shops, FNO, URBN and more

Philly is known for the same things it’s always been known for: cheesesteaks, Rocky, history, loud and proud sports fans – the list could continue. I’m sick of hearing these words. Unless I want to eat a cheesesteak or am about to or am currently eating a cheesesteak, I don’t want to say or hear the word “cheesesteak.” Call me a pessimist, but I’m just tired of hearing about them and how we have them. (I do love cheesesteaks, but I’ve never understood the people who’re crazed over them. While delicious, they’re not the only food in the world, or the city, that’s delicious.) Plus, Philly’s got more to offer. I want to talk about or hear about something new that we’re known for, I want to hear an updated version of what Philly’s got.

From my perspective, we have opportunity here. The cost of living is low, we have two major industries (medicine and education), plenty of high education establishments to attend, a kickin’ food and beer scene, an expanding mileage of running and biking trails and greenspace. There’s so much that’s booming or about to boom here, why not talk about it with people not from our city to give them a little taste of what Philly has up its sleeve?

Something I didn’t include in the list above is the growing retail and fashion scene here. Philly has been named the ugliest city multiple years in a row, but that doesn’t mean ugly people can’t dress themselves. Philadelphia’s main retail corridor has been Walnut and Chestnut streets west of Broad Street. Four-block stretches of both streets are getting makeovers, between renovating stores who have called Rittenhouse “home” for years, and bringing in big names like Michael Kors, Nordstrom (Rack) and the increasingly popular Japanese brand, Uniqlo.

What does this mean for Philly and its people? Money and growth – two things a place needs to thrive longer and harder than before. And maybe these ugly people can mask their faces with fashionable Phantom of the Opera-esque masks to make us look a little better.

Philly also has its own Fashion Week and Fashion’s Night Out, two staple events in the fashion capitals of the world. (Philly’s not one of them.) Philly Fashion Week happens in February, when all the other major weeks happen in New York City, London, Paris and Milan. Philly’s Fashion Week showcases small and large designers based here in traditional and non venues around town. Fashion’s Night Out started in 2009 and came to Philly in 2012. It’s an event celebrated around the city, not just in Rittenhouse Square at the stores on Walnut and Chestnut, but in other spots south, east and west of City Hall.

I think that having both of these events in Philly annually shows that Philly’s got style and people are starting to notice it. It’s also the home of URBN, the massive company that’s the parent to Urban Outfitters, Free People, Terrain, Anthropologie and its bridal brand BLDG.

Being home to URBN’s HQ brings people here to work and having this growing corridor and fashion scene brings others here to play.

anti-fur

I've always been a fan of fur. It's soft and luxurious looking, it's fun and cozy. But before recently, I never really gave thought of real vs. faux fur. I've watched movies and TV shows that have characters that are either are against it or wear it and don't talk about it or wear it and get shamed (an episode from Sex and the City where a PETA-like advocate throws either red paint or blood onto Samantha's real fur comes to mind). But not until around a year ago did I give this issue any thought.

Animals are living things. That's really what it comes down to, for me. Killing, skinning and wearing a beautiful living thing only for the purpose of aesthetic and style does not make sense. We aren't cavemen, we aren't living in a society that requires us to wear the skin of others for warmth and survival. So why wear fur? Why support it?

Some headline's on the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA's, website force me to look away.

little things: a blog is (re)born

My first post has been an embarrassment of rambles since I clicked “Publish.” I had no concrete idea of my blog’s focus or direction. Where did I want this thing to go? I find that it has changed with each post, although few. Talking about fashion was the game at first, but I found little momentum from myself, a college senior in her last semester, who can barely make it out of the house in anything but cropped yoga pants. I’m quite guilty of cropped yoga pants.

My first post was a pool of digressions, things that zip through my mind as I type. I thought that since this was my blog, why not just write and post them as they come? (Cue the next few posts.) Now is the time, as a graduating college student and as a girl with a blog, that I need to figure out my direction. Where should I go? For the the sake of my personal writing, where should my blog go? I need a purpose.

Away with longer pieces, here to stay are short “little things.” I’m finding it impossible to write anything but randomness. My days move too fast so I can’t catch enough of these little things to examine them. Alas, the varying subject matter remains.
 

Writing the posts previous to this one allowed me to learn things about topics and subjects that I was curious about, but never curious enough to do something about. This blog will be a compilation of “little things” that I want to know more about. It’ll be a daily (weekly, for now) destination for a little piece of something. Not the whole cake, but just a bite. Maybe I should practice this in my physical consumption of cake, too. Both I will work on.