Italian Couture

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!