"Now is not the time to be fashionable"

"Now is not the time to be fashionable."

... or so say the guidebooks for when you're touring a city. You should know I would never listen to said advice. The first time I ever walked around midtown Manhattan as a teenager, I did it in a red sequined (yes) skirt with a maroon cropped tank (cringe) and black criss-cross velvet heels. Ahhh, early 2000s fashion... I think maybe I wanted to be Britney Spears. CRAAAZY! Yep.

Moving on...My downtown outfit last Saturday was slightly more functional: colorful cotton tunic, denim leggings, gold thong sandals, black bag from Aldo with gold hardware (my vegan-wannabe Coach), biiiig ombre sunglasses. Sounds cute and comfy, right? Well, it was hot. Sweltering hot. I packed not one, not two, but three sundresses, and awoke to a chilly, overcast morning with a good chance of rain. So on went the skinny jeans. And what a mistake. Note to self: next time in the city, follow dear Emily's advice: wear a dress and keep leggings in your purse for that inevitable just-in-case moment. Because you can always add layers, but unless you are of a certain, ah, vocation, you should not shed clothing in public! Scratch that. Just wear easy layers accordingly! And in the city, always ignore the weather report. If it does start to rain, no worries; count on street vendors to appear out of thin air and sell you an umbrella!

So scorching were the temps that I did not get a single good outfit shot. 'Twould not have been pretty. Perhaps it's for the best. I did, however, get a few snapshots of one hazy day in Manhattan...

Bright, white hot... this picture just screams humidity!

In Central Park south, a sliver of blue sky...

Big pond turtles! Perhaps they're really well-fed?

The Dakota... beautiful, majestic... depressing...

But this picture-perfect bride and groom make up for it! I couldn't tell if they were for real or part of a photo shoot! Either way, gorge.

So next time, I vow to get more (and better!) pictures. But it's hard to walk around discreetly taking photos without looking like every other tourist (even though, as a New York native, I hardly consider myself a tourist! I'm just an out-of-towner who really enjoys her visits! Yes). So how do you city-living fashion bloggers do it? It's easy for me to do my little photo shoots in my garden, or even at the beach... but in the middle of everything NYC, it was nigh-on impossible! Any advice?

Stay tuned for my next adventure...

Love & kisses,


Erin