Quite Continental

Admission: I’ve never been ice skating.  I suppose I could blame it on growing up in Los Angeles, and my parents’ extreme aversion to a vacation spent anywhere other than a tropical climate — but since I am (technically?) an adult now, I really can only blame myself.  Especially when New York City has so many beautiful places to tie on a pair of skates (see: Bryant Park, Central Park, Rockefeller Center, Chelsea Piers, the Standard Hotel).  Perhaps I should make it a mini winter resolution of sorts to finally get myself on the ice.

Providing a bit of sartorial inspiration for my skating kit, Life Magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt captured a 35 year-old Truman Capote skating at Rockefeller Center in 1959 — perhaps giving new dimension to his very famous bon mot, “New York is a diamond iceberg floating in river water.”  I couldn’t find the article they correspond to, but I have to believe that Truman in his Fair Isle sweater is reason enough to call your attention to them.

  All images via the Life Archive.