After
spending a lovely week in beautiful Italy I come back bearing gifts of
fashion trends and style tips for anyone planning to travel there in the near
future or simply wanting to learn more about other cultures. I spent half of
the week in Rome and half of the week in Venice so I definitely wouldn’t say that this applies to
all of Italy
or even all Italian college students but there were some trends that stood out
and seemed pretty universal.
One
such trend was that in Italy
they dressed more conservatively. This probably surprised me most since in my
mind Italy
is such a warm and touristy destination. Even in the 80 degree sun most of the
locals wore long pants, long sleeved shirts or even jackets. This made it easy
to spot the tourists, like myself, who couldn’t bear the idea of roasting in
layers. I did, however, always make sure to dress in longer shorts or dresses
and wear more conservative shirts to make up for the shorts. It was striking
how different this was from the US
where it is very common that a majority of people wear shorts during the
summer.
Nevertheless,
despite their conservative attitude, this didn’t stop the Italians from
dressing just as fashionable as the Parisians. As in Paris, everyone tries to look their best at
all times. Never once did I see anyone in a simple t-shirt or sweatpants.
However, unlike the UK,
their fashion is a lot more classically stylish and similar than compared to England where
everyone wants to dress differently.
This
mix of conservative attitude with fashionable dress really represented the mix
of old and new that you found in Italy,
especially Rome.
In Rome it was
common to round a packed modern city corner and be face-to-face with enormous
ancient ruins. This was the same way you would feel with the dress. While there
was definitely a standard of dress that seemed older, the fashion was as modern
and “now” as you’ll find in any city.
The
fashion in Venice
was a little different though definitely less formal. Because Venice is such a small and touristy city the
style was more casual and you saw more locals wearing shorts or other clothing
that the tourists might wear. They were also much more open to the idea of bold
fashion statements than those Italians in Rome.
Despite
the conflict of comfort versus fashion in these two cities, I extremely enjoyed
my time in Italy.
The people and their fashion added to the liveliness of the country as a whole
and made it more cultural somehow. If there is one place I would recommend that
everyone visit in their lives it would have to be Italy! Just remember to bring long
pants!
