I may be going to #NYFW but is Abercrombie too hip for me?

Ok so this is a biggy  - before moving to the big Apple, I’d been ordering this stuff for years on the Internet, paying the customs charge & convincing myself it was still cheap as it was only dollars. Oh how the yummy mummies of Surrey collectively moaned when the bods at Abercrombie figured out the Brits were on to a good scam & changed their website – sadly the £ sign now pops up & you find you are paying £ instead of the dipping dollar.

Now living in NY and being harangued by those at home to stock up & send gifts to daughters & sons, I was packed off to the 5^th ave store. My buddies & I are teetering at the ‘age appropriate’ barrier – our love of the label which whispers seductively of golden eras when we too had the bods that our daughters now possess is being challenged. We find ourselves crossing over to the land where we are entering a shop to buy for someone else – someone younger – what’s that all about? 

I’m thrown back to an age when I traipsed around House of Fraser with my mother looking for clothes that we could both agree on – Etam & Chelsea girl were not on her radar –it was House of Fraser or nothing.

How lucky my kids then to have a stylist for a mother who can pick the right warm colours to suit her red haired son (luckily Abercrombie have gone long this season on ochre’s & burnt oranges). I gird my loins and take a step into the NYC Abercrombie

OMG – where is Mary queen of shops? – have they mistaken the shop floor for a disco, who are all these half naked models – do they actually work or are they part of some strange youth cult that gathers in dark corners wearing frayed clothing & flip flops with endless legs & glossy hair.

OK I’m a stylist – if I can’t find what I want here what hope the common Brit tripper whose first port of call on a hectic weekend will be here?

Inside – its dark, the music is blaring, my eyes take a while to acclimatise, I can’t reach anything & the gaggle of gorgeous assistants are in my way. It hasn’t occurred to me yet that this might be the whole point – I’m not welcome due to my age, regardless of my spending power.

So here’s the upside – if you can take the pace (bring ear plugs & a torch, perhaps a step ladder) & have lot of time to spare whilst you route through the displays – make sure you have done your research to start with, make a list. Otherwise go to the mall in White Plains – 2 shops 1 adult, 1 kids, ample parking, better layout & a smattering of sofas for us oldies once we lose the will to live.