Fashionable Mayor Eric Adams shows NYC how to get its mojo back

On Monday, Mayor Eric Adams stunned at the Met Gala wearing a custom-made tuxedo that adroitly balanced glory and pathos. His lapels bore images of the Brooklyn Bridge and other Big Apple icons — as well as symbols, painted by a Nigerian artist, that represented murdered young children and a plea to “end gun violence.”

The daringly chosen mixed messages bothered some easily rattled onlookers, but they proclaimed Adams’ holistic embrace of his role. It said, “I am the mayor of all of the city, its grandeur and its misery, and I will not let either negate or deny the other.”

Troubled times call for inspirational leaders. Adams can’t be Volodymyr Zelensky, but we need a mayor who smiles and celebrates the city’s treasures without denying its crime, homelessness and economic pain.

What’s more, after two years when too many of us sported sweatpants and t-shirts during the COVID pandemic, our mayor’s incandescent style has made it fun to dress up again.

Adams rocks $2,000 suits by custom tailor Victor Mohan. His pin collars unabashedly evoke, with a wink, Gordon Gekko and the era of Wall Street excess. While his repugnant predecessor, Bill de Blasio, wore generic Rothmans suits, monotonous solid shirts and conservative-patterned ties, we finally have a leader who dresses the way the city is starting to feel.

In March, Adams attended the first Ralph Lauren show since 2019 wearing a striking coat, half of it emblazoned with bright art depicting the Chrysler Building, street signs and his name in all capital letters. On Instagram, he declared: “Strike a pose! Incredible night at @themuseumofmodernart to celebrate the groundbreaking work of @RalphLauren and to send a clear message: #NYCisBack!”

New York is back, indeed. Adams is proving it, by none other than Mary J. Blige.

Hizzoner’s ebullient persona recalls the 1980s and early 1990s era of larger-than-life New Yorkers — pre-political Donald Trump, Yankees boss George Steinbrenner, hotel mean-queen Leona Helmsley, and scores of fashion designers, artists and nightlife luminaries whose bold, iconic style were once synonymous with the city. We’ve missed their colorful likes for a long time.

It isn’t only about clothes. Adams’ in-person dynamism electrifies, too. A friend who heard him speak at a recent Carnegie Hall re-launch party for the right-leaning newspaper, the New York Sun, marveled, “He was the only one who spoke without notes. And he stayed and mingled with everyone.”

A new poll shows that a majority of New Yorkers disapprove of Adams’ record on crime. Not enough substance to go with his style? They should give him more time. Four months aren’t enough to undo years of criminal-coddling legislative and judicial edicts. And murders, shootings and rapes were all down in April. 

The former Vogue editor-in-chief Diana Vreeland once said, “You can see the approaching of a revolution in clothes.” The mayor’s cheerful swagger clearly proclaims: our crises are legion but so are our strengths. And, just maybe, a glittering revolution is on the horizon for New York — and all of us who live in it.