New York Fashion - Doomed?

IS New York’s reign in the fashion industry coming to an end?
This question would have sent anyone who knew anything about the fashion world away laughing only a couple of years ago.

But the votes at a prominent poll speak for themselves. The Big Apple has now been pushed to second place in the race for fashion capital of the world according to the Global Language Monitor’s annual fashion capital research 2009 (July 20).
Although still ranking in the top five, alongside long-standing top cities including Paris, London and Rome, the poll brought an end to New York’s five-year reign as the world’s top fashion city.

The research also revealed trends that seem to indicate New York fashion may never take up first place again.
Los Angeles, whose scene only a decade ago was a complete mockery, has now firmly asserted itself to the fashionistas of the world and has edged up to number six.
Miami and Las Vegas also made great strides forward, as well as Toronto, Hong Kong, Sao Paulo, Berlin and Barcelona.

Indeed, the fashion nexus seems to be ceding away along with the population drain from America’s Northeastern coast. Could this have had any bearing on Project Runway’s decision to permanently move the show from New York to Los Angeles for its sixth season later this month? (I know it was over a dispute between NBC Universal and Weinstein, but really..)

Okay, laugh at that point, but the New York fashion industry is in some serious trouble. Due to the recession, the garment industry has taken a severe blow, with only about 9,000 garment workers remaining in the garment district, near Times Square, compared with 16,000 in 1995.

The same district, which once employed hundreds of thousands of workers and produced most of the clothes worn in the USA, has been reduced to a shadow of what it once was as garment producers have fled to foreign countries where they can function much more cheaply, such as China, India and Latin America.
The fear is that the remaining shops and factories are also in jeopardy with rising rents. The total loss of garment production in the city would leave little reason for designers to stay. New York then would loose its fashion prominence, no longer able to hold its own against Paris and Milan.

While New York does stand out for its individuality and innovation, the plain facts say that the garment industry is at risk. This, while other American cities are quickly maturing to rival New York’s unflinching sense of confidence. If New York is to continue to be taken seriously, it needs to stop being so complacent – as fashion waits for no one.

Happy 400, New York!

ON THE year of the 400th anniversary of New York I felt it was my duty as a native to pay homage to the Dutch heritage there.

There are Dutch-American remnants now stretching across the Midwest, through to Wisconsin and Michigan, as well as Dutch-influenced colonial revival homes commonly found throughout the Mid-Atlantic States, Western Connecticut and even Virginia.
Tens of thousands of Dutch also settled in California and Washington State after the First World War.

But the oldest settlement is still sourced at New York and its largest city, once called New Netherland and New Amsterdam, respectively.
In the year 1609, Henry Hudson, leading a Dutch fleet, sailed into the harbour of the Hudson where he headed for Manhattan island. This feat will be celebrated over the course of this year by parties, parades, concerts and exhibits.
New York culture mirrors its all-embracing colonial roots with traits such as tolerance, multiculturalism, innovation and love of freedom.

While the Dutch colony was by no means homogenous – with more than 18 languages spoken and only about half of its citizens Dutch – the Dutch heritage is steadfastly omnipresent and comprises of a vital piece of this city’s history.

Take, for example, Wall Street. Named for a wall constructed at some point after 1655, the Dutch built it to keep the threat of Native Americans at bay.
Then we have Brooklyn, named after the Dutch town of Breukelen in the province of Utrecht in the Netherlands. The township was authorised by the Dutch West India Company in 1646. Also, we have the names of Boswijk and Nieuw Utrecht, or Bushwick and New Utrecht.

It doesn’t stop there. Bedford-Stuyvesant was named after Peter Stuyvesant, the only governor of New Netherlands to be called director-general.
Harlem, originally a Dutch village organised in 1658, was named after Haarlem.
Staten Island? Don’t you mean Staaten Eylandt, in honour of the Dutch Parliament, Staaten Generaal? Let's not forget the Long Island town of Hempstead, or Heemstede, and the Bronx, named for Dutch captain Jonas Bronck. At one time even the Great White Way, Broadway, was a great green way, which the Dutch called de breed weg meaning thick forest.

And also Hofstra University, which I attended in 2005 and which was founded by Dutch descendants in Long Island.

But the Dutch influence extends beyond the Hudson Valley region. Distinctly American words, some rebuked by our English counterparts, have their roots in the Dutch colony. Words such as cookie from koekje, boss from baas, hook from hoek, knickernocker and kill, all derive from Dutch.
Even the word Yankee itself is said to come from jan kees.

This by no means is meant to overshadow any other components of New York’s vastly complicated and diverse heritage.
Nonetheless, while this constantly changing region continues to reinvent itself and welcome in new waves of immigrants, we should still take time to respect our founding forefathers who helped create this city and state we have all come to love.

Oh... and I guess we shouldn't forget about New Jersey.