Yesterdays adventure turned out to be a double edged sword. Hanging out with Jew is always fun, although it always results in blatant threats on lives and me owing her money (and a sweater, but whatever). I didn't think I'd buy much and I was absolutely right. After 5+ hours walking and $22 spent on transportation (I
HATE you, ticket increase.) Abigail and I ended up buying 2 shirts combined, with takoyaki and yakisoba on our breath and blisters on our feet.
The thing most people don't realize about the City is that well, it's crowded. And expensive. And really effing irritating when you have to push past a million tourists that don't know what they're doing and also, transportation costs money so you've got to factor that in. Even though Abigail and I are frequent city goers, we didn't really factor in the cost of fare so halfway through I was broke and she ended up shouldering the costs of fare. Anyway, back to the point: if you think a Friday is a good day to go in the city and you'll somehow find a great deal amongst the many hipster boutiques, you'll probably be sadly disappointed. The majority of the good stores are located in Brooklyn, Queens, and Williamsburg, not NYC. Even then, inflation sucks and with the dollar failing hard at life you're going to spend more than you want to anyway.
Nevertheless, I'm happy with my purchase although the means of getting it kind of sucked.
Enough with the depressing reality! You want pictures, no?
First stop: Eating. We went to our favorite dig in the city for cheap food, Otafuku (
236 E 9th street). Absolutely miniscule, with no seating inside, so we ate our yakisoba and takoyaki at the local starbucks.
damn i'm hungry now.
After that, we went to Urban Outfitters to find Jew some skirts for her Spring Wardrobe. I've always thought of Urban as a glorified and overpriced ebay, this didn't change from the visit. I like the clothes but it's too much money on something I can find at a thrift store...and I said that, frequently, as I went through the racks. Turned up empty handed.
After that, we went on our way to Uniqlo, but
Metropolis caught my eye. It's primarily directed to men--leather jackets, menswear, and vintage tshirts are abound while the womens section is shunned to one or two racks and the dress section can be measured if you stretch your hands. It's got a huge amount of shoes though, I'll give them that. It's got O.K pricing, nothing to write home about but good quality for your money. Pricing for tshirts range from $24-$95, shoes are $35+. I wanted to buy many things, my wallet had no space. (SURPRISE.) Looking into it now I realize East Village does in fact have a nice amount of vintage stores for around the same price range, so next time when I have a decent amount to spend I'll document my visits there.
My dream boots (i went "kjhakdjasdasdasd", dramatic feint and all) are $95 dollars. These pink pumps remind me of the bow Louboutins, that for for $23423423482424 or around there. $45 dollars if I recall. CLICK TO ENLARGE; the pictures are beautiful. 2nd pic is my wallpaper actually hahaha.
Random note: Nylon and Paper (Lindsay Lohan cover) can be found on the corner of Eighth and Bleeker. Just random, if you're in the East Village and want to buy them.
I don't remember the exact sequence of events so forgive me if the pictures are out of order (you can't tell anyway, ha ha ha). On our way somewhere, I think to Uniqlo, we passed by
Irregular Choice and the store front caught my eye so I dragged Abigail in despite her protests of it being "too girly". I'm less girly than her and personally when I think polka dot boots I imagine visual kei bands and a helluvalot of product in your hair.
I was moaning on about all the pretty shoes, and taking pictures of everything in the relatively empty store. I know some stores don't like pictures being taken so I took them quickly underneath my little hat and tried some on just to see how they feel. (A pair of green oxford style pumps and red flats, both $150+)
click to enlarge. (small selection of what they had--seems like they had all stock from their website as well as the clothes.
After that short visit, we went down your atypical alleyway and I stopped in my tracks at this display window.
Click to enlarge. Oh my god, expletives are required to describe to you the contents of the store from what I saw through the window. No one was inside ad the door was locked, which sucked so I couldn't go in and ogle at the beauty. I'm positive this was something big, I just don't know what.
At the end of the journey (Uniqlo, but of course) we ended up getting two lovely shirts. This was my first visit to Uniqlo...I've got things to say.
- All asians in the entire world, marry me.
- Mostly Japanese designers, actually. You make my world ROCK.
- Uniqlo has amazing jeans as expected, and it's effing huge. Holy crap, epicly enormous. Also, the elevator is fun and I'm stupid sometimes.
Abigail bought the tank top with designs by Hiro Sugiyama and Kaname Yamaguchi, who are pretty much GODS in the anime and manga world, for $15.50. I purchased the second shirt, by an English dude which . It's big, so I'm going to wear it as a dress or a tunic with black latex leggings or my floral tights and combat boots if and when I buy them.
Shirt information (the tag)
here and
here.
I'll post my street pictures on a rainy day, they really deserve a post of their own. Off to bed for me!
p.s many thanks to abigail for taking the last four shots, as well as the tag shots, and letting me use her camera for the trip. Ily. =D
edit: SORRY JESUS. Abigail's shirt was designed by
O-FUCKING-SAMA-FUCKING-TEZUKA,
who apparently owns heaven and hell and created manga and I should be shot at for not reading the tag properly.
My wear: All from Goodwill. Word?
