City Life.

 

"When you are elevated from the street, you see the city in a totally different light." 

Marios Schwab was technically referring to the extension of the Highline when he said this, but in my mind it speaks for the entire experience of an outsider's relationship with the city. 

My own relationship with the city mimics the course of what I imagine most serious romantic relationships to entail. It is, without question, my first love. Although my city and I certainly have our fair share of lover’s quarrels and mishaps, I know that in the end, I can trust that it will always be there for me and take care of me. While I don’t actually leave the city, I do (as do most New Yorkers) a lot of moving around- in the last two years I’ve lived in Greenwhich Village, the Upper East Side, and Chelsea- so I’ve come to associate the word “home” with the city in general rather than any specific P.O. box.

However... My view of the city varies between realistic and idealist depending on whether I am actually in the city or elsewhere removed. As I’ve recently made New York my home base once again (after several years of forced separation), I’ve found myself traveling in and out of the city on a more regular basis. I spent the majority of those aforementioned five years dreaming of the city and imagining what I would be doing if I were back there. But now that I’m actually here (there) I realize that maybe I was actually letting wishful thinking get the best of me.

Don’t get me wrong. I love, LOVE, living in the city. I feel like it’s the place I belong and that I could never truly be myself or reach my highest potential if I were to leave it again (with the singular, potential exception of London). But there is a certain stress about existing here: one that I can really only relate to that feeling you get when you travel to a new locale- pressure to be do or experience something all the time. You feel like you don’t want to waste a second of your time in this wonderful, unexplored place and even if, you really want nothing more than to sit down, read a book, or (god-forbid) get to bed sometime before 3am, a feeling of guilt washes over and prevents any real relaxation from ever happening.

The point, though, is that even as I have been back in North Carolina for my relatively short winter break (stupid F.I.T. kicking us out of our dorms!) I’ve noticed the same phenomenon happening again. All of the issues and constant fatigue that weigh me down while I am (physically) in the city dissolve and here I am once more: sitting on my couch re-watching the first season Gossip Girl, counting down the days until I go back. I guess there will always be a certain confusion over the assimilation of going from striving for the “unattainable” to not exactly knowing what to do when you have it.

Work hard, move up, and hope you don’t loose it?

On the Way, Spanish V

Apparently it's common knowledge that I am minority obsessed with River Viperii. I mean look at him... even Paris Hilton jumped on that bandwagon (but don't tell him- the last thing that boy needs is another reason to talk about himself and how great he is. I say that with love, but I mean come on. I spent a good six hours with him and he asked me maybeee two questions about myself.) But, this is why, late one night, my friend called and asked if I wanted to work on a shoot the next morning featuring Viperii? 

Uhhhhmmm duh.

Pulling up to Root studios in Willamsburg at the (very generous by industry standards) hour of 8am, the stylist (one of my favorites and such a sweety –David Gomez-Villamediana), the other fashion assistant, and I went through the normal set-up routine of unpacking all the clothes and laying out all of the accessories, ect. 

            Then, around 9am or so, this absolutely stunning boy walks into the room wearing that stupid red hat he always seems to have on, and it’s really hard not to stare at him. I’m not normally one to be interested in someone whose attractiveness is quite so all-up-in-your-face about it, but holy mother of pearl! This was a beautiful boy. At first I did put a little effort into trying not to notice; after all I do value professionalism rather highly… but let’s all give me a break. I’m still an 18-year-old girl at the end of the day.

It took me about two hours of standing next to him (even putting him in a skirt) to work up the nerve to actually speak to him. When I did, I wish I hadn’t he was actually surprisingly pleasant. Apart from his I-hate-Brooklyn-rant, his obsessive hitting on the older model- Maryna Linchukhe (blehhh))- (he and Harry Styles should talk), and his attempt to make everyone on set believe that I was not actually working there, but was, in fact, a random stalker who walked in off the street, he was really sweet. actually no, that was it. You just look at that smile and he could literally be insulting you (as he did on many occasions) and you will still  fall in love with him!  Honestly though he is a really cool guy. He did carry a heavy box down the street for me once and probably got me some new twitter followers with this (on a separate occasion):

  

            Overall the day was a breeze, I think we were able to get out of the studio by 7 or 8.pm Considering that most of the shots took place outside, it was very fortunate that the weather was as beautiful as it was that day. In addition to the cloudless sky, I don’t know if any of you are familiar with the geography of Brooklyn, you could pretty much see the entire skyline of lower Manhattan from where we were shooting and I just had one of those “Is this seriously my life?” moments of disbelief when you realize and appreciate how completely blessed you are. 

Givenchy twins- imagine all the places this nose ring has been? It was tried on no less than everybody on set. And that's only in the span of 12-hours.