New to the street style and culture of the peeps in London, Sydney or New York City? If you need a city guide to be at home in the urban crowd, here it is.
Dress for the Occasion
While people in these cities love to dress up, they know to dress for the occasion. If you’re going out for a cup of coffee at the cafe, don’t dress as if you’re about to go to a ball. A loose, collared shirt, tastefully ripped jeans and small, elegant accessories would be fine for a stop at the bookstore in New York. Sydney’surban fashion depends on the sort of crowds, but generally, the urbanites dress in normcore style, urban chic or a tamer version of grunge. Londoners love to wear a classic turtleneck, long coats and ankle boots during Winter, but it would be odd to wear it on a sweltering hot summer day. Take a peep athow to dress in the world’s fashion capitals to see how you can impress the locals.
Flip Through a Magazine
A good guide to being dressed up is to check out the latest men’s or women’s magazine. Take your time at the bookstore or online to flick through the latest issue of Harper’s Bazaar, Elle and Vogue. For more casual wear ideas, you can visit the local shopping centres or browsePinterest. Explore the pinterest tag for a large selection ofLondon Style or follow these boards:Casual London for casual, British women’s style;Men’s Streetwear – a for a mix of New York and Parisian streetwear and business wear; andMen’s Street Style featuringmen’s’ clothing from Sydney sidewalks.
Study Clothing at the Movies
Watch movies where the setting is in New York, Sydney or London for some fashioninspiration, such asThe Devil Wears Prada orZoolander 2 to learn more about urbanfashion. For colourful inspiration for dresses, watchMe Before You. If you’re preparing for a black tie event, see dark and elegant fashionable clothes fromSpectre.
Eat Out
“Knowing the newest and finest restaurants to frequent and where to find the very best things to eat have long been essential New York status markers.” writes Michael Idov forNew York Magazine. Finding out where the newest and best food is can be said to be a hobby for New Yorkers. There’s plenty of food trucks, snack stores and places for takeout in New York, Sydney or London. For the best restaurants, you might have to reserve early, so keep an eye out for the “Reservation only” sign. You can get started by usingGoogle Maps orTrip Advisor.
Cultural Melting Pot
Nothing makes you feel more at home than getting immersed in the foodie culture of the city you’re in. Inspired by the various foreign cultures residing in them, Sydney, New York and London food comes in many flavours. You could have Lebanese shawarma and falafel for lunch, and then go for a plate of chilled soba for dinner. Discover a range of new tastes withTimeOut in London, or check out the restaurant review site,Zagat, which gives an estimate for expenses, or see new places to eat in Sydney withZomato.
Lifestyle
For an idea of the lifestyle of urbanites, take a look at what Londoners, Sydney city folk or New Yorkers are up to. Large events such asNew York Fashion Week (for the middle to high income bunch), theNotting Hill Carnivalin London,Tropfest Australia in Sydney are some of the events that can give you a glimpse of what the city folk do for fun.
You can find out what’s happening in your community through blogs or forums – for example, The Reddit pages forSydney,London orNew York. Facebook Pages such asSee Sydney,Handpicked London,Humans of New York, also give an idea of what they’re like or what they’re interested.
Now that you’ve learnt all you can about urban lifestyle, mingle with the urban crowd! If you have something to share about the lifestyle of urbanites that you just discovered, leave us a comment so we can add them on our nextcity guide.
