No doubt in my mind that I would dress differently in SF than I do in Silicon Valley suburbs. I find it fascinating to visit the different towns in the area and see the differences in dress.

Great question, Rachylou, and interesting discussion. I'm only repeating what others have said about climate and sunlight -- that absolutely affects my style as I can see in changes from summer to winter here. It would be the same if I changed locations. I think my work/ social activities also influence my style to a degree. My work at home clothes overlap with but aren't the same as my city-visiting clothes. But the difference is a matter of degree, not of kind.

Definitely. Although I don't particularly dress to blend in, I am affected by what I see, what is available (also in the second hand shops), and lifestyle. And, of course, weather.

Yes and no. I think I have dressed within the same general spectrum in each city that I have lived but maybe change the variations a bit. So I moved from Seattle to San Francisco to Silicon Valley. In a Seattle I did jeans, boots, jackets with a more outdoorsy twist. In San Francisco I didn't need as many layers - still jeans, jackets, scarves. Nothing I didn't wear in Seattle just with less frequency. Likewise I still ocassionally did the more urban/REI look for days that required it. I now live in the burbs and see the difference in dress from town to town MsMaven mentioned. The climate is so much warmer here that I have really expanded my spring/summer wear. I work in San Francisco. I wear the same clothes just in a slightly different combination and not the super casual stuff. Granted my analysis is between three casual western slightly urban (but not to urban) areas.

So interesting. A lot of us are not so unmalleable.

I was just thinking there are no hipsters in Jamaica. I couldn't be a hipster there. Then I remembered one of my hipster co-workers, who married a Jamaican, went to live there. So there ARE hipsters in Jamaica. But I still don't think I'd be a hipster there. It's not even in the realm of imagination. Wouldn't make sense. Would be mind-boggling. Everything would cancel out. For example, a lot of people have chicken coops in my neighborhood here at home. There's a strange sense of make-believe and playing dress-up, even though the chickens and eggs are real. You stand there in your wellies in chicken muck and you get that sense of irony. But down there, I'd stand in my wellies in chicken muck in the middle of urban wonderland... and yet I really doubt I could squeeze a drop of irony out of the situation.

I have to wonder if my friend has had the hipster sucked out of her...

I'm definitely looking forward to getting an "LA" component to my style.

Apart from the dressing for the temperature aspect my style hasn't really changed with where I am, because when I have attempted to dress more like those around me (when abroad) I just feel silly, and not me, and perhaps even a big of a fraud, so now I just live with being obviously an outsider when I'm not at home.

Sarah

I've now lived in Tucson for almost 15 years....but am not working outside the home. My style has definitely been influenced by climate and the people around me, somewhat. I was a "suit" wearer in the midwest, but now only wear a suit like item occasionally. I almost live in casual dresses in the summer because it's so darn hot here. However, I have never adopted cowboy boots and flipflops, the shoe uniform of Tucson. It's just not me, and tho I might admire it (ok, not flipflops) on others, it currently doesn't fit my style, I tried to be much more casual for awhile right after I moved, but that felt wrong too. I dress up way more than most people do here, but I've finally figured out over the last 6 years, "I gotta be true to myself"..... Since I've only lived in the midwest and here, but I did change after I moved here, I do believe that I would change somewhat wherever I moved, But moderately.

"there are no hipsters in Jamaica"

Rachylou, you crack me up!

I agree with the others, and also that I am influenced by YLF to add certain things such as great belts and BF jeans to what is available where I live.

It's so true that different parts of the Bay Area have different ways of dressing. I guess we have microcultures as well as microclimates!

I've noticed that since I moved to Silicon Valley (from Oakland by way of LA) my clothes seem "off" somehow. Not sure how much of that is transitions in my life -- going from my late 20s to early 30s, underemployed/grad student to professional, etc. -- and how much is a change in local culture. It definitely seems like grungy/punk rock/DIY style is less acceptable here than in the East Bay.