Eat, Shop, Do: New York

It’s so nice to meet other bloggers from other places and do some awesome collaborations. When I decided to start my Eat, Shop, Do series I thought what better way than to collaborate with some of my blogger friends and in the process learn more about them, where they live, and share with all of you their go-to’s in their city. For the next post in this series were headed to New York! This weeks post is a little different than usual but hope you can roll with it 😉 I met Niamh during my latest trip to New York for fashion week! I am so happy to have met her and absolutely love her story coming from Ireland to New York and wanted to share it with you all.

Meet Niamh McKeever: I came to New York on a J1 back in 2013, it was the end of my third year in Visual Communications in NCAD and I knew I loved my course but not enough to make a career out of it. Every year loads of students go for the nightlife and all the experiences that go with living in America for the summer. I’ve never been a party girl and knew that it was the place that would give me a chance to figure out where I wanted to go after I finished college. Before leaving for my j1 I meet Andrea O’Connor an amazing Assistant Director who I now consider family from my hometown in Dundalk. New York is an extremely hard city to break into, I was here for three weeks and could not get a job, when I meet Andrea I never knew what she did until meeting her stateside. Four weeks into my visa we meet up again and she told me what she did and that she would love to give me a chance. I’m so extremely grateful for what she has done for me opening one door has lead me to were I am today and I’m extremely excited for the future.

I have so many favorite places in New York I lose count sometimes. Central Park has always been one, there are so many places that tourists miss, as it’s so big. My favorite spot is the west side of the park on 74th street. Here you will find the most amazing view of the park and skyline beside the pond. Many people have wedding ceremonies or and you will occasional see a proposal. It was here I worked my very first movie job working along side Anna Kendrick for the wedding scene on ‘The Last Five Years’ so this spot is very special to me. Another favorite of mine is the highline near Chelsea, it really is out of this world. Originally an anbanded railway line the highline is now a park that walks you through New Yorks sky scrappers. You will find cute pop up shops along your way passing some of the most amazing street art and small restaurants. There’s even and area to sun bayed if you don’t want to lie on the grass. New Yorks summers can be very humid and uncomfortable at times there’s not many places you can find in the city to cool off but the highline is defiantly one having built in a footpath that turns into a river to cool your feet down. The highline is pure bliss in the summer months.

Many women and men target New York every year for shopping. One thing I always find hard to wrap my head around is that most of the tourists that come here to shop, go to store’s such as H&M and Topshop, all of which are accessible online or worldwide. Don’t get me wrong, I adore these stores and I am never out of them but New York has so much more to offer than a recent sale at Zara. I am an accessories girl you really can not go wrong with a statement necklace. It’s surprisingly hard to find a good range of jewelry that has quality but also does not break the bank.

I shop at ‘Outlette’ for my jewelry it’s between 6th and 5th Avenue on 23rd street. Catering to both men and women, this chic boutique offers a variety of options from young up and coming jewelry designers based here in New York or in LA. One of my favorites is Lionette a collection, which has a variety of dramatic statement pieces both elegant and edgy. My second has to be the K/LLER collection designed by local New York designers Katie Deguzman and Michael.

My absolute favorite item from ‘Outlette’, which I personally think is complete genius, is the K/LLER nail shields. Edgy but sophisticated these nail shields are actually hand graved by Otto Carter a Texas native. Now if you didn’t think that K/LLER was not rebellious enough name. Mr. Carter also engraves motorbike parts, knives and guns.

New York city is definitely the city for shopping you just have to plan your trip well and pin point were to shop. Vintage shopping is very big here and I absolutely love it. There are so many places that are good for this kind of shopping one in particular is a Vintage shop called ‘No Relation Vintage’ between 14th and 13th street on 2nd Ave. You will find and amazing range of jackets, shearling coats and hats. On my first visit I came across every shopaholics dream, which was a street full of women’s apparel at wholesale prices. Full line Accessories, which is on 67 west 36th street and for those not familiar with New York 6th Avenue and 36th street you will find an amazing range of real fur accessories and coats. Also not to far from Victoria Secret Flagship store and Macys.

Another amazing store to pencil in is ‘INA NYC’ which sells second hand designers like Chanel and Moschino everything from dresses to bags you will find here. Located all over the city you can find this store in Chelsea, Union Square and in Soho.

For night life an amazing bar to go to is from there you will I would defiantly go to PHD dream hotel its an amazing penthouse always packed with the view of the Empire State building. I do advise for guys and girls to check in with a promoter if they know of any it makes it a lot easier to get in but also see more of New York nightlife. From here you can make your way to Avenueny, I was recently at Paris Hiltons birthday here with my friend Emma from Dublin. Was an amazing night, Paris was actually an amazing dj we were both shocked but this is the norm in NYC nightclubs you never know who’s behind the booth. Everyone needs a slice of badness when they leave the nightclub the best junk food and pizza to get is at Artichokes beside Avenueny. TAO uptown is another one to pencil in but I rather downtown there’s always a better buss and everything’s closer together.
This is my third time working in the city for film and production for shows such as The Knick,The following, Blue Bloods, The Knick and loads more. For three season of Fashion week I’ve worked for designers Herve Leger, BCBG, Todd Synder, Marissa Webb, Concept Korea, Jack Spade and several other. I’ve also worked from time to time in wardrobe and costume, which is my ultimate goal. My first job was working with Dubliner Liz Kirby for Marvel Dare Devil I loved every minute and never wanted to leave. Liz was amazing to work for and I learned so much she’s amazing at her job hopefully one day I would love to be in her position. New York has amazing highs and lows that go along with it, I do get home sick and hours on set can be very long. I recently got to model on MTV show called Eye Candy starring Victoria Justice. Its kind of crazy seeing yourself on screen, acting is not a path I want to take my unlimited goal is to become a freelance stylist. I would spend most of my days in college skipping classes or looking constantly online for imagery outfits that I would get when I had the money. I’ve recently decided to start a fashion blog called Lawless to document all my finds but also help me pursue my dream of becoming a stylist. I named my blog after my mum ‘Lawless’ which is her maiden name. My mum has amazing style and was never afraid to stand out, with fashion I really don’t think there is a wrong or right way it’s about having fun and expressing your mood that day. Both my parents are a big part of who I am but unfortunately my mum has the cooler second name.
Its crazy to think that all of this has happened in two years for me, my confidence has grown so much were at times I was a little lost in where I wanted to go. I would suggest to anyone who feels this way to take a leap of faith and believe that if you work hard and put yourself out there it will eventually pay of. There are so many young Irish people working hard and building a career for themselves in New York it’s extremely exciting to see and be apart of.

I hope you enjoyed this weeks Eat, Shop, Do post!