Fashion Memoirs

I performed an informal experiment
in Auld Manhattoe,
Oh, it was around a decade or so ago,
maybe even longer.
I wanted to see how many
Big Apple Fashionistas
Wore colored shoes --
not brown or black, or even red,
But green, or blue, or pink, etc.

And it was hard going,
I don't recall seeing any woman
wearing colored shoes.

Metropolitan black,
that was the fashion of the day
for so many years, even in the summer.

Such style, the hip New York woman had
a look all her own, easily identifiable,
from the Upper East Side to the Village.
From tailored designer duds to
Avante garde self made fashions,
Color was for the provincials,
And Metropolitans wore black.

Then came the weird summer of 2002,
When color exploded in Auld Manhattoe
like stealth bombs.
Not just colored shoes, but
extreme coordination like girls
playing dolls.

Everything matched, handbags,
shoes, skirts, blouses, jewelry,
cosmetics, like a wild blooming garden,
wildflower women, mad compensation
for all those years of monochrome modalities.

And then there was the summer of 2004,
when sequinned handbags and skirts
embroidered with tiny flashing mirrors,
or flouncy white petticoats,
transformed Auld Manhattoe subways
into strange gypsy caravans.

And now, oh seems we're back in
1950s kodachrome kitchens,
full skirts, patent leather heels,
so high that women totter,
giant handbags the size of suitcases,
textures from lace to silk, in gorgeous
colors and patterns, ballet flats,
skirts with fake petticoats,
and cheap Nine West espadrilles.

No hats, though, which I find strange,
due to dangers of the millennial sun,
though sometimes, in Astoria,
I see ladies walking in the
hot sun with umbrellas,
and it makes me think
parasols might one day
come back in style.