subtitle: The Strange Summer of 2003
I perform strange experiments here in New York City.
In the late 90’s I looked around to see if any women were wearing shoes of a color other than black, white, brown or red.
See, Manhattan has its own sense of style, and it really is wonderful to people watch in various neighborhoods. In Midtown you can see the working woman look and a little farther uptown you see the rich ladies in their rich clothes. And in the Village, it was one original outfit after another, usually black.
As a matter of fact, a disproportionate number of women in Manhattan wore black, it was considered the Metropolitan style. Even in summer.
So when I first performed my experiment, I literally didn’t see one pair of colored shoes worn by Manhattan women other than the ones I listed above.
Of course, it wasn’t a very scientific experiment, but I really did look at hundreds of women. I got sort of obsessed by it.
Then came 9/11. And two years later, the summer of 2003.