Alright, I feel like it is time for another version of Honest To God: Live from the Trenches!
Last time it was while I was in an Upper West Side Whole Foods.
Today, I am in a Starbucks in Chelsea.
Similar amount of wealth. Very different crowd.
To be honest, there isn’t another mommy around in sight. At least not one with a child in tow.
But there are kids. Ohhhhh, there are kids.
Today was the first day of school in New York City. I was in this same exact Starbucks at the same exact hour yesterday and it was practically empty – save for the gorgeous gay couple in the corner.
There are easily 100 people in here at this very moment.
Forget Costco! Club Starbucks is where it’s at.
It is suddenly swarming with young girls, as varied in shades of brown as the Starbucks coffee board. Caramel to Mocha. All talking and shrieking at once. Hugging with the side to side rock that all women decipher clearly as ‘I haven’t seen you in forever and am SO HAPPY to see you!’ Coming in as groups of 3 or 4 and morphing before they leave into different groups of 5 or 6, depending on who will wait for who and who needs to get on the subway right away.
It is a blur of fringe. High waist pants. Red Lipstick. Messy top buns. Tom’s shoes. A few straggling gladiator sandals. Southwest triangular prints. Tortoise shell glasses. Flowery sundresses. Ballerina tops. Loose side braids. Lace in colors like forest green. High heel leather boots. Bangles. A few splashes of glitter here and there.
Basically, name a trend from the last 6 months and it is represented in this Starbucks at this very moment.
Wow. So this is what The First Day of School looks like in New York, huh? Forget their education funds, I better start my boys a clothing fashion fund.
Wait a minute? Where are the boys? Something’s fishy here…
I stopped a couple of girls and asked them where they just got out of school.
Aha!
High School of Fashion Industries.
Well, there ya go. No wonder there wasn’t a plain t-shirt in the bunch!
So there you have it. 15 minutes in a Starbucks in Chelsea. Live from the trenches.
As told by some dorky old mom with her hair in a ‘business French twist’ (i.e. My hair is too frizzy today to wear it down.’) wearing her giant, clunky rain boots that are glistening in the sun beaming through the window. (www.weather.com tells big fat lies.)
Brooklyn Starbucks and Upper East Side Starbucks tales still to come…
Love the description!
Thanks Erin! It was such a scene!