I was walking from Chinatown on the way to UNIQLO’s SoHo branch to see their +J collection. And I have this habit of making myself an outsider, of consciously creating distance between myself and my surroundings anywhere where I go (I can’t fake being a native. Ironically, the more I try to act like a native, the more I feel I really act like an outsider). 99.9% of the time I’m in Chinatown so since I finally got a chance to walk outside of it, I couldn’t help but see like a tourist. I’m lost in my own world until my reverie comes short.
"You’re really slow. Walk faster," my brother says ahead of me.
My brother is the time-sensitive traveler with two things on his mind: 1) not wasting his time ergo 2) get to his destination ASAP, which was MUJI at the time. He already knows the area. If you can’t keep up with him, he attempts to walk slower but often in vain. So I try to catch up. He’s 5’8-9 and I’m 5’2 wearing 3 inch wood stack heeled ankle boots…so you can imagine what happened next: I trip four times and almost completely fall over twice because my feet are dying and I can’t speed walk in heels for my life. (Make fun of me if you want but this was a last-minute impromptu visit! It just so happened that I picked the wrong day to wear those hardly ever worn boots. Good thing I sold them!).
After embarrassing myself multiple times, I was thinking how if I lived in NYC I would be a terrible New Yorker. Suddenly, a man walks past me and immediately catches my eye. Woahhh, who is he? He’s different from everyone around him. In the way he dresses, in the way he moves, and in the way he carries himself.
He looks to be in his 20’s and is tall and lean. Is he a model? His neoprene hooded topcoat with structured voluminous sleeves is the most unique feature and though covered in all black, everything is sleek, well-fitted, and layered with intent. His movements are slow, but he is already so far ahead of us, gliding forward in between the crowd with ease and grace. Done without disrupting anyone’s pace and following his own. Is it his long legs? I can’t help but be drawn to his presence so my eyes just continue following him. He seemed to be in his own world, separate and hidden from the one around him and I was just lucky enough to stumble upon it. No, maybe the better word is camouflaged. He seemed to be one with his surroundings, a native in his element. He possessed a quiet, calm and conscious attitude compared to his hectic surroundings, yet so natural and cool. I think, This is a true New Yorker. Before I know it, we arrive at UNIQLO and am forced to turn my head away the moment I go through the doors. So much regret…
This is going to sound really creepy (it probably is), but I really wanted to follow him! To see where he was going and to observe him some more. He continued to linger and live in my thoughts for a long while afterward. He still does now. I wish I could’ve taken his picture or filmed the way he moved. It made me wonder if this is what street style photographers experience when they discover someone to shoot. Or anyone in the creative field for that matter finding inspiration in the most mundane aspects of life.
Strangely enough, I don’t remember what he looked like. His hair, his eyes, his face in general. All I saw and remember was someone in-tune to himself and his surroundings. Someone who knows and understands himself and his truth/reality. Someone who wasn’t different just for the heck of being different, but just because he is organically different, if that makes any sense. He wore what he wore and walked about NYC the way he did because that’s who he naturally is. You may think I’m romanticizing this moment too much but it really was beautiful. It was such a high. How he was simultaneously one with and independent of his surroundings but still wholly himself. To be cliche for a second, everything clicked.
Notes:
1) When traveling anywhere, who you travel with is crucially important. Exploring alone is easy, fun, and is “all about you” time. Exploring with someone else can be so much more fun, but it’s a bazillion times harder to find the perfect partner/friend to explore with. There seems to be a science to this, don’t chea think?
2) Leave Chinatown whenever possible. Walking back towards Chinatown we swooshed past Howard Street, where Opening Ceremony is, and I momentarily cringed for overruling the chance to enter OC for leaving NYC with the fam together.
3) What is a true New Yorker? I don’t know why I immediately considered the person I observed one but the answer must be complicated due to the history and nature of NYC. It has 5 boroughs! And it’s a huge melting pot so it’s not fair to attach the label to one specific type of person or group of people. Inhabitants represent the city just as much as the city represents its inhabitants. Any city and it’s residents have a relationship that feed into each other so maybe the definition is flexible and changes over time. While there are different types of New Yorkers I’m sure there are some who see a hierarchy comparing various groups to what they consider the true New Yorker. In the end, I think they’re all simply under the same giant umbrella: New Yorker.
