FPM: Last Gasp Summer Dresses, West German Shoes, and a Visit from a Portland Artist

1. These shoes are for sale at a Russian shoe repair shop on East 7th Street. They are labeled as "Made in West Germany," so they are vintage!

2. I had a lovely visit this week from Portland artist Hayley Barker, who makes ethereal, poetic and surreptiously disturbing paintings, and who wore dresses I felt compelled to photograph.

3. I say some lovely dresses at the Farmer's Market and in the blocks leading up to the Farmer's Market.

4. My kids is mad I keep using her camera.

No More Seersucker

This is a terrible title, I know, but I can't help but think of this man "of a certain age" who I saw on lower 5th Avenue the other day. Rounding 11th Street, he wore a pristine seersucker suit and straw hat. He also wore a gentlemanly, neatly trimmed beard. This being the day after Labor Day, I'm sure his seersucker suits are all at the cleaners now, and then they will be stored until Memorial Day. This obedience to nearly outmoded fashion rituals is one of the things that I've always what I've loved about living in New York--it still amazes me that I actually see the physical manifestation of these ancient sartorial rituals.

So, the kids started school this morning. One had to be dragged kicking and screaming. The other was up early and had already planned her hairstyle for the day. (Her teacher for fourth grade is new, a man, who spent the summer, he reported in the letter he sent to us a week ago, "practicing his drums and relaxing." Oh, to relax again.)

Yesterday, I took Kid #1 to Coney Island. The above shot is from the beach on Coney Island last month; the one below is further down the boardwalk, in the Russian neighborhood of Brighton Beach. I was amazed by this woman's committment to tanning (and relaxing):





Now this: