Subway Rat: Anklets Everywhere
Photographer Hannah La Follette Ryan captures the city below the knees.
I was in the middle of reporting a hard-hitting story for the Times last month about toes when Hannah texted me that she was working on an anklet report for her Subway Rat column. There’s no denying it: A trend is afoot.
When I opened the WeTransfer link she sent me with all the images, I was shocked by the sheer number of anklets she spotted around town. I love seeing all the different ways people style them—on top of each other, with socks, in pairs—and the range.
“Over the years, more than a few people have tried to cajole me into creating a "subway feet" spinoff for @subwayhands. I have always firmly declined: Not in this lifetime. This month, however, I’ve made a ONE-TIME exception for subway ankles.
Anklets, those alluring, summertime adornments, are peaking on the subway right now. Sightings are up all over the city, but anklets are not a flash-in-the-pan trend. These ornaments are timeless with ancient origins. Anklets were favored by women in predynastic Egypt, ancient Greece, and across Europe during the Bronze Age. Not to mention their ritual significance in India, particularly for wedding traditions, and in Southeast Asia. See how New Yorkers are adorning their ankles below.”
— Hannah
Hannah La Follette Ryan is a Brooklyn-based artist and educator from Amherst, MA. Her Subway Hands series has been featured in dozens of publications in the US and abroad. She freelances for New York magazine and The Nation and has collaborated with Boy Genius, Valentino, the Guggenheim, and many others.
Read all of Hannah’s “Subway Rat” columns here.
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