Beyond the Runway
How a fashion hotspot is moving forward, with or without Fashion Week.

The first week of September usually means a lot of things for New Yorkers. It’s even harder than usual to snag a spot at the hottest restaurants, the number of cool-girls and sleazy guys standing outside a club has tripled, and don’t even bother to try to get an Uber to go through Washington Street and 12th. It means New York Fashion Week has started, kicking off what for some is Fashion Month, beginning in New York City and concluding in Paris. Whether this brings you feelings of excitement or dread, Fashion Week has grown into an industry–an economy–that no one can ignore. But, however big a beast it may be, this year has taught us that there is no giant institution immune to the effects of a pandemic. 

Go through Open Table now and you’ll see a plethora of available seatings, even for a Friday night, at restaurants that barely answered the phone this week last year, let alone grant a spot to a non “important fashion person.” It is a weird feeling, particularly this week, to suddenly see so many accessible reservations at these exclusive and elusive restaurants. Although Fashion Week wasn’t entirely cancelled and there were still a few shows executed in their own “new normal” way, without the typical designer-clad masses, it was clear it wasn’t the same, it might never be the same, and we’re begged to answer: should it be? 

Is there anything left that we don’t think about and approach differently than before? If there is, I’d love to write about it, but not today. Today I’m talking about a place that is in the thick of it all when it comes to Fashion Week, and no, it’s not Skylight Clarkson. Last Winter, one of the buzziest new restaurants of the year, epitomizing the intersection of food and fashion, was Short Stories. It’s located right on Bowery, clad with the millennial pink decorations and line of cool-girls outside required for any trendy restaurant in town.

It was “party after party after party” recalls co-owner Ashwin Deshmukh, describing the opening week. It was February 2019, right in the middle of Fashion Week, which yes, does happen twice a year. “Fashion launched the identity of what we wanted…we even met our current chef during Fashion Week,” explained Deshmukh, going on to list a slew of designers for whom they hosted parties, such as Susan Alexandra and Sandy Liang, within their first month. At the end of that very month, they already had a feature in Vogue.

What was it the owners wanted? To step away from the “prescriptive” nightlife routine that is clubs and bottle service and energize the neighborhood by emulating all day European cafes. Pancakes at 12 p.m., champagne and table dancing at 12 a.m. Through an intimate relationship with fashion and its leaders, rotating guest chefs, and what Deshmukh describes as a “forcefully diverse” crew, the owners’ title came to life, which is exactly what they intended when they chose it: every night was a short story in and of itself.

A year and a half later, the business has changed, but their mission hasn’t. Short Stories was “open for now” on March 13th, but the owners were debating opening during the day to “accommodate people working from home.” Just a week later, like most of the city, they were closed, their Venmo account was linked on their Instagram account with profits going to employees, and so began take-out and Zoom dance parties. Deshmukh says that he believes that the spirit of New York is figuring stuff out and that’s exactly what Short Stories is trying to do, but it takes much more than a good attitude for a restaurant to survive in New York, even without a pandemic. They do have good investors, Deshmukh admits, but they have something else not many in New York are lucky enough to find: a friendly landlord.

Aware of their fortunate situation, Short Stories immediately started to pay it forward. “What we can do for the long run is what matters,” tells me Deshmukh. In early June, they encouraged their social media followers to go out and march against systemic racism, donated to Colin Kaepernick’s “Know Your Rights Campaign,” and had a fundraiser with Barbershop Books, a nonprofit aiming to inspire young Black boys to read. They asked their followers to keep them in check: “if you feel it is performative or virtue-signaling, we’re here to listen, we are not perfect.”

Short Stories figured out how to make trying times work both for themselves and their consumers. When they expressed through Instagram their frustration with the government’s lack of clarity regarding the now exhausted unemployment funds, donations immediately poured in. “It has really enabled us to give lots and lots away,” the restaurant owners stated on their Instagram. Staying true to their word, if you go to Short Stories on a Wednesday you’ll find the restaurant offering “pay-what-you-want” vegan curry, go on a Tuesday and you’ll get a free tarot reading in exchange for a cocktail, and just last week they were offering free manicures through a partnership with Babe Wine.

 Although the staff at Short Stories are excited to reopen New York City and get back to their busy nights and wide-ranging crowds, they plan to stick to a private model for a while, bringing back their storied nights through small dinner parties with trustable people. Deshmukh feels it’s an honor to say yes to friends, “do nice things for the people we like” which seems to me, is virtually the whole neighborhood. Above all, they want to focus on food and for people to “come through, accept everyone…keep the vibe going.”