A Bridge in Brooklyn

The Curated coat (similar)
Uniqlo blouse
Sezane jeans
Jonak mules (similar)
Massimo Dutti handbag (similar)
Zara sunglasses (similar)
Linjer rings (c/o)
Mejuri earrings (c/o) (similar)
Location: Brooklyn Bridge – New York, New York

My fascination with bridges dates back to early childhood. I’m sure my mom breathed a sigh of relief the day that I stopped demanding she sing, “London Bridge is falling down…” on repeat. I loved songs about bridges. Driving over bridges, especially high or unusual ones, gave me a giddy thrill. The fascination was, of course, born of fear. We build bridges to allow us to safely cross over dangerous or expansive bodies of water. I admit that my anxiety about water and tidal waves is somewhat abated from its worst levels, which hit in my mid-twenties after I returned to Vancouver, I will never love being too near water. I still avoid floating docks in the summer, and you’ll rarely see me more than near a swimming pool.

Since water scares me, I will always feel an affinity for a good, strong bridge.

When I first saw the movie Kate and Leopold, I was about thirteen. This seems like a strange transition, I realise, but bear with me – it will make sense in a minute. The movie, which has grown on me in the intervening years, seemed a bit stupid and trivial to me at the time. But I watched it all the way through because of my favourite character: Brooklyn Bridge. The bridge plays a central role in the admittedly silly plot – the characters need to jump off it, from a height, to travel through time.

I find that silliness more charming now, because I know a movie as silly as Kate and Leopold would never be more than a medicore Netflix Original in this day and age. But my favourite part still isn’t the love story. It’s watching the actor who (very briefly) plays Roebling give a speech to christen his new bridge. Brooklyn Bridge is an incredible feat or architectural and engineering mastery, particularly given when it was built. I can just imagine the pride Roebling must have felt when his vision came to life. Almost two centuries later, I feel proud of him every time I walk across Brooklyn Bridge.

And we do walk across Brooklyn Bridge every time we’re in New York. No matter how cold and windy it is, I always insist. There are so many bridges I love – the old Pont Neuf in Paris, the Ponte alla Carraia in Florence and what remains of the Pont d’Avignon. But Brooklyn Bridge is the one that I love best of all. We visited for the first time on my thirtieth birthday, and it was everything I dreamed it could be. When we returned a second time during NYFW the following year, I knew the novelty would never wear off.

So, of course, on the morning of our first full day in NYC, we got up and went to see the sunrise from Brooklyn Bridge. It was freezing cold, and windy, and absolutely worth it.

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