Pink shirts seem to have a distinct polarisation effect. Most people from America seem to dislike them (although I must admit, I rather like men in light pink shirts, but I digress), whereas people from other countries think there’s nothing wrong with a man wearing pink.
So what other fashion areas are different across cultures? It’s been mentioned that American women seem to wear more make-up than (Swedish women? I think that was the country), and I know that many other countries feel we wear far too much purfume/deodorant. But what are other things that don’t seem all that unusual to one group, but another country/area thinks is rather odd?
As a young lad living in a large metropolitan area, my friends and I enjoyed picking out an individual’s nation of origin based on sock color. The exercise was comprised of observing, making a guess, and then discretely following in order to eavesdrop on the language being spoken. This resulted in the observation that citizens of Germany had a distinct preference for colored (preferably black, brown, or yellow) socks with tennis shoes or sandals while wearing shorts.
It was not until I moved to Germany that I discovered that I myself was immediately marked as an American due to my tennis shoes and white socks while wearing shorts.
Shoes. My favorite game is “Spot the Russians in the U.S.” Gray leather loafers, or woven beige ones worn with white socks, on men are a dead giveaway. So are sandals on men, usually closed-toe ones, with non-coordinating socks (like beige sandals with gray-and-red striped socks).
On women, the dead giveaway is a) hair that is a red shade not found in nature, especially on women who should have gray hair by their age, or b) women wearing waaaay too much Spandex with really big bustlines and impossibly high heels.
Don’t get me wrong; I love Russians (and it’s really just an accident of history that I wasn’t born in the FSU). Let’s just say that people who grew up in the FSU have a rather different fashion aesthetic.
living in france i could tell the brits (and there were a lot of them since i was right on the channel) - most especially the men, who wore a lot of tweed. i don’t think the french would be caught dead in tweed.
french people spot americans by round-toed shoes (the fashion over their is square toed) and they most certainly don’t wear sneakers unless they’re exercising (which they don’t seem to do much of yet are still thin. go figure).
jeans are starting to be a fashion over there, but only the really dark blue ones. you can spot americans by the lighter jeans and sweatshirt.
There are so many I don’t know where to begin. Most of them are so subtle they’re hard to describe.
Some South American women like to paint their toenails bright red but leave the moons unpainted.
French guys wear sweaters around their shoulders.
Dark colored socks (usually navy blue) with shorts usually means he’s British. The blinding white legs are the other giveaway.
You can always play the “Gay or Just European” game. No straight Amercian guy would wear a spandex shirt for example.
What do you mean “jeans are starting to be a fashion”? I haven’t been to France in a while, but I’ve always thought of Europeans as wearing jeans even more frequently than Americans.
WHAT aesthetic? In FSU, you could not pick and choose. There was a very limited choice of clothes offered. You just had to go with what was there. Well, prior to 1996 anyway. Then I moved out.
Sneakers worn by adults: American, or perhaps Canadian.
Sports jerseys worn by adults (of course, these usually tell the location as well): American or Commonwealth. National sports jerseys worn abroad: English hooligans or lower class Germans.
Yeah, but I’m talking about people who are now living in the U.S., in some cases for decades. Maybe they’re still confused by all the choices and have gone on aesthetic overload.
The non-white sock thing is amusing me. Why? Because in high school, I had a friend whose mother did not allow her to wear white socks. I asked her why and she kind of lowered her voice in a conspiratorial tone and whispered, “well, because only… lower class people wear white socks!”
Heh heh heh. This is a woman who spends every waking moment trying to appear richer or more polished to everyone around her. She probably read the preference for coloured socks in Europe to, “only rednecks would dare to wear white socks!”.
I don’t see where you specifically said that, actually, but if you’re saying it now, I’d be interested to hear you expound a little bit about it. Since Russia is full of amazing art, architecture, and music, much of which was produced by Russians, I am loudly wondering why it generally hasn’t carried over to the realm of fashion, IMHO.
Hehehe, dunno if its only Swedish or works for all of scandinavia, but you can spot those lads a mile off in their black socks and sandles. Very bizarre summer combo, shorts, black knee socks or sports socks, and sandles
jeans, tennis shoes, blazer and loud tie
= American, who is stuck in the mid-80’s
Nowadays, double brested suits or double brested blazers, AMERICAN as well. (maybe really old European businessmen, but not many)
People, please…
Also, for Canadians the short haircut, longer in the back (Mullet, as it has come to be known). This thing lasted in Canada far more than anywhere else, some exceptions for cultural sub-groups in the US should be pointed out as well (bikers, country music enthusiasts who like Billy Ray Cirus, for example).
Can’t speak for all of Europe, but this attitude is somewhat true in the Netherlands. Apart from when one wears sneakers, white socks are really only acceptable for boys under the age of 15, 16 here. A mature man wearing plain shoes and white socks is surely a sign of bad taste, and it is widely regarded as a sign of “lower class”, for lack of a better term.
Well, yeah, but I thought that’s how it was here, too, Coldfire. I’ve always thought that you wore white socks when you were wearing sneakers, or if you’re just wearing jeans and t-shirts and whatnot. But if you’re going to wear pants (not casual jeans stuff), then good lord! don’t wear white socks! For God’s sake, wear brown or black or navy or something. But my friend’s mom was saying that one should never, EVER wear white socks, even with tennis shoes while playing basketball in the gym.
I must admit, I twitch when I see someone wearing black slacks, black shoes, and white socks. 'Course, maybe it turns out that I’m a sock snob.
