Sidewalk as Runway

Somehow, on a runway, just about any concoction can pass for fashion. But out on the street, real people with real bodies, jobs and budgets put fashion to the test.

More than one designer has scoured the bustling streets here for a sense of what’s in, what’s out and what will be the next hot look.

As designers finished showing their spring 2003 lines recently, fashion professionals and amateurs alike gave photographers plenty to see. Already, next spring’s trends for gladiator sandals, sunset colors and alluring corsets and bustiers are showing up on the streets.

Some New Yorkers seemed to know that a great hat turns the ordinary into the extraordinary.

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--Valli Herman-Cohen