I first lived in New York at 22, and it has had a hold on me ever since. There is an energy there I have never found anywhere else in the world. You can spend a whole day not really doing anything and still feel like you have done everything. For anyone who loves fashion, it is a visual feast because every doorway, every street corner, every person walking past is a reference.
That is exactly why we chose it for shooting Elle & Riley’s new collection Of the Same Fibre. New York is relentless, and I love the idea of a woman moving through all that noise completely at ease, in herself and in her cashmere. We shot it with my friend, stylist and creative Jaime Ridge, taking turns photographing each other over two days. Seeing the city through another creative’s eyes was so fun because Jaime notices everything, right down to how a plate of pasta is lit, which made me notice things like that too.
It was fall, but still surprisingly warm, and the city was already in knitwear. Americans love to style the moment the season turns, and it was so much fun to see how New Yorkers were wearing their knits, layered over shirts, slung over shoulders, worn with denim.
Shooting Of the Same Fibre on film
Jaime and I have shot together many times in LA, and there is an ease that comes with working alongside one of your best friends. You know when a look is right without having to say it. We kept each other accountable on both sides of the camera (Jaime is relentless, in the best way), and having that extra support with styling made everything feel effortless.
That is really what the campaign is about. The best friendships feel like coming home. They are the people who ground you, wherever you are. Cashmere does the same thing, you pull on a sweater you love and immediately feel settled, whether you are on a cobblestone street in SoHo at seven in the morning or looking out over Central Park from a fitting room on Fifth Avenue.
New York has felt a little like home since I was 22, so it was the only place to tell that story.
Elle’s guide to SoHo
We spent the first day in SoHo, one of my favourite parts of the city for its cast-iron buildings and its people. We were out early to beat the crowds, which in SoHo means very early.
Coffee and a bite
Happier Grocery on Canal Street is New York’s answer to Erewhon, only cooler. The food is excellent, the matcha is some of the best I have had, and I was genuinely proud to find half a dozen New Zealand skincare and haircare brands on the shelves. For proof that New York really does have everything, Rye on Lafayette Street sells a single loaf of Austrian rye sourdough for $60. Worth the stop, even if you only buy a slice.
Shop
What I love most about shopping downtown is that you can walk it. Coming from LA, where you drive everywhere, being able to wander between all your favourite stores in a few blocks is so refreshing. SoHo also has a much stronger mix of premium European and international contemporary brands. Khaite is always a highlight, the service is exceptional and the architecture of the store is incredible. Róhe, the Amsterdam label’s new store on Mercer Street, is pared-back and beautiful, with a stunning fit-out and great clothing. I love seeing how other brands create an experience in their spaces, the small touches that make you linger. I always come home with ideas.
Drinks and dinner
For a drink in SoHo, Balthazar and the Crosby Street Hotel are my two favourites. We were also lucky enough to get a table at Via Carota in the West Village, which is famously hard to book, and it lived up to every bit of the hype. The food and drinks were sublime. Over on the Lower East Side, Sushi Saikou is a really great omakase that does not cost the earth.
Elle’s guide to the Upper East Side
On day two we shot on the Upper East Side, where we were staying. After a day downtown, the quiet side of town feels like a long exhale, which was just the pace we needed for day two. I love it here, the buildings are beautiful and the park is right there and it feels like me.
Morning
Birley Bakery, just off Madison Avenue, is a gorgeous French-style patisserie with the most incredible pain aux raisins, great coffee and little biscuits and treats to take home.
Lunch
There are several Sant Ambroeus outposts uptown. They are my reliable go-to for a spritz and a late lunch (and a piece of their famous princess cake if you’re game). Le Charlot is also a great little bistro with simple, delicious food for a quick pitstop.
Dinner & Drinks
The East Pole was a lovely surprise, a beautiful little neighbourhood bistro with great food and drinks, where you genuinely feel like a local. A little further down in Midtown, Monkey Bar is one I have loved for years. It is a New York institution, the cocktails are perfect (order the cosmopolitan) and the atmosphere is immaculate. It is the classic, Gossip Girl side of New York. We also got into the famous The Polo Bar, and it was everything we had hoped for, classic American food, incredible people watching, and a perfect martini.
Shop
Bergdorf Goodman is always a highlight. The flowers in the photos are at the Dries van Noten concession inside the store, and the view from the fitting rooms across Central Park to the Plaza never gets old.
Elle’s NYC essentials
We were shooting cashmere, so naturally we had plenty to wear every day. The essential was our cashmere wrap. We both wore it to dinner every night over a shirt, so we were never caught out when the evening cooled down. During the day it was perfect weather for a cashmere tee with a sweater knotted over the shoulders like a scarf. Those are the pieces I find move most effortlessly from city to city and coast to coast, and the same goes for the Southern Hemisphere. They are so lightweight they can take you anywhere.
New York always has something new and exciting opening, but nothing beats the old classics. There are so many parts of the city to explore that you could spend years there and never see all of it, as I am sure any local would tell you.
