London Calling
Dropping a native Californian solo in the city known for it’s gloomy skies and meat pies and seeing what happens
I’ve just returned from a two week romp around London. I haven’t been so compelled to just simply stay in a city forever since I visited Berlin (in Berlin I was scrolling apartments.com within my first 2 hours of landing). My reason for being in the city was a journalism class, specifically a five day long course on fashion journalism at the Condé Nast School of Fashion and Design. To be honest, the course is not worth saying too much about here - not in a negative way, but I learned so much outside of the class that it feels like just a small part of the trip. Have you ever traveled alone in a foreign country? If not, I recommend it - I always recommend getting out of one’s comfort zone whenever possible. Drop a native Californian solo in the city known for it’s gloomy skies and meat pies and see what happens. Whenever I travel, I make the most out of every second of every day (to the girls in class asking how I made it in even though I was out until 5am the night previously, that’s how). Meeting new people, seeing new things, and wandering around a new place is far more invigorating to me than planning out a schedule of events and tourist attractions. As I’ve stated in previous posts, these are the things that inspire me in every other aspect of my life - fashion, art, writing, etc. - the humanness of it all.
London and Los Angeles are stark opposites in a lot of ways. The stereotypes of the people could not be more different, and the same goes for the climate, cuisine, and style. I, as someone who in a lot of way is the epitome of “Californian”, love the British sense of humor and way of dressing (the cooking? Yet to be convinced). When it comes to the fashion, Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen have long been the two designers I’ve idolized the most out of anywhere in the world - when studying lists of designers in college, those were the two highlighted, bookmarked, and dog-eared in each of my books. Their rebellious attitudes and outlandish tastes drew me in in ways that neither the traditional Parisian designers, nor the preppy American designers, did. I think it’s this same rebellious spirit that draws me to London as it does Los Angeles. To thrive in Los Angeles takes a certain troublemaker spirit that we often don’t get credit for - it’s a city of people with big dreams who aren’t too afraid or shy to pursue them. That’s kinda badass.
Los Angeles is not known for being a fashion hub like London is, but when you gather a bunch of weirdo creative types all in one weirdo city, you will likely get an undercurrent of a distinct style eventually. My personal style is admittedly very LA, and my collection of baseball caps, cowboy boots, and denim shorts will prove it to you. As someone hailing from California, I’ve never stepped foot in a city that so resonates with my personal sense of dress than the City of Angels, and this was obvious as I was ambling around London. Armed with a trench coat found at Goodwill for $7 (find of the century, btw), I had my London fits locked and loaded. Mini skirt, vintage tee, and cowboy boots + trench. Tiny black dress, moto boots, knee high socks + trench. You get the idea - a Los Angeles outfit with a trench coat thrown over my shoulders = in my mind, a London outfit. Do I have it in me, if I were to ever choose to cross the Atlantic with the intent to become a resident, to de-LA-ify my wardrobe? Does one have to sacrifice the style of their origin to fit in to a new place? Does it even matter if you fit in or not?
Conversely - how different is street style in LA vs in London in our current era anyways? On a rare sunny day last week, I was perusing London’s Brick Lane vintage market, and I couldn’t help but notice that the crowd I was in resembled what I see at the Silverlake Flea most weekends - cool girls wearing leopard print short shorts, boys with mustaches in tight white tanks - you get the picture. With the warm weather and myriad of patchwork-style tattoos surrounding me, you could’ve convinced me I was in the midst of fellow Angelenos. Has the internet completely democratized style across the world? Are all of the artsy kids in all of the big cities being influenced by the same things now? Are we all just traveling more, talking to each other more, and genuinely influencing each other more? Maybe us rebels in Los Angeles and in London specifically get each other more, have more in common, and want to push the boundary more than in other places?
I’m back in LA and feeling more inspired than I have for a long time. The best way to experience a new place is to simply exist in it. Existing in London, and letting the rain fall on my umbrella-less LA head, has my gears really turning and twisting. The music history that’s been made, the pubs on every corner overflowing with people and beer at all times, the sidewalks that had me tripping in my cowboy boots every ten steps, and endless lush green parks really gave me a joy I didn’t know I needed. Could I be a Londoner? Either way, if Los Angeles doesn’t adopt good public transit and a pub culture ASAP, I could be packing up my trench and getting out of here.