https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/culture-and-style Style Advice for Fashion Lovers en-US Tue, 28 Apr 2026 16:03:57 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 q https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/search.php https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/culture-and-style#post-356824 Fri, 27 May 2011 14:29:13 +0000 Anonymous 356824@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I'm living in two countires, Germany and Poland. I mean, I'm two weeks in Germany and two weeks in Poland, and so forth, flying there and back all the time. And it cracs me up how different girs in these both countries dress. Germans are all for comfort and good quality. Nothing more really matters. Polish are for a sexy look, it does not count if feets hurt in highheels. Both countries are only 1,5 hour flight apart. They have the same climate. People look alike here and there - a lot of light hair and pale skin. And people at the streets look so different... Something inbetween would be really perfect. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/culture-and-style#post-356637 Fri, 27 May 2011 02:37:10 +0000 krishnidoux 356637@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>comment removed </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/culture-and-style#post-356551 Thu, 26 May 2011 23:04:13 +0000 Kristine 356551@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Style is of course different in regions of the U.S. too. I've lived in several small academic cities (Boulder, Madison) where there's almost reverse snobbery. If you're too dressed up you're viewed suspiciously. You must spend a little too much time in the mirror and not thinking about the world's problems. People dress up for some occasions but then it's often arty- flowy skirts, artisan made jewelry or nubby jackets for men. It's all about comfort, natural materials, quality. </p> <p>Then there's Midwest style as a whole. It's not all bad, but trends hit late and some people get stuck. It's not unusual to see women wearing layered 80s hairstyles they probably wore in high school or college. And again, comfort is everything. Casual Friday can mean t-shirts with sports teams!</p> <p>This doesn't apply to the whole Midwest of course, bigger cities like Chicago are something different. And even in the smaller cities there are stylish people too! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/culture-and-style#post-356512 Thu, 26 May 2011 22:12:22 +0000 Irene 356512@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Oh, I just forgot to comment on something that happened during my stay in Cardiff. I was shooting with a Spanish friend of mine, she was modeling for me at a park, and she was wearing a cocktail dress. Black, shiny, sexy and glamourous with sparkly halter neck short dress and high heels. Nobody stared, but that was granted because, well, it's Cardiff, they are used to crazy things. But at some point we had to change location, and she was freezing and her feet were hurting, so she changed her pumps for ZEBRA BASKET TRAINERS and I gave her a RED warming SWEATER, one of those soft and light things you wear for running or skiing or when it's super cold. We got to the street and she walked around like that and NOBODY NOTICED. NOBODY STARED. We were like... 'wow'. People stare at me in Barcelona just because I wear a miniskirt, or a beautiful dress, or funky trainers. And it's Barcelona, so you can imagine what happens in the countryside... </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/culture-and-style#post-356375 Thu, 26 May 2011 19:14:23 +0000 catgirl 356375@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Well, being of East Indian descent, I am drawn like a magpie to bright colors, often in combinations that are considered to clash elsewhere (orange and purple, hot pink and lime green). At the same time, I was raised in Boston and have a very East Coast black and grey urban sensibility. Makes for some interesting closet moments! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/culture-and-style#post-356371 Thu, 26 May 2011 19:04:53 +0000 Ginkgo 356371@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>When I spent several months in Europe eons ago it became very easy to identify German, Italian, French, Spanish girls by their clothing and hairstyles.</p> <p>Everywhere there's always a big difference between what people where in towns and suburbs vs. the big city. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/culture-and-style#post-356348 Thu, 26 May 2011 18:26:01 +0000 RoseandJoan 356348@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>It really is a fascinating subject, I am intrigued by how different styles may emerge in sities which are really quite close together. I grew up in the North West of England and the dress was very music orientated goth, punk, indie, grunge, clubland were all represented and I liked that diversity but never truly fitted into any of the style camps. When I moved to Edinburgh (less than 200 miles away) in my early twenties I felt instantly more at home, the circles I mixed with wore quite preppy or vintage clothes. I think if I had stayed in the North West my style now may have been very different.</p> <p>One other point, I think brights look their best where there is true quality of light, in the UK the light is very grey which mutes all colours. I think this accounts partly for UK's preference for neutrals (except Cardiff, *tip of the hat to Airin*). </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/culture-and-style#post-356335 Thu, 26 May 2011 18:00:18 +0000 Di 356335@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Holy cow, I stepped out for a couple of hours, and in that time you ladies shared such good stuff!</p> <p>I was a military kid, so having grown up all over, I saw a lot of different styles. I'm definitely hearing that I'm not the only one who sees those differences. It's so fun to me-- sometimes this forum feels like a contemporary anthropological dig! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/culture-and-style#post-356330 Thu, 26 May 2011 17:44:13 +0000 Astrid 356330@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>airin, I really had to laugh when I read your comment on german girls and clubbing. "They looked healthy and clean, but that was it." Well, I guess I'm one of these german girls. My clubbing attire is normaly jeans or skirt and a t-shirt, all everyday wear. When you go clubbing in Germany, you almost always see two extremes, the one you mentioned and the girls with super high heels and minidresses. I think the category you fall into depends totally on the reason you go clubbing. When I and my friends go clubbing then we want to dance and have fun. I for myself couldn't do that in heels and minidress. When I see these girls standing in a corner all night because they can't walk in their shoes and can't move because they fear something might show, I can't help to be a little bit amused. I cannot imagine that a night standing and decorating the room is much fun (not to speak of the type of men that attracts to the corner you're standing in). I don't want to say that applies to all the girls or women dressed that way, but I often see it. </p> <p>Di, I moved to Berlin two years ago and I really see a difference in style between here and my small hometown which is in the southwest of Germany. You can say that people in Berlin are generally more stylish and forwardlooking. I think it is the many styles you see on the street that make it easy to wear something a little bit crazy yourself. I always dress myself a little bit different when I visit at home and leave my experiments in the city. I haven't been to another country for a longer time, so I can't really say much about cultural differences. </p> <p>I have heard from many foreign people that they think germans simply seem to have no style, like they don't care about their looks at all, which bothers me a bit. It's true I see a lot of these people out there on the street, but that's true for other countries as well. And I see super stylish and interesting people at the same time, but maybe they simply don't go on holiday.... </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/culture-and-style#post-356325 Thu, 26 May 2011 17:29:15 +0000 Angie 356325@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Welcome to the forum Penelope Penguin! Love your le smocking look. Clean cut, simple and effortlessly natural. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/culture-and-style#post-356318 Thu, 26 May 2011 17:08:17 +0000 MsMary 356318@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I imagine the Antarctic contingent would be big on tuxedo jackets! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/culture-and-style#post-356307 Thu, 26 May 2011 16:39:20 +0000 Angie 356307@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Its so great to have a South African forum member (and a Capetonian one at that!!!) on this forum. You rock, Suzanne :)</p> <p>Now we have almost all the continents covered here on YLF. We need a forum member from Antarctica. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/culture-and-style#post-356276 Thu, 26 May 2011 16:04:27 +0000 suzanne 356276@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Mmm. Interesting, Airin. I always supposed that a love of colour goes with living in sunny places. South Africans love colour. And LOTS of it. We have about 7 large African culture groups living here and from the white Afrikaans ladies to the Zulu-ladies - we love colour (even if it's just a pop of colour with a black outfit. Another thing that I find WONDERFUL is the amount of total comfort that our black ladies have with their figures. It doesn't matter how large or small they are, they wear whatever they like to wear and enjoy it. Western clothes aren't always kind on African figures, but they make it work. As your post clearly shows, style is subjective, in fact, as Oscar Wild famously said: "Fashion is what one wears oneself. What is unfashionable is what other people wear." Can't help loving it! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/culture-and-style#post-356274 Thu, 26 May 2011 16:02:07 +0000 rute 356274@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Here in Portugal neutrals are always big. Women prefer creams, white, black over color!<br /> We are rather classic in the way we dress (even younger women), no crazy outfits, or crazy hair (we love long hair).<br /> I have noticed also that the differences are huge regarding shoes, you love those comfy shoes and sandals, here we love heel (flats are big also). </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/culture-and-style#post-356273 Thu, 26 May 2011 16:00:44 +0000 ButterflyLady 356273@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>@airin - a not offended British woman here - I agree with you about the clubbing styles - although my clubbing years are long gone! There does seem to be a slight tendency among some young British women to have everything on show! But it's not the norm. </p> <p>I think a lot of the use of colour is to do with climate - hotter weather means more people here in the UK wear bright colours. I am a big fan of colour, and I am quite unusual in that (my mother-in-law calls me 'garish'. I ignore her.) - I have a bright green mac, and a bright red winter coat. But London style (I live on the outskirts, and worked for many years in the City of London) is quite edgy and 'street', which I love. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/culture-and-style#post-356252 Thu, 26 May 2011 15:45:38 +0000 Irene 356252@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I realized how cultural fashion and trend is when I spent nine months in Cardiff, Wales. Before then, I used to wonder who on Earth bought those colorful, striking, tight and bold dresses at H&amp;M and the flowery and cheesy skirts at Zara, because none of my people around did -and I'm including University female students here. Then I go to the UK and see it's THEM buying those clothes when they visit Spain -no wonder why there are always those loooong queues at those shops in Barcelona-. And I and my Spanish friends that came with me were like 'what is going on with this the fluorescent colors and the bold prints here?'. Five months later, I am myself buying that fashion, and when I go to Spain for vacation, I sort of dislike the clothes at the stores. Yet not even then did we dress like the British girls. For once, it was unbearably cold for us to go around in sandals and strapless dresses while it was snowing -yeah, it happened, pity I didn't take pictures. On the other hand, personally I would have felt like wearing a fancy dress. I'd have done it like at a Halloween Party or during Carnival week (we have that in Spain), but not on a regular basis. It was funny how we could identify where the Erasmus girls came from depending on their clubbing clothing. There is a bit of stereotyping here, because we all are different, but generalizing, CLUBBING STYLE: </p> <p>French girls are UBBER CLASSY. Kitten heels, longer skirts, possibly flowy, shirts, nice hairdos without going over the top, modest in their manners, smiley and graceful yet a bit over-controlled.</p> <p>German girls: Quite more careless about their style (you can see that too on the tourists). They really wore whatever they were happy with, probably what they had been wearing all day. I even saw a girl in a jumper and boots at a club. Nothing wrong with that, if it hadn't been extremely warm inside. They didn't usually take care of their hair either or make-up. They looked healthy and clean, but that was it.</p> <p>Italian girls: I can't remember any in Cardiff. I do remember a couple of italian guys, but not women. The guys were... well, Italian. Fashionable and trendy and lovers of sunglasses. </p> <p>British girls: I'll actually don't want to offend the British women here, so I'll specify and say 'female students at crazy Cardiff University'. Ok, now: they don't normally know how to dress themselves. The younger and crazier, the worst. I met some nice exceptions, but for the most part, super short and super tight skirts -if any- and strapless tops. They also tend to wear two sizes smaller than what they need -I can understand this in Spain because we don't have many sizes, but in the UK there is a huge range of sizes, so I don't get it- so there are lumps and bumps mostly everywhere. I can recall a girl wearing black hotpants (lingerie, I mean). And another one in a bikini. Oh, they also have a fascination with the cheeky Lolita style, so a lot of polka dots, and flowers, and ruffles, and mary janes, and pink lips, only they don't have the style, grace and class of Nabokov's character. They also like neon green and orange-orange plastic super high pumps. And yellow too. That said, I did like how they dressed in daytime. Somehow, they care less than Spanish people about what others may think or say, and thus they take more plunges and are trendier. I feel they were also way less judgmental than us, partly because they are more polite (aka. it's not that they like what you wear, but they are super nice about it anyway because that's how they were educated). I also liked that a size 18 girl could wear a miniskirt without people saying anything about it. This can't happen in Spain, the main reason being there are no miniskirts of that size, so I can't say what would happen, but probably people would stare in a rude way and judge.</p> <p>Spanish girls: We either go over the top or stay minimal and comfortable. Or we try to do both and not always succeed. Many Spanish women are tacky. Not tacky in the British way, it's another style. I know fashion is very subjective, but really, some things are just a no-no, and some Spanish girls... well. Others went just really casual, with baggy jeans and such (where they were accepted), and they just wanted to be comfortable. Personally, I'm super shy when it comes to clubbing clothing and normally opt for something black on top and skinnies or a denim mini. I know, boring. I'll learn someday, I hope. </p> <p>And here I end with my rant on European clubbing styles, which I don't know why I started, to begin with, but here it is. Hope someone reads it and enjoys it! I want to repeat this is SUPER SUBJECTIVE and it is MY OPINION, and hope nobody feels offended! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/culture-and-style#post-356237 Thu, 26 May 2011 15:28:42 +0000 Aunty 356237@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Oh yes, when I first found this site I was bowled over by the colours. I had never seen colour blocking as such where I live in the UK. Also I had never heard of clams!!<br /> Lol I am now much better educated. It is hard though when I see something gorgeous on the forum but it can not be found over here </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/culture-and-style#post-356234 Thu, 26 May 2011 15:24:59 +0000 rae 356234@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I remember seeing a lot more color, layering, and experimentation when I visited Japan, too. Color seemed very cool there and then! I think it's also about how the color is used - for example, navy whith plum might be "cooler" than periwinkle with magenta -- and greenglove and annagybe stand out as gals who use color in very cool/edgy/artsy ways. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/culture-and-style#post-356232 Thu, 26 May 2011 15:22:51 +0000 Angie 356232@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>*chuckle*</p> <p>Di, this is interesting!</p> <p>In the Netherlands, blokes wear colour. It is not uncommon to see them (all ages) wearing red, coral, orange, yellow, pink and purple. It's not a fashionable thing, it's a cultural thing. My Dutch cousins, brother and Papa - who are conservative dressers - all wear colour without batting an eyelid. They think it completely normal. </p> <p>In some Asian cultures - colour reigns supreme. For the men too. </p> <p>In African cultures - colourful clothing is extremely important. </p> <p>In stylish cities like NYC, Paris, Milan, Taiwan, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Zurich and London, neutrals seem more popular than colour - from my own street wear experiences, anyway. I am usually one of the few wearing colour. I am very Dutch </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/culture-and-style#post-356220 Thu, 26 May 2011 15:04:28 +0000 Mo 356220@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Yep, I go through this within my own closet every time I move from mountains to beach and back. Also CA style is different than FL style. For instance, I don't think I've seen an Ugg boot in the year I've been here in FL. Possibly, retirees who like to fish aren't the target market for Uggs LOL. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/culture-and-style#post-356191 Thu, 26 May 2011 14:30:43 +0000 modgrl 356191@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I think you only notice this if you go away somewhere. I went to Charlottesville in March and noticed that all the college kids were wearing Frye cowboy boots, not Melissa's, Rory's or engineer boots, but real embellished cowboy boots. I fell in love with them and pulled out my vintage cowboy boots as soon as I got back from my trip. You never see them around here. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/culture-and-style#post-356188 Thu, 26 May 2011 14:21:48 +0000 yankeebelle 356188@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I lived in the south for the first 22 years of my life--first out in the boondocks where fashion is not priority (thankfully that was my young childhood) and then in the suburbs of Atanta where the southern belle/country style is big. Then I moved to a Philly suburb at the age of 22 and started my career, and I have been here the past 10 years. I remember when I first got here thinking what a difference there was in fashion! Definitely a cultural thing. I feel like I dress for the south when I go home to visit! Much more color, more preppy, much bigger jewelry, and lots of monogrammed accessories. (and the style for kids is MUCH different). </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/culture-and-style#post-356170 Thu, 26 May 2011 14:06:11 +0000 Di 356170@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>This morning, I'm thinking a lot about how our culture affects our style. Elisabeth and Airin got me thinking about it, so thank you, ladies!</p> <p>Elisabeth talked about neutrals being cool, and I thought about the idea that everyone in NYC wears black. NYC is a great argument for her idea. But a friend of mine has spent years in Madrid and Miami, and color is preferred there. </p> <p>Airin talked about curvy women wearing short shorts, and here in the Mid-Atlantic US, that's probably a not fashionable. But I've lived in places where my pasty white sticks were definitely NOT considered short-short material. JLo had a short-short body, not me.</p> <p>I love that YLFers live all over the world-- yesterday someone mentioned winter clothes, and I realized they were in the southern hemisphere. I wonder how that influences our fashion choices?</p> <p>Especially if you've lived in different cultures, I'd love to hear your perceptions about how culture and location change what's stylish. </p>