NYC Part II: Upper East Side Shopping

For some people, this would have been the highlight of the trip. But since I can't afford anything sold on the Upper East Side, it was just some more sightseeing for me.

The first place I went on Saturday morning was Takashimaya. The floral department was very exciting. If I lived in New York, I would want my boyfriend to send me flowers from there. I loved the way they incorporated the principles of Western flower arranging with the principles of ikebana. The picture above is borrowed from here; those sales ladies give you the stink eye if you try to take photos. Also, the security guard followed me around the whole time I was on the second floor; I hope someone else took the opportunity to rob them blind.

I also got to see Bergdorf Goodman -- so tiny! You can barely turn around in there. I walked by the windows at Barney's, but they were having a sale, and I think Barney's punishes the sales hounds by denying them Simon Doonan's genius. You have to be paying full price for that.

I also went into Frederic Malle while I was walking by. Why not?

At the Ralph Lauren flagship in the former Rhinelander mansion, I was disappointed to see how little of the original architecture was left. Of course, they had the whole Ralph lifestyle thing going on, and I noticed in the model bedroom that Ralph wants you to match your firewood to your overall color scheme. So get on that.