Irrelevant Observation

Winter Trend 1/13/09

Not too long ago, I spent a week in Tokyo during the first week of the calendar year. Unbeknownst to me then, that very week is when the Japanese do two things: going to temple and shopping. The temple bit was interesting because they were not following a Lunar or other any religious calendar. The shopping bit was actually downright scary because nothing was technically open except for retail stores and the entire population of Japan took their shopping time seriously. Imagine the entire population of your city crowding into all the retail stores at the same time, and you start to get the idea. Now multiply that by ten, from the folks visiting who want to shop too. That’s Tokyo during that week.

So, what does this have to do with anything? Well, now that we have established that I probably viewed a larger portion of the Japanese population in that week than normal, I can go ahead and make the generalizations based on that limited exposure.

I never noticed fashion trends on that scale before and in Tokyo, it quickly became obvious that Japanese women in winter like their boots. Short, tall, flat, high heels, leather or otherwise. Japanese women love their boots in winter. And to fully show off their boots, they take to wearing short skirts or winter shorts. Mind you, the skirts and shorts are usually wool, and designed for warmth, but still not what comes to mind when one thinks of winter wear. Every other woman in Tokyo was wearing boots. Old, young, chic, plain, fashionistas, mountain witches, grandmothers or granddaughters.

In NYC, this winter has revealed another similar ubiquitous trend. Uggs. Yes, Ugg winter boots. Classic tan, new black, or edgy fabric ones. Worn with jeans or tights tucked into them. Sported by White, Black, Asian, Hispanic, locals, tourists or otherwise. The stylish, the plain, the ugly, tall, thin, short, fat, the young, the youthful, the old, and old-yet-young-at-heart. Uggs are everywhere, and they cannot be stopped. One brand. One shoe. Many variations and admirers.

Next time you are on the subway or just roaming the streets of NYC. Take a look around you and keep count of how many Uggs you see on the feet of women. As am I writing this now in Starbucks, there is at least one woman wearing them.

Walk the stores, and you’ll see them everywhere as well. Heck, Wal-Mart and Target are even selling Ugg knock-offs, and I guarantee you there are thousands of those that have been sold as well. This is not an urban phenomenon. It really is everywhere.

Guess we’re not immune from these kind of sweeping trends either.

Gypsy

Woman 10/31/08

She had really sad eyes. Bulging bug-eyes that told of an experienced life. The eyes were highlighted with eyeliner and she had on red lipstick. No other signs of make-up were very evident. Her purple headscarf that housed skinny long hair braids out the back, but revealed a mix of brown dye and aged white roots in the front bangs. Interestingly, she projected warmth and friendliness.

It was really the clothing that made her interesting. She was dressed like an ethnic tribal woman. There was this short-sleeved full-length poncho. Black but covered with primary color geometric patterns that suggested a floral influence, with tassels on the bottom. The poncho was cotton.

Under that poncho? A cotton, long-sleeve black blouse with ethnic patterns on the sleeves. And that was layered over a black turtleneck. With a red scarf loosely wrapped around her neck. Continuing her look was this solid black cotton gypsy skirt, over black suede boots with a side zip. She really had a specific style, right down to the light purple nail polish.

The accessories provided her the finishing touch. A bare right wrist. A full left wrist with a watch that had a blue rectangular face and blue strap. 10 or so thin bangles, majority made of silver or stainless steel, one was resin with purple flecks on white, almost marble-like pattern, and one was multicolor. Pearl earrings accented with diamonds, or rhinestone that really sparkled.

With her backpack, she was taking up two seats. Well, it was really a knapsack. A black leather knapsack with a leather drawstring for it’s main compartment, and on it’s front pocket, a leather map of Africa. At first it seemed like a logo, but a harder second look showed the patch to be a cutout in the shape of the continent. And keeping with her look, the knapsack was quite worn and weathered.

She held her tortoiseshell sunglasses in one hand, and later replaced it with her cell phone from the knapsack. On her lap was this clear plastic yellow Ziploc folder. It was filled with forms of all colors and one could just make-out the logo of NYSCA on one of those forms.

This woman was soon having a conversation with a fellow passenger who’d originally been my first choice for observation, but she seemed to be drunk and sleeping it off. Well, turns out she had sleep apnea. And her birthday was 2/9/62, same sign as this woman.

The woman spoke with no accent, and when the sleep apnea woman exited the train, she pulled out a yellow colored pamphlet and started reading the black type. It was written in Spanish.