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How to do New York like an Insta-Girl

Hanneli Mustaparta and Chuck Grant get romantic about their favorite spots in the city. In collaboration with Aritzia.

Living
How to do New York like an Insta-Girl
Stephanie Mark

Who doesn’t love a good local? You know what we’re talking about: those establishments in your neighborhood, where you go on a lazy Sunday, a quiet weeknight, alone, with in-laws, with friends, that’s familiar, comforting, consistent. Maybe it’s a bar, a member’s club, a boutique filled with items just waiting to become keepsakes, a greasy spoon. Likely the staff knows and recognizes you, if not as a friend, than at least as a regular. Maybe you have a loyalty card.

Yeah, we love a good local. Especially in a city like New York, where, let’s be honest, you’re probably not BFFs with your neighbor and the stray cat is the friendliest thing on your block. With all this in mind, we asked two of our favorite longtime New Yorkers, Chuck Grant (photographer sister to the one and only Lana Del Rey) and Hanneli Mustaparta to get poetic about their places: an Upper East Side bagel shop and a independent photography bookstore in the Bowery, respectively. And with the two of them all dressed up in Aritzia’s fall collection, we got them talking about all their other favorite spots, too, from Korean spas to the bicycle seat.

 



 

Chuck Grant

@yourgirlchuck

 



 


“Bagel Bob’s is like the neighborhood favorite bagel place. I’ve been going there for five years maybe, and it’s been the same guys that work there. I mean, I love them; they’re like family. And there’s a group of elderly people who are always there and this one woman who I think is kind of the HBIC. She’s really funny and they have all these really amazing discussions that I’ve overheard—they’re always there in the morning and then I’ll be on the other corner.
 
I normally go early in the morning. Sometimes I go in my pajamas with one of my roommates or I’ll go and read a book. Honestly, it’s more just to say hi to the guys at this point. I go pickup a bagel and then I’ll eat it on the subway. Sometimes I just wake up and go down and say hi to them without getting a bagel.

Recently, I’ve been listening to a ton of Les Baxter. He does a lot of exotica and live orchestra on vinyl. Every album of his is a hit—he’s outstanding. I’ve been driving a lot in L.A. and it applies, too, in New York, but it’s a sort of surreal funky, like Disneyland on crack or something. I was at a record shop going through the exotica, and he notoriously has the best album covers, they’re so good. If anyone’s looking for inspiration, I almost don’t want to give it away. I also listen to a lot of Chet Baker, a lot of Nina Simone. I used to make a ton of playlists and now I’m just getting back to listening to records as a whole, because I’m working on my own projects it’s been nice to listen to artists who have very good conceptual albums, listening to their narrative all the way through the way they intended it.
 
My personal style has become a little more eclectic. I like vintage a lot: the most modern that I’ll go is the ‘90s. I like the ‘90s as a style reference—that’s the phase I’m in.  I’m not a trend person. I’ve been wearing the same stuff for years.

"I normally go early in the morning. Sometimes I go in my pajamas with one of my roommates or I’ll go and read a book. Honestly, it’s more just to say hi to the guys at this point. I go pickup a bagel and then I’ll eat it on the subway."

I love Aritzia crop tops; they have like a lot of good crop long-sleeved, soft fabrics, very ‘90s. We’re definitely syncing up right now. Some of their pants are really good, the little bras or the shirts that are like bras—I’m going to wear them in so many different ways. I’ll probably even wear it to yoga.
 
I like Fantastic Man. I’ve been reading a lot and Kurt Vonnegut is the world that I’m living in right now with Les Baxter and a ton of K-Jazz, this radio station that plays jazz 24/7. It’s not that I have a ton of references at a time, but I like to dig pretty deep into those worlds, so if it’s one artist it’s kind of his entire collection, and if it’s an author it’s as much as I can get through.

Recently I shot Mark Mahoney, who’s a tattoo artist and kind of this original gangster type in LA. I shot Georgio Moroder, this composer who’s amazing. I’ve been shooting Martin Greenfield, this tailor who lives in Brooklyn. I mean, all these men have the warmest, most authentic personalities and I don’t know if that comes with age, but it’s just like a pleasure being around them. It’s funny, all three of them have seen a lot and they all have a very secure sense of self. To walk into someone’s world and actually get hit with that and be like okay, this is who you are this is what you represent—you don’t even need to tell me anything.
 
My sister influences my personal style. I always borrow her clothes and I live with her a lot of the time, so I’m sure just on the most subconscious level we’re probably influencing each other.

"My sister influences my personal style. I always borrow her clothes and I live with her a lot of the time, so I’m sure just on the most subconscious level we’re probably influencing each other."

I go to a Korean spa once a week. There’s a good one in Jersey, but the one that I’ve been going to is in LA, Olympic Spa. It has changed to quality of my skin drastically. I make everybody I know who’s staying with me go. It’s incredible: it’s all women, it’s so much powerful feminine energy. One of my best friends, who I lived with for a long time, is Korean and her skin is like, you know, you touch her and it’s like you ran into a cloud or something. She would always be like go to the Korean spa!
 
When I go, I just do the pools for 20 bucks and you can go and sit in the salt rooms and do meditation, but once every three weeks, what I really think works on the skin is this milk and honey scrub. It’s not vegan, but it is amazing. These women apply it. They lay you out on a table. You’re a little unsure cause you’re naked and next to like 50 other naked people, but they immediately get to work on you. The first thing they do is oil you down and make you feel comfortable, and then they start applying these scrubs. They wear gloves while they exfoliate your skin to the point where it almost feels raw—it gets kind of uncomfortable the first couple times—and they get every inch of your body. Then they turn you in every possible way your body could go. You wash that off, they apply the milk and then the honey, they lather your entire body in honey and then they give you a facial, like an aloe and cucumber facial, and they wash your hair for you. That’s $100. My skin is so much softer and cleaner now.

The most amazing thing about it is that it inspires you to take care of your skin after the fact, so you go home and you feel how soft the potential right? So a couple days later you find yourself exfoliating in the shower, which is something I don’t really do. But I use coconut oil on everything: it’s my moisturizer and I do oil pulling—I really like the flavor. I’m not even sure if it works, I just like the way it feels.

When I’m out, I have always a camera—an Olympus point and shoot or my Polaroid and a disposable. I have sunglasses and my glasses and a book, which right now is Kurt Vonnegut. I have mascara. I put coconut oil in a little container. I’m pretty basic, that’s about it. Oh, and a journal and a pen.
 
I love yoga. In LA I go to YogaWorks and in New York I go to New York Yoga. I do run—I’m just getting back into it, but in LA it’s hard for me to run cause I don’t live in a place where you can just put shoes on and go. In New York I run down the FDR or around the reservoir in Central Park.

It was a cleanse that got me into veganism like a year and a half ago. I think a cleanse during the right season is really nice and I’m big into meditation.”

 



 


Hanneli Mustaparta

@hannelim

 



 


“I love going to Dashwood Books, because they always have really inspiring and cool photographers that I’ve never even heard of—you discover new things. It makes my brain flow when I’m there. I have a bookshelf at home and that’s where I put the coffee tables that I love looking at.
 
I like to go to Dashwood either alone or I have some friends who are interested in photography as well. We know the photographers and we show each other stuff, but I also like going by myself like check things out. I had heard about the store so many times when I moved here and I always wanted to visit it but nobody gave me the address and I couldn’t remember the name. One day I was working with Anne Christensen who’s the editor at Glamour, and she’s like, 'Oh yeah, my husband owns that shop'.

"I had heard about the store so many times when I moved here and I always wanted to visit it but nobody gave me the address and I couldn’t remember the name. One day I was working with Anne Christensen who’s the editor at Glamour, and she’s like, 'Oh yeah, my husband owns that shop.'"

I love riding my bike. I travel so much, I’m always in airports and airplanes, sitting still. When I land I get my bike out and I roam around the streets, go do some errands or go and meet some friends. It’s great for everything, but not really for sport. In Norway I also have a bike and I use it all summer long. Either going out for drinks or going home from clubs—we’re like five, six people on bikes, kind of drunk. We bike to the water, get some food; it becomes something that’s healthy, but at the same time you enjoy it. Having the wind in the hair, there’s something about it that makes me extremely happy compared to all the traveling I do.
 
On my bike I respect the traffic—you have to in New York, you can’t be an idiot. When I was modeling here years ago, I’d bike to a casting on 61st Street and then one in Soho. There I was on 5th Avenue with all green lights, so I went for it and I’ve got some good speed; I go from 61st to 32nd and then I stopped because it was finally a red light. I’m catching my breath and then two seconds after there’s a bike messenger stopped right next to me. He’s like, ‘Girl, you’re crazy. I’ve been trying to keep up with you since 61st Street and I couldn’t. You should be a bike messenger.’ I’m like, if I’m going that fast I better watch it. I do tricks and stuff. I jump down from high stuff—not in heels though.

I have a dress from Michael Kors that I live—it’s my day off dress. I just live in it; it has a flowy ‘60s or ‘70s vibe, it’s light color, but not white so I can still survive New York, and it moves freely so you feel like you’re airy in the heat. When I’m on my bike, I don’t wear things where the laces come off, otherwise you can wear pretty much anything.
 
I think it’s an attitude when you get dressed: you need to own whatever you wear. If you get insecure about it or you pile on too much or if you want to impress somebody else, I think it’s more about impressing yourself. My style is probably a mix of sleek and tailored, but at the same time quirky. I always like trying new things, but I also know that my style has evolved a little bit—it’s nice to see yourself develop and become different.

"I watched Damages with Glenn Close years ago and she had my favorite glasses, and I’m like I need to get those glasses. This is like eight years ago or something and I searched everywhere. It’s so random, but I found those glasses and they’ve become my staple."

I like this knitted sweater from Aritzia because it’s open on the sides, which makes it more feminine—it’s quite chic, it’s warm, it’s sweet. I love the jeans. They’re high-waisted, so they’re comfortable—if you have high waist it lengthens you slightly and looks more put together. Everything works with them. 
 
[On my mood board right now] are a lot of black and white Italian movies. I keep my eyes open when I’m traveling. I watched Damages with Glenn Close years ago and she had my favorite glasses, and I’m like I need to get those glasses. This is like eight years ago or something and I searched everywhere. It’s so random, but I found those glasses and they’ve become my staple. I buy them every time I lose a pair. They’re from Selima and I think they discontinued them, but then they make them for me anyway.

I use Nimue cleanser and they have a very good toner. I use moisturizing cream, which I always rotate—you’re skin gets used to product and then you can kind of tell it doesn’t do what it used to do, so you’re supposed to rotate 2-3 things.

I love to work out, but I get bored if I do one thing too much. I mix it up by doing yoga, Pilates, a little SoulCycle when I’ve been flying a lot. I go to SLT. When I rotate so many things, I choose based on what I’m in the mood for—it doesn’t get boring. I went to Tokyo before Christmas and I really wanted to do Pilates, so I went to a local class in Japanese. It was so incredible because you see all these like-minded people. I did it in Dubai, too. I went running in Tokyo around a park on a Sunday and there was like tons of families out with small kids—you get to see a local type of life, which I really enjoy when I travel that much.
 
Every morning I shower, I eat breakfast—I am a very big breakfast person. I have a proper big breakfast. In Norway it would be 2 slices of bread and tons of spread, like liver pate and caviar. I don’t really get those here, but sometimes I bring it from Norway. Here I make scrambled eggs or eggs and bacon.”

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