated company to match!
We enjoyed visiting the new Pa Cri, originating from St Barts, which is very much a European brasserie in style. It is an interesting venue with great potential, but sadly very quiet, on account of the tough competition from Pastis directly opposite.
A more homely and traditional venue for tea was a good friend’s brownstone apartment in Chelsea, something straight out of a NYC film set – classically decorated and furnished with a comfortable elegance.
So a good time was had by all, well the two of us, which was once again recorded on film, put together by none other than PT Productions!