FASHION | have been lucky enough to live in a couple of glorious cities so far. New York and Paris are wildly self-conscious, haughty cities that revel in their greatness and their esteemed position in the world. Both cities, though extremely different from one another, give an impression of being the most important city in the world- the most glamorous, the most respected, the most inimitable phenomenon of urban culture. What was truly astounding for me was to discover that two cities could convey this message simultaneously, while ‘making their unspoken arguments in completely different, yet very compelling, manners. ‘To put their cases in the most simplified terms, New York argues for the quest of the new, and Paris argues for the quest of the chic. These fundamental ideas underlie most of the urban happenings in these cities, from art to par- ties to politics, food, and work, but nowhere is their dominance more visible than in fashion. New York's streets are filled with people who are constantly embracing new looks and quickly casting off old ones. They are even creating new looks, and feel endowed with a place at the trend-making table by virtue of living in New York. They are emissaries of newness, expressing the vibrant energy, fast capitalism, and individualism that define their city. Parisians, on the other hand, consider it their civic duty to look their best. They take the finest of what is handed to them from their divine fashion houses, and combine it with irrefutable classics. The result is a city of people sophis- ticated enough to take your breath away, giving beautiful shape to the history of refinement and high culture that still reigns supreme in Paris. | now find myself in Vienna, a thwarted imperial capital whose lack of renewal is expressed by a complete absence of contemporary fashion. itis truly a blow to all of the energies that create a city fori to lose its empire, its interna- tional status, and most of its population of artists and intellectuals, but almost a hundred years later, Vienna shows few signs of vitality. Its not a ruined city; itis well-maintained and quite beautiful. However, the fashion of the populace reflects the dulled urbanity of the city. The majority of people hold remorselessly onto their old nineties Clothes (this is not redux, trust me), perhaps because the last flowering of international esteem for Vienna came was for Its drumn’bass and lounge music in that era, | don't believe that outfits alone can tum a tired city into a pulsating, international draw, but the clothes we put on, the way we represent ourselves in the street, says a lot about how we feel about ourselves, our lives, our power and place in the world. It is a message that is visible to everyone, and with a powerful effect on the viewer. In moving to a city, we are seeking many things, but one of the most important and intangible qualities we seek out is a sense of life, importance, and energy- the feeling of people crowding together on a small piece of land to feed off of each other and create the next great ideas of a generation. The vibrancy of fashion is both a testament and stimulus to that progressive society. by Laura Rysman