For the past year and a half of residing in New York City’s East Village, I’ve come to love a lot about my neighborhood. Rodent Boy Summer Shirt Ridiculous rent prices aside, the area has so much to offer, like great restaurants and fun spots for a night out, but perhaps my favorite part is getting a glimpse into which trends my fashionable neighbors are embracing for the season. Between my neighborhood and the proximity to the Lower East Side and Soho, there is never a shortage of style inspiration. So, for research purposes, I recently planted myself at my favorite coffee shop, ordered a cup of tea, and stared out the window at the fashionable people passing by. Apologies if you caught me staring at you, by the way. Anyways, after taking my observations back to the lab (my apartment), I narrowed down which trends my neighbors are wearing the most right now. Scroll on for my findings, plus my top picks for shopping the trends yourself. Not even an inch of snow has touched the ground in NYC yet, but the snow boots have been broken out, and I respect it. From my observations, puffer boots are the must-have winter shoe trend. This trend started to gain traction last winter, but the warm and functional boot looks like it’s here to stay going into 2023.

Rodent Boy Summer Shirt, hoodie, sweater, longsleeve and ladies t-shirt

The streets have always been my fashion magazines, Rodent Boy Summer Shirt aka where I look for style inspiration and hints on what trends are about to blow up. Pre-2020 me was very much inspired by what I saw strangers wearing on the subway, to the farmers market, or even to the bodega. I recall doing double takes often to mentally process the new trends or outfit ideas I’d seen so I could later take a crack at them myself. Who knows—I may have even gone on to influence someone else when I put some of those streetwear trends to the test. I usually look to fashion on the streets in big cities like New York and Paris, but since the streets have been closed for the past year, I’ve now turned to Instagram to fill the void Union Square once filled. Turns out Instagram ‘fits are big predictors of the cool trends to come. Below are the streetwear trends I can’t wait to try once the world opens up again and my favorite picks to shop for each one. I recently read that the ’70s were as far away in the mid-’90s as the ’90s are now. After taking a moment to digest what that means for me, I was able to understand why Gen Z is having a heyday with everything ’90s. Baby Phat and Juicy Couture had a hold on us back then, and cool girls continue to wear velour tracksuits today.