At the W Hotel among a slew of stylishly dressed, young taste makers, occurs the “Living in New York” panel. Hosted by former editor of Elle magazine, Joe Zee, featuring New York royalty such as Prabal Gurung and Karen Elson, the panel is one of the many delicious opportunities one experiences when you truly do, live in New York.
Model Karen Elson is lithe and elegant in a floor length white sheath. She is one of the more truly alive panelists. Alight with positivity and hope she of the amount of creativity alive in such a small city such as New York. Reminiscing on her days of hiding at Chelsea Piers by night as a young fashion model, she speaks on the opportunity that New York affords young people. “New York is a place where if you work hard enough, you can truly achieve anything.”
One of the more hopeful topics of the panel was the ability of New York to reach out to the misfit youths who find solace in the city. Designer Prabal Gurung spoke about his first time in New York. “It was the only place I ever felt that it was possible to truly be myself”.
Many truths were confronted on the panel, one of them being the gentrification of New York, the fact that it’s modernization was being scene as its death by many of its natives. Joe Zee spoke about how “although New York is still the center of creativity… the ambition of many of its citizens is sucking the soul out of the place”.
When CBGB transforms into John Varvatos, when the Lower East Side becomes a prime area for vegan food and thrift shops as opposed to muggings and starving artists, which side do you take? Is the realm of Instagram a blessing for those who would never otherwise gain credibility? Or a curse for those who enter New York for the love of the craft rather than the desire for monetary success?
The answer is simple: the panel included reserved seating and an open bar. The topic being discussed was not open to those who still inhabited the New York that was mourned for by the now corporate Prabal Gurung and the Instagram popular Karen Elson. The panel took Place at the W hotel Time’s Square. There is no room for old New York here. pack up and move to Brooklyn- while its lower parts are still udiscovered.