They were serving style — even while sweating through the city heat.
With temperatures climbing into the triple digits this week during New York City’s first official heat wave since 2012, some of the city’s most devoted fashion lovers were not about to abandon their signature looks. That held true even when their outfits featured heat-trapping fabrics such as full wool ensembles, Italian suede or silk that offered little room to breathe.
While many New Yorkers leaned into the blazing weather by stretching out in bikinis and soaking up the sun, others treated the sweltering sidewalks like a Fashion Week catwalk, choosing style over comfort despite the punishing conditions.
Ashley Renée was among those determined to keep her look intact.
“I know it’s hot outside, but I want to look hot as well,” the Soho hairstylist told The Post. Renée stepped out in a $145 faux leather halter top from Hudson Jeans made with a stifling polyurethane blend, styling it with Michael Kors flip-flops, self-cut H&M denim shorts and stacks of vintage gold bangle bracelets.
So how does the Crown Heights native survive a cross-borough subway ride without feeling like Elphaba melting onto the floor of the 4 train?
“My secret is taking it slow. I feel like, as New Yorkers, we’re always on the go, on the run. During the heat wave, you have the excuse to slow down,” Renée said. “Don’t race to get the train. And if you walk in and there’s no air conditioning? Absolutely not. Walk out of that car, even if you have to wait for the next one.”
Nearby on Sixth Avenue, Staten Island resident John Flowers waited for an express bus while dressed in a sharp blue wool suit, brown leather loafers, a button-down Oxford shirt and a playful striped bowtie.
“In this heat, I’m dying right now,” admitted the tech manager, who moonlights as a wedding and event photographer. “But I’d be dying more if I couldn’t dress like myself. The bowtie, the suit — it’s part of my whole self,” Flowers told The Post.
“I guess I could take my jacket off after work, but again, I just love it too much. The weather is kind of secondary to that.”
Flowers at least made sure to pack a jug of water in his Adidas backpack when going into work, and said the key to trying to stay cool in this brutal heat is “manifesting” his inner cool.
“Right before I walk out the door, I imagine I’m in Antarctica. It works, I swear,” he said.
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Also coming in hot was Lauren Holaday, who perched on a Nolita stoop in a pink lace camisole and wide-leg Aritzia trousers that made her look like a boiling Katherine Hepburn.
“I work in fashion retail, and it’s my job to show people they can be stylish even when the weather is challenging,” said the Park Slope blonde.
“You do a very lightweight top with heavier pants, and then you just hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. I switch between matcha, iced coffee and water. I carry this [a baby pink Stanley Cup chugger that matched her top] everywhere,” she pointed out to The Post.
“It absolutely counts as an accessory.”
Barbara Sklodowska, a business consultant from Warsaw, wasn’t sweating her decision to wear a long, flower-covered maxi dress to her meetings at Rockefeller Center.
“Because it has such a big print, if I sweat, you can’t really see! It covers it up!” Sklodowska said, explaining the science behind her style choice. “Feeling confident in your clothes is more important than the weather. Especially in New York. You want to look amazing here.”
James, a finance intern who wore tweed Charles Tyrwhitt pants in the 93-degree sun, agreed. “I feel like I am in the 70th percentile of best-dressed guys in my office. It’s not worth giving that up just because it’s hot out.”
Over in Midtown, 23-year-old Mariah Fede fluttered spider-y false eyelashes that looked like Tim Burton had made them in a special effects lab.
“I’m actually sweating like crazy right now, but they’re still on because I used hair glue, like for wigs, instead of eyelash glue. Otherwise, they’d just slide off my face,” she told The Post, wearing an orange and white tie-dyed dress with a matching head scarf.
Hot New Yorkers could also just wear hot-weather clothes in hot weather.
That’s what retired fashion executive Karen Segal advised outside the Museum of Modern Art, where she sported an airy cotton sundress from Palm Beach, a black Issey Miyake tote bag, and a pair of black Ancient Greek sandals.
“People say, ‘Don’t wear open-toed shoes in New York but are you kidding? It’s 100 degrees out! This is the only thing to wear,” she insisted to The Post.
Instead of heavy fabric, Segal sported heavy metal: piles of fine gold bracelets, along with a blazing Asscher-cut diamond engagement ring.
“It’s never too hot,” she said, “for jewelry.”
