A Grand Place to Be

A Grand Place to Be

By: Kara Koepplin

Grand Avenue, a place where people shop, eat, work out, drink coffee and window shop. The perfect place for me to do some people watching and trend-spotting. The first thing I noticed was that everyone seemed relaxed and happy, no one seemed in a rush and most people were walking at a slow pace taking in the day.  Grand Avenue is always busy, but never hectic. I think that’s why I love going there so much. My plan was to walk around as much as I could, even though this Minnesota weather doesn’t make it that easy to enjoy being out side this winter, I geared up appropriately and went for it.  I parked at the south end of Grand and planned on walking my way down to the other end and back. I killed two birds with one stone and met my friend at Café Latte as well for one of their to die for Cinnamon Soy Latte’s.  Upon getting out of my car and approaching Grand Avenue I immediately noticed my wardrobe was similar to others. The ensemble went a little like this:  a hat, gloves, big scarf, puffy coat, skinny jeans and boots. The styles were different in their own ways, but in general that’s how people were dressed. Since I couldn’t really spot anything particularly unique I decided to focus on how different yet similar the outfits and styles were.

Similar yet different

Grand Avenue’s shoppers age from all ranges, but I did notice on this particular day around 1:00 it seemed like a lot of Mothers with children and people in their early to mid- twenties. I definitely did not notice anyone walking around in their sweat pants and a sweatshirt for that matter. Everyone on Grand Avenue that day seemed very well put together and seemed like they effortlessly put together a quick, yet trendy outfit. The trends were all similar yet different in their own ways. I mean the typical apparel this time of year you tend to have to be more creative with anyway, but to much of my surprise it’s amazing how the same looks appeared to look differently on each individual. I noticed all the different versions of hats, a lot of the beret styles in black and grey as well as the Northface stocking caps. Scarves were typically big and bulky ranging in all sorts of colors, my favorite one was a knit red scarf that the individual wore wrapped around at least two times letting it hang and look almost un-finished. I think the look of a messy scarf always is always somehow more attractive than a perfect one, funny how that is.  Tim Serbus pictured below likes to call himself the “Scarf Ace”. He gave himself the nickname because he has a ridiculous collection of scarves, he told me. I had to take a picture of him when I saw him working in Juut Salon off Grand. His work apparel was plaid shirt, skinny black jeans and a blue scarf to match.  Even men are wearing scarves now, which I must admit I am very keen of. Tim jokingly stated that “ Scarves are a must this winter, if you don’t have one for every outfit you better get shopping!”. Ugg boots were spotted quit a bit this day as well. They are definitely still in trend this winter and frankly I don’t think that they are going anywhere in the near future. The most popular colors still being the black tan and grey ones. Almost every other woman were wearing them. Uggs may not be the cutest boots made on earth but I can admit, I myself even own three pairs because living in this weather those boots are almost a must.  I also took note that coats this year are all puffy! The puffier the better is what it seems like. The most popular color seems to be black, some were belted and some were not. Even though puffy coats make you look a tad bigger than you actually are I think it was made trendy this year because we had to, the single digit temperatures really gave us no other option. I must say though, most can pull it off.

I Spy A Unique Item

When I was sipping on my delicious coffee at Cafe Late I noticed a girl wearing the most unique necklace. The pendent was miniature eyeglasses, something that I had never really “seen” before. They were so cute and miniature that the necklace made me giggle a little.  I immediately asked her if I could take a picture because it’s not usual that I notice unique items like this. I thought it was a great necklace and something that could definitely become a trend.  She wore it with a grey sweater dress, leggings, blazer, leg warmers and tan boots.

At the end of my journey on Grand Avenue my conclusion is this; you can take what trendy and make it your own. The styles I saw were the same key components to a typical yet necessary outfit for this winter. As long as you wear it like you mean it, I think any outfit can be considered your own look even if others maybe wearing the same or similar items.