What to wear in a vaguely monochromatic city

Its been too long, I know, I know.  This whole college thing is so consuming even though its only August, I can only imagine how much fun October-January is going to be.  I don't want to dwell on that though, instead I'm going to focus on my recent trip to New York.  It was my first visit and my first dose of a little New Yorker fashion.  I found the entire experience to be subtle, well-thought out, and vaguely monochromatic - the clothing, that is, not the visit.  On my last day in the city, I took a shot at it and attempted to appear one with the fashionable women scuttling to and fro in Chelsea with iced coffees clutched in their perfectly manicured hands.