TRAVEL
LONDON’S CALLING NYLONS INVADE BRITAIN By Jeremy Murphy
Nylon a) A silky, elastic material commonly found in women’s stockings. b) An ironic, hipster magazine no one but them understands. c) A new breed of New Yorker seeking weekend thrills across the pond. t’s not likely any city could ever supplant the Big Apple as the world’s most upscale destination, but there’s a place that’s nipping at our heals: London. An explosion of swanky private clubs, buzzy lounges, celebrity chefs, ravishing royals and boutique abodes have transformed a previously boring city (fish and chips, anyone?) into a playboy (and girl) paradise. New Yorkers can’t get enough. Behold, the age of the NyLons: style-conscious Manhattanites (ok, Brooklyn, too) trading their Balenciaga for Burberry as they skip across the Atlantic for a new dose of glamour.
A STYLE ALL ITS OWN “London is the gateway to the world, and it’s finally acting like it,” says Robert Konjic, a prominent member of the NyLon brigade. “It has the same pulse as New York, but a style its own.” Konjic should know: once the world’s highest paid male model, he now lives in New York so he can raise his six-year-old child with ex-girlfriend It Girl/Influencer Julia Restoin-Roitfeld (yup, Carine’s daughter). But his passport is never out of reach. “I go as often as I can,” he says. “London has a sexy vibe you can’t repeat.” “New York thinks it’s the city that doesn’t sleep, but London really never sleeps. We survive on naps,” says Rob Shuter, who covers gossip for Z100 and the Today Show among others. Himself a Brit, Shuter has lived in New York for 20 years but has observed the phenomenon himself. “London has gone from Camilla and mushy peas to Harry and the Naked Chef.” 26 | OUR CITY, YOUR LIFE | MAY 2018
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