New York Awards 2003

New York City is the most demanding of stages. It’s the toughest place in the world to make a smashing first impression (so those who do, like the fresh-out-of-Parsons designers behind Proenza Schouler, are all the more impressive). And the bar is even higher for those familiar New Yorkers who reinvent themselves in the spotlight—think Caroline Kennedy as the newly coined school fund-raiser, or Hillary Rodham Clinton as a junior senator, or Kevin Kline (with the help of a fat suit) as the greatest Falstaff in memory. Then there’s Richard Meier seducing us to live in green-glass towers and Donna Murphy kicking the Broadway season into high gear with Wonderful Town. A salute to the New Yorkers who made the city’s show go on.