In New York, everyone’s desperate for success, desperate for money and desperate to be accepted, but in London they’re more laid back about things like that.

Bailey contrasts two cultural temperaments he experienced as a fashion photographer working on both sides of the Atlantic. New York is portrayed as status-driven and competitive—where ambition, wealth, and social validation feel urgent and publicly measured—while London is framed as comparatively nonchalant, less overtly anxious about “making it.” The observation also reflects how creative industries can be shaped by local social codes: in one city, success is performed and pursued aggressively; in the other, it may be downplayed or approached with irony and restraint. Implicitly, Bailey suggests that a city’s pace and values influence not only careers but also personal identity and belonging.