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For New Years Eve, we did a party crawl that started in Williamsburg, worked down through Park Slope, then across to SoHo/Tribeca, up towards Meatpacking and ended up in Chelsea - 5 parties in all....
We saw a lot of things.
In Willy B (or Billyburgh, whichever you prefer), the usual hipster crowd was out in force, dressed in those crazy retro-mis-matched-purple-hair-neck-tatoo uniforms that we used to sport back in college. It’s like a time warp there – I expect a game of hackysack to break out in the middle of the street. Thrift shopping never goes out of style in Retroland. The food was “comfort”, lots of Mac-N-Cheese, black-eyed peas with bacon, rice krispy treats, PBJ, and of course PBR (what used to be the beer of the redneck, now suddenly achingly cool – talk about marketing!).
Scene of the neighborhood: a retro-couple sporting purple fun fur pimp coats, silver shoes and Christmas light jewelry.
In P-Slope (or The Slope), 5th Avenue was packed full of neighborhood parties with pre-fixe menus and live music. Here, the attire was still hip, but not college-alternative-pierce the lip and be cool-hip; it was all a little more mature and a more gallery-esque.Music varied from blues to rock and from jazz to hip-hop, depending on the corner you were standing on. And the food was once again down-home, grass-roots, comfort-laden…. And there was plenty of bacon to go around - in the salads, in the sandwiches, in the casseroles.
Scene of the neighborhood: An entire family, complete with dog, dressed in 2007 hats and enjoying the unusually warm weather as they paraded up and down the avenue.
In SoHo/Tribeca, the mood shifted to something much more urban and chic. There were fewer people wandering around the streets – they all had destinations in mind, not a bar crawl. In general, the vibe here is less gritty, less energetic the Brooklyn. The college-aged exuberance of Willy B and the suddenly self-aware vibe of The Slope give way to the Ennui of the Established in SoHo and to some extent Tribeca. But there is something satisfying in the thought that one can be established and enjoy life rather than fretting about the rent. Cheers to all those who can.Wine and cheese, of course, and fresh fruit abounded – a welcome sight after much bacon. But then, we were entering Babette territory.
New Babette Fashions for 2007: The silicon lip thing is still big – and bigger than ever, almost enough to function as a flotation device in case of an emergency ditching. (And shiny lip gloss - almost enough to see your reflection.)
Also big with Babettes, fishnet stockings with open toed shoes. This look, especially with the bigger, open weave stockings, shouts out “cheap”, and at the end of the evening, the toes look battered and even cheaper. We saw a triad of fish-stockinged Babettes drenched with rain, their chipped toenails ripping through the fishnet, their short skirts shrinking ever upward as they tried in vain to jump over one puddle, then another.
Big, 80’s retro gold hardware on the outerwear is also big. Babette seems to be determined to bring back Chloe parfum & Dynasty’s version of naval chic, and quite possibly the shoulder pads. Also big, fake eyelashes – now we can all look strippers on our way to run our multi-million dollar enterprises from our corner offices above the porn shop.
Cheap Prada knock-offs – still big for those who cling desperately to that one little Prada bag that they can actually afford. Problem: in the pouring rain some knock-offs begin to come unglued.
The Martini – it is back in all its multi-colored glory, and Babette likes to sip them while casting her predatory eye across the crowd of James Bond-inspired dancing fools. She is looking for the one with the fattest wallet.
Scene of the neighborhood: A group of teenagers in an elevator about to crash a party. They were plotting how to get in and what lies they would tell, only to find out that we were going to the SAME party and now were privy to their whole party strategy. They dispersed into the crowd quickly, hopefully learning at their tender ages that loose lips do sink ships.
In Meatpacking – well, let’s just say that there were many people well on their way to alcohol poisoning, all trying to flag down a cab in the pouring rain. Even on a good day it’s hard to catch a cab in the rain, never mind 3:00AM on New Year’s Day. The James Bond theme continued here, and elsewhere in the city. Oddly, we found nobacon here – just chips and nuts and a never-ending supply of vodka-inspired drinks. Hmmmm.
Scene of the Neighborhood: My friend Carmen shouting at a blonde Babette with an extremely limited vocabulary: I’m not fucking Spanish. I’m from South America. Venezuela is not in Spain. And Carnival is in Rio – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, not the Rio Grande in Mexico. Get a map!
In Chelsea, it was all about fashion and food and dainty little amuse bouche prepared and plated in just that way that makes you want to scream out “oh, the pretension!But it all tastes good and so you don’t – you just eat it all up. Pancetta was the flavoring of choice here, as were more subtly cool outfits. Eyewear was big, especially new and trendy eyeglass models.
Scene of the Neighborhood: Man on a skateboard being pulled by two dogs: A large one wearing a shirt that read 2006, and a smaller one in diapers with 2007 painted on. The man was dressed like the Grim Reaper, except for the Rita Hayworth mask.
Babette doesn’t hang out so much in Chelsea these days – she’s getting too old, and we all have to admit that it is hard to compete for attention in this neighborhood, I don’t care who you are. Even purple hot pants aren’t enough these days. But maybe with a pair of fishnet stockings and open toed shoes…..
Tags:
2006 good bye, 2007 welcome, Babette, Chelsea, food and fashion, Park Slope, SoHo, Willy B
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Posted on 1/2/2007
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