All posts tagged: New York

On Moving to New York: An Updated Letter

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Here we are, New York. You and I, five months later. I could say that I’ve conquered you, but I’d be lying. You are unconquerable. I’ve met masters born and raised in your crowded streets who still feel the necessity to keep trying to figure you out. And, for a newbie like me, “conquer” would be too strong a word. Yet, I can say I’ve enjoyed immersing myself in your collective misery, the insatiable ambition that your people have instilled in me and the complicated relationship I’ve only gotten to start with you. I can say you’ve brought me to tears and taught me that in every corner there is a new lesson, a new person, a new wall of truth to stomp upon. After years chasing you, I can say we have finally moved in together and it doesn’t look- or feel- as I always hoped. It’s better. You remember those first few days of me searching apartments online, riding the subway uptown and downtown to end up in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, a community …

File No. 11: Desirée Velázquez, fashion designer

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Pop culture would have us believe that being a fashion designer is one of the most glamorous jobs available. Thanks to Project Runway we know it’s not true. The aspiring designers experience nervous breakdowns at Parsons The New School for Design making every moment count because, as Heidi Klum has taught us for some time, in fashion one day you are in and the next day you are out. This was the case of Desirée Velázquez, who did it all off-camera and with no pay. “I moved to New York with $1,000 and a credit card. That was it”, recalls the 28-year-old freelance fashion designer, while sitting at Astoria Coffee, wearing her signature cat-eye and red lipstick. Desirée is a CAD designer for Carolina Herrera and was part of the launch of Katy Perry’s shoe collection with Global Brands Group last year. The break came after she experienced her first layoff at Ohne Titel, a small fashion company founded by Parsons alumni Alexa Adams and Flora Gill that closed last spring. She took the opportunity …

On Moving to New York

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I’ve seen enough episodes of Sex and the City by now to know that life is not a sitcom. Men like Big don’t change; they become even bigger assholes. Also, Manolo Blahnik shoes are not affordable for a freelance writer. I know all those clichés and fantasies built around New York City are exactly that: media constructed narratives. Still, I am eager to set foot in New York City today because it’s been 10 years since the first time I said I wanted to live there and the day has finally come. I thought I wouldn’t be able to sleep yesterday, yet I did. It’s surprising given that all the times I’ve moved before I wasn’t able to shut eyes the day before. I’m calm, yet excited, and a little scared, to be honest. But, I’ve watched enough Scandal to understand that when you are scared everything is put into perspective and so you follow your gut, as Olivia Pope would, and it all feels right. What is it they say? If you can’t stop …