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.
