Just last week, a good friend of mine asked me if he should invest in real estate in New York City, because he had read an article on LinkedIn recommending it a couple of weeks prior and he wanted to put his money somewhere safe for a few years. What a horrible idea!
Yes friend, definitely invest in real estate in New York City, because you read an article on LinkedIn. Even more so, because you have so much time to surf LinkedIn during your finance job and IM me on g-chat to even schedule a time to discuss this in person. After meeting him for tacos and looking at him with this glaze I like to give my friends when they say something so idiotic, I finally mustered up the strength to warn said friend about how with that kind of time frame, it’s probably not smart to have relatively risky exposure in a market whose costs are higher than ever before.
Take me for example- I could easily move back to New York City right now, but even for a decent one-bedroom, you're looking at a good $4k per month in rent and that doesn't even include utilities. Right now, my job is the most important thing to me. Doing my job well, also requires me to travel quite a bit, so right now it's kind of counter productive to have an apartment that I am not even getting to enjoy. Besides, paying rent is completely stealing from my Chanel fund. Therefore, I've been playing the role lately as a professional hotel tester. I get to stay all over the place and The Marlton happens to be one of my new favorites in New York. So you can find me hopscotching around their lobby bar, sipping my Bellocq teas with a side of steamed almond milk.
The day that I wore this, my friend Lena brought me an ice cream cone; just because! It was also filled with two of my favorite gelato flavors: lemon and chocolate. Afterwards, It was pouring down rain and I was trying to have a Skype conversation with a friend in London (I actually purchased these trousers when I was visiting him in January), but the heavens were not having it. So, after a failed Skype attempt, I continued walking like rain man to meet some very good friends of mine at a gallery show (Adrian and Emerald are opening a contemporary art gallery downtown soon called VS). Then, I ended up grabbing oversized salads at Cafeteria on Seventh Avenue (you know, the place you used to go when you were in undergrad and wanted to get truffled mac and cheese and cocktails at one in the morning) with someone that totally insulted me by saying, "You're a lot smarter than I originally thought you were". Apparently this wasn't an insult. I beg to differ, but I clearly needed to eat. Suffice to say, it was a very interesting string of events.
Coco wears an Alexandre Herchcovitch Silk Top, Dries Van Noten Wool Culottes, Christian Louboutin Simple 100's, Hermes "H" Heure Watch, Hermes "H" Enamel Bangle.
Photography by Lena Xiao
*Said friend is actually very bright. We cannot judge him for his temporary lapse in judgement. He probably had to go entertain clients at Tao and didn't have time to properly recover from the night prior. We should probably even feel bad for him that he has to endure such a life.