The Big Spend

 (From Left to Right)
Michael Kors Bag
Boots-Bakers
Play Suit- Topshop
Top-Zara
Farmer Jacket-Topshop
Scarf-Rags-a-gogo
Nail Polish- Forever 21
Shirt-Tosphop
Shorts-Forever 21
Skirt- Zara

Im NOT Ill !!

After a very long journey with little sleep no make-up and greasy hair I returned back to uni looking rather fresh. Everyone loved their gifts but everyone was commenting on how ill I looked, I explained I was jet lagged and hibernated in my room for two days until the jet lagg was over.

Good Bye My Lover Goodbye My Friend

So that was it we were all packed and ready for home all a little sad as not only was the long awaited trip over, but it was back to uni, and so I wasn't going to be going home home to see my family

Hello Michael!!

So it was the last day sob :( we hadn't even been for breakfast so we asked some of the others and they reccomended Town House. I had the fruit waffles but they were a little disspaointing and quite dry, I lethered them in syrup which seemed to do the trick.

We stayed fairly local, in order to do the last few bits we hadn't done. We firstly headed towards Macy's and on the way we stopped at a souvenir shop. I bought a shot glass for my friend, a couple of statue of liberty crowns and the beloved I Heart New York T-Shirts.

Take Me To Hard Rock

With it being the last night we decided to go to Hard Rock! I'd never been and we hadn't been out for an evening meal and so decided to go there. There was 8 of us and it was a Saturday night so we did have to wait a while and then even longer because Tova was indecisive as usual. There was so much nice food to choose from but it was quite pricey for a bunch of students. I had Salmon and polished off the lot.

 

We headed off to Times Square where we appeared on screen. I tried to photograph it but my camera wouldn't zoom that far. We literally had a lock in Hershey’s where I stocked up on reeces pieces, and then once again headed for Forever 21. I changed my skirt for some coral shorts I had seen in the SoHo store, and then made up the money with a bright Barbie pink nail polish. That was it our last sleep in New York.



I Found My Dream House

When i'm older I'm going to live in Ralph Lauren

Chanel

Today would be a day of solid research we wanted to see how the other half lived! We headed off the 'upper east side' and whilst many are unclear whereabouts this part is I only have to mention Gossip Girl, and the area becomes apparent. We started off at Chanel the shop assistant was lovely she knew exactly who we were and what we were doing, she explained the store had been recreated as a sort of museum based upon the life of Chanel herself. She showed us this amazing electronic book where you’re waved your hand over the top and the pages turned.

Lanvin



DKNY

It was like a villa inside Donna Karen, outside ther was a sort of retreat/spa, where in the summer you can go out and use the mirrors. The staff were lovely and the store was oosing with sophistication.

 Prada

Ralph Lauren

Now as far as stores are concerned, forget Chanel, even the Prada store in SoHo this was my dream house. Opened in October 2010 the store is virtually brand new. I was in awe I was just taking it all in being observant aware of everything around me, I could smell the Ralph Lauren fragrance and I wanted to live the Ralph Lauren life. I noticed a lady having tea in the shop with the shop assistant the customer had bought him a gift. It was then that I realized that the staff were like no other staff. We slowly walked the shop and got talking to a young shop assistant no older than 24 she was petite and pretty with a lovely smile. Within minutes of small talk I felt like I had known her for years. We were offered champagne but politely declined, and we sat in the bedroom chatting for about 30 mins about life fashion and the store itself. The store was laid out just like a house with wardrobes bedrooms and toilets, even living areas and dining areas. I have never seen a shop merchandised like this before, it was the highlight of my trip, truly amazing.

Valentino

My personal favorite store for the selection of clothes. Valentino is very much my kind of style, I really like the pastel colors, the femininity and the wear ability about the clothes. The store was kept minimal and the staff were rude, and unwelcoming, I joked about trying something on, it would have been funny as I don't think they could have refused.  

 

Tiffanys

I am gutted I have to say I was dissapointed, it resembled a huge bank, so odd, and there was just so much stuff in there.



Hello Soho !!

SoHo

 I love this picture it's the perfect setting.

First port of call Topshop. Now I know what you’re thinking we have like a thousand in England, but I had to visit to see how the Americans did it. It was great but expensive I loved how British it was the murals on the walls of big Ben and Kate moss, London cabs, red phone boxes etc. I bought a few bits from the sale, a play suit, a farmer jacket and a burnt orange shirt. When talking to a member of staff she was saying how people thrive for Topshop because of the British style but it is expensive.

Converse Gina’s favorite place, the staff were amazing, so friendly and were happy to take pictures of us in the store I loved their laid back attitude. I was amazed by the mural on the wall made up of converse, displaying the American flag. .

Prada

I don’t think it's possible to describe Prada to you. Like a gallery security guards swarmed the shop yet staff was polite and friendly. There was a young girl who explained she could only afford things on sale . The glass elevator was better than a ride at Alton towers. It was simply amazing.

We ate in a little cafe again me and Rianna shared a peanut butter brownie it was amazing. We then headed off to Bloomingdales. Now it had been described as another Debenhams by fellow pupils, however this was no Debenhams this was classic department store it was lovely. I really liked the merchandise including a meat counter for a display. One thing we noticed was the use of technology, they had several scanners darted about so that you could price check your garments.

After a long day of shopping we headed back down canal street and to my surprise we got approached by bag sellers, I stopped to look I was intrigued, to my surprise the way it worked was you looked at a laminated bit of card and then chose the one you wanted you paid and then they got it. They were wanting over $100 for fakes which I wasn't risking, I hadn't even seen the bag to judge a good/bag fake.

We picked up some souvenirs and headed home.

Take Away?

Yet again we got in all tired and exhausted and decided to opt for a takeaway. I was amazed in America you’re not limited to the three; Chinese Indian or pizza. Oh no your can literally have anything! We decided to go for fajitas, and they were amazing, to my surprise they were delivered right to our hotel room door, I at least thought we would have to collect it form reception.

Day Two

Statue of Liberty

Day two we all woke pretty early andd decided to be out for 10.00 giving ourselves a nice long day. We again tried to devise a plan so that we could fit everything we wanted to do into our trip. We decided to take the subway over to Bowling Green and go and visit the statue of liberty, after much debating whether or not to catch the staten island ferry over Gina myself, Rianna and Ling took pictures from the park and opted to head to china town.

Yea we didn't really get the hang of the subway we would get off an still have to walk 20 blocks before we were home, this didn't seem to get any better as the week progressed.

Grand Central was something in itself so clean, almost museum like.

We got a couple of pictures, it's just how I imagined it to be. I'm one of those people who like to go take a picture and then go, it wasn't in my best interest to go to it and walk around, as everyone will tell you there isn't alot more to see once your there.
Ground Zero

We took a long walk back through Broadway, although it has to be said I’m pretty sure we didn't because I didn't notice anything different about the streets we walked down, I was expecting big theatres and lights. Along the way we sensed ground zero and we were right. It takes your breath away you cannot even begin to imagine what it was like that day. I thought that the huge space where once stood the twin towers would be empty when looking upwards, but the space is so much bigger than I thought. I felt a little sadistic 'why would you want to see this?' but at the same time the disaster that would mark a huge date in time is part of my life I was around when it happened.

On a lighter note.... across the road we spotted century 21 (a sort of messy department store which contains designer labels at a cut of the price) which was described in the briefing as 'TK Maxx on acid' so with that we heading in split into two and arrange to meet in 30 mins. 30 mins was not long enough, it was just as described, to be fair there was some good stuff but you really had to rummage through it all, and in the end we didn't buy anything.

China Town

Unfortunately I didn't get many pictures of China Town I think I was too busy taking it all in. I'd never been to china town before not in London or Birmingham either, so it was all very overwhelming to me. It was amazing just like being in China. Before I went on the trip my friend from home explained to me that when she went the community approach you on the street and take you to their vans/dogey yards etc and sell you amazing fakes for cuts of the prices. Well.... we actually went in search of these people and couldn't find anyone I was gutted I wanted to be approached I wasn't particularly interested in buying one I just wanted the experience.



After all the walking we were getting hungry and decided to stop for lunch, we found a little 'cafe' in china town. It was so funny we all sat down already the language barrier was proving a problem. The menu contained pigs heart/liver you get the general idea. This was no wing wah where were the prawn crackers? This place was also the mark of Rianna and I have shared diet, we decided if we shared everything we ate it would mean saving money and calories, and furthermore, the portions in America are huuuuuge. So we opted for beef noodles, and they were surprisingly nice although it definitely was not beef, Alsatian maybe, but nevertheless it was nice and it was a great experience to have dined in a real Chinese eatery.

FIT

We took the subway back to the FIT museum where we were exhibiting the His and Hers exhibition and the Japan Fashion Now. Unfortunately the use of photography was strictly prohibited. The museum was nice very modern and with its time, I did collect a few names of designers work I liked and hadn't heard of including; Giorgio did sant'angelo and Lolita Ensemble. After exhibiting we went in search of a vintage shop named Rags-a-go-go, we were told to look out for the eccentric shop owner.

Rags-A-GoGo

We must have been in this shop for an hour at least, the shop owner was very interested in what we were doing here, and was keen to tell us about new York, the fashion scene, and other more personal interested which are just unsuitable to blog about. I bought a scarf to add to my collection, and the other purchased these sorts of leg warmers. The owner was so eccentric quite possibly insane but she was great fun and gave us names of great places to visit and with that we heading up the road in search of Alexander McQueen.

 Moschino Store

Alexander Mqueen Store

Lets Go !!

Let’s Go!!

So we were all so pumped with adrenaline we just wanted to go go go. Me being me tried my very best to devise a plan but we just wanted to get out, so with half a plan we decided to go by foot and just go where the feeling took us!!

5th Avenue
So we hit the streets of New York, I'm not sure what I expected, I guess looking back at school trips where we were made to wear our bottle green uniforms, a sticky label with our names on (that didn't stick) and were separated into groups each being controlled by a teacher/helper. This was somewhat different. No teachers, adults just 6 teenagers left to wonder New York! BRILLIANT!! We headed down to 5th avenue.

First thing I spotted was the New York Public library although no I didn't introduce it with that name I just screamed oh my god it’s where Carrie Bradshaw got married. We were all so excited by this event, we didn't go in as we wanted to cram so much in and we already felt like we were out of time.

Chrysler my favourite building in the world. I once based a whole project around this art deco building, and to see it in the flesh was truly amazing!

Urban Outfitters, great visual merchandise and just generally a 'cool' store

Rockafella, they took the tree down the day after I took these photos how lucky was that one !!

McDonalds?

So we were all feeling hungry, and as poor students we all had to watch the pennies so where did we end up, of all the nice delis selling fresh sandwiches etc, we ended up in Maccies, to be fair it has to be done, I had a wrap like concoction made with a sort of beef burger it was interesting to say the least.

Central Park

Well, I’m going to start by saying if I don't make a career in fashion I’m setting up a central perk coffee shop on central park. I was outraged it's all a lie there is no central park, I was devastated. Apparently it's a set in LA, who would have thought it and besides you would think someone would have re-created one there.

Central Park is beautiful, however I thought it would be different, the setting is perfect but surrounded by people trying to sell 'candy' tourist souvenirs and what shocked me is there is a road running through it. I hadn't imagined this, I guess I don't really know what I expected, (Lisa Kudrow and Jennifer Anniston running)

After a long walk back Rianna and I nipped into Zara where I bought a lovely brown spotted T-shirt with a cute collor and a simple knitted skirt, I know we have Zara at home but I love it !!

Now feeling the exhaustion we all went to bed ready for tomorrow’s events!!