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Saturday, May 12, 2012

I See Your True Colors


Being as I am known, among many other artistic things, to have an interest in clothes, I thought that perhaps a few words on my observations of European fashion were due.  I am not about to give a guide on how to obtain it – first of all, it’s as diverse as American fashion is these days.  When the runways showcase everything from lace to athletic mesh, how can you possibly pick one look as "stylish"?  Besides that, I don't wear it myself, and so, being unpracticed in the genre, do not presume to offer tips.  That said, I thought I’d offer a few of my observations, just for kicks.  Clearly, these are not universally accurate, but they’ll serve as a general picture of fashion quirks, I think, for those of you who are interested in this sort of thing.

1.) Tights, tights. Tights.  Girls in Brussels seem to wear tights with their dresses even on the (relatively few) days that I have considered it warm enough to ditch the legwear.  And they live here, so you’d expect them to be less cold than me.  But I don’t think it’s necessarily a temperature thing or a fashion statement so much as a cultural difference.  Even when going out, Belgian girls wear a lot of tights, usually in solid, dark colors, or pants.  During the day, they layer tights under most shorts and dresses.  Bare legs, especially if your hem is anywhere above the knee, are just really unusual on any age here.  During our one warm week, way back in March, I was definitely the only person on the tram – or the campus, as far as I saw – to ditch pants and tights completely for a knee-length dress with a blazer.  And I definitely drew some weird looks in both places.  In America, I would assume this was because of the paper-whiteness of my legs, but the vast percentage of girls here don’t have a whole lot more color than I do.  So my only thought is that a skirt that would be completely modest in the US, especially in the roasting climes of Texas, possibly came off as odd or daring here.  I’ve stuck to tights since then – fortunately, I’m known in my native land for having a collection!  

2.) Modest fit in general, really.  My tights mistake aside, it’s nice to see the girls on the dance floors fully clad here, by and large, and it’s not just their stocking affinity.  Short, stretch-tastic, and skintight clothes, à la Forever 21, are not as common here – despite the fact that they have enormous Forever 21 stores.  Hmm.  Granted, I’m kind of the anti-authority on typical going out, but on my few forays into the mainstream, the variety of outfits is much greater, and the clothes are more luxe, loose, and unintentional than American nighttime wear.  There is a bit more of that “Oh, I just happened to toss this fabulous silk top on over my flowy pants and killer heels” thing going on here.  This is enhanced by the next point, which is

3.) Natural hair texture.  Either the girls in Brussels have all given up on trying to style that which will get rained upon daily, or they were smart enough never to try.  I have given up so much as a blowdryer, because it’s useless.  First of all, you will not make it through 99% of the days here without getting wet.  Secondly, even if you do, no one else will have bothered.  I have seen so many more curls, waves, and natural flyaways here.  Pin-straight strands are practically a non-entity for any age.  What does exist, however, is

4.) Wild Hair.  If hair is noticeably styled, it’s often pretty edgy.  This applies to men and women.  There are definitely a lot more adventurous hairstyles in practice, as opposed to just on posters, here.  Most of these are, in my unsolicited opinion, not a good thing.  There is a small but still alarmingly common subset of girls who sport shaved patches on one side of their heads, the rest left long.  I seriously hope this trend does not cross the Atlantic.  Partially because I think it’s terribly harsh and confusing; moreso because I cannot see it without wanting to crack, “Hey, the 80’s called.  And Cindy Lauper made great music, but she wants her hair back!”  After which joke, another voice inside my head invariably says, “Hey, middle-school called.  And it wants that joke back!” and the whole mental conversation goes rapidly downhill from there.  So, we’ll move on to

5.) Tailored clothing.  This is the big Euro-vs-America difference, fashion-wise.  Sweatpants are a very rare sighting.  Ugg boots happen, but not on every other female for three months solid.  And never with running shorts.  (Save me!)  Blazers are common, and even sweatshirts look like they came from a real-clothes store, not a university give-away.  Ditto for tee shirts.  This applies across all age groups.  Even old people wear nice leather shoes and clothing that isn’t half lycra-spandex.  That said,
 
6.) Sneakers are actually way more common in Europe than in the US, especially on young women, but, they’re not exactly New Balance running shoes, either.  In fact, I don’t think I’ve spotted a single pair of white, blimp-like tennies, on anyone.  But slim-line sneakers, like Converse, Keds, Bensimons, or similar, are way common, even with the aforementioned dresses and tights.  They’re kind of like the Euro equivalent of the flip-flop or the basic ballet flat.  The wear-everywhere shoe of Europe.  Totally didn’t expect that.  Also, TOMS shoes, while I saw them all over Scotland, do not abound in Belgium.

7.) Coats.  I mean, first of all, it’s still cold here and it’s MAY, for goodness sakes, but even so, the girls around here are still in jackets, sweaters, and coats, even on the warmer afternoons when I take any excuse to ditch my coat.  Maybe coats are just so habitual here that no one thinks of not wearing them?  Or maybe it’s just my intense hatred of bulky, dull winter-wear, and my correspondingly intense joy at any sign of sunshine around here.  But I really do think they wear coats and layers in weather that many Americans would consider too warm for such.

8.) And, my rant.  Young men in harem pants!  Okay, so they’re not really harem pants.  But, there is this perfectly vile trend among some of the youthful males over here to wear the most horrendous pants I have ever seen, bar none.  Imagine the low-slung, falling-off-the-tush jeans of the nineties.  The ones Cher bemoans in Clueless.  Got that image?  Now, meld the top half of those with the bottom half of a hipster’s skinny jeans.  Keep the crotch-seam flopping loosely around the knee-area, then narrow the baggy legs to taper down into tight calves, and then puddle around the ankles.  Which, it may be noted, they wouldn’t have to do if the waistbands were in the same zipcode as the natural waist.  Wear with pointy-toed shoes (which even straight men wear, here) and my gag-reflex will react palpably.  Give me a guy in a pair of Wranglers any day over those monstrosities!  Besides the fact is that pants are – shockingly – made to cover the lower end of one’s torso more than just one’s legs.  Vide, shorts.  Not tush-less legwarmers.  Those aren’t pants.   They’re just heinous.  

Ah, yes, you say, but with (or in spite of) all of this, are they really more stylish than us?  Excluding the bizarre American propensity for confusing casual clothing and gymwear, and comparing them to Americans who bother to wear real clothes, my answer is:

Not really.

I’ve seen some really great outfits here.  But I’ve seen plenty of fabulous looks in the US, too.  If there is one aspect where the Europeans continually have a leg up, it is probably fit.  You ever see that girl wearing the latest fad in completely the wrong size?  Well, you almost never see her here.  I don’t know whether people tailor things more, or whether the intentional looseness and oversized character of the current trends is responsible, though.  It could just be that they’re better here at buying the proper size because they don’t mind things being looser.  But since the same fit is really trending on both sides of the ocean right now (thanks, internet), maybe I’m imagining things.  After all, Stacey and Clinton say that if you don’t have fit, then you don’t have style.  In this arena, my fellow Americans, we may be noticeably losing.  But I’d say we certainly advertise the same style.  J Crew, which seems to be the current American fashion darling, hasn’t featured a fitted sweater in its lookbook in seasons.  It will be interesting to go back and compare.

I also think it depends on where you’re from in the US, though.  After all, Belgium is a tiny country, compared to my state alone.  Maybe up north-east in the US, people dress more like Belgians.  From a city Texan’s perspective, though, clothes here fit beautifully and are usually nicely tailored, but gosh, they’re a little bit dull, long-term!  So many neutrals.  And to my mind, navy blazers and khakis can only be so interesting, no matter how fabulous their details are.  I enjoy seeing bright sundresses and blue snakeskin sandals and bright orange bangles around.  It’s funny, but that’s one of my lingering comparisons between Brussels and Austin.  Here, the buildings are grey, and the coats are mostly neutral.  Though I will miss my friends in Brussels immensely, something in my soul longs for my City with the Violet Crown.  For restaurants painted strange, weird, Tex-Mex colors.  And for my OPI nail polish called, appropriately, “Austin-tatious Turquoise,” which I am considering wearing as a celebratory measure for a good two or three weeks once I get home.

Maybe appealing style is really all in what you’re used to, or drawn back to, after all.