2012: A Plea to the Young People

Arriving back to NYC from FL this week, I was struck by just how few people I noticed on the street looking hip and stylish. Usually when I'm away from this fine place for an extended period of time, I'm immediately struck by how hot, and cutting edge so many people look. Ok, we still have a ton of hotties here, but the outfits are, well, mainstream. Every woman in the East Village is wearing leggings and boots (myself included). Every woman in Brooklyn knots her hair on the top of her head and wears a chunky knit scarf. For a while I was blaming globalization for this, and according to this article I just read in Vanity Fair—"You Say You Want a Devolution?"—that's part of the reason why style, culture, art, etc. hasn't really changed in the past decade (at least). But this is New York City, people, and that is why my first post of the new year is a plea to the young people.

My dear twenty-somethings:

I understand you're faced with a lot of tough elements these days. A college degree doesn't guarantee a job once you graduate, but it is likely to guarantee some serious debt. We're smack dab in the middle of a deep recession that's only getting deeper. Life, especially life in this city, can often feel like a treadmill you'd just like to take a break from. As someone who moved to South Carolina for three years believe me, I get it.

The thing is, we're counting on you. We in our middle-to-late thirties, and older, need you to shake things up. We need you to actually innovate and not fetishize the word innovate. We need you to occupy Wall Street, and if you can't afford to take off work to do so, get involved in some other way. It's great that you worked on Obama's campaign, but we need you to continue to volunteer, be passionate and contribute.

Let's move on from Steve Jobs. Yes, Apple products are amazeballs but the products of the future can and should make them obsolete. Let's move on right now&mash;we are counting on you to knock our socks off so that ten years from now we can say "that's so 2012" and have it actually mean something.

And on a fashion note, I am counting on you to wear the stuff I'm in awe of. I'm counting on you to rock the shoes I can't wear because I'll break my back if I do. I need you to get the new haircut I can't because I don't have straight hair. And most importantly, I need you to design the most killer pair of spectacles never before seen on any hipster for when my eyes go.

Your friend and mentor,

Caroline