Fashion sense!

So I’m heading into week 12 and I’m starting to feel quite comfortable here. I have lost all sense of personal space (so I apologise in advance when I come back to the UK and I am wildly inappropriate with you), I feel no need to apologise when I bump into people on the street, and I caught myself walking and texting the other day – so I fit right in.

Where I don’t fit in is my dress sense. I’ve alluded to this a few times but it warranted a full post and there were other things to talk about before now.

Now I’m not saying I am a sartorial genius by any stretch of the imagination. I’m more Primark than Prada. I’m at my happiest in jeans, flip flops and a vest top. I don’t do dresses. The only thing dress-wise I really care about are my accessories and my shoes. And yet I think I am aware what is appropriate for an office environment and what isn’t.

Let’s do a little quiz. I will list a number of outfits I’ve seen women in my office building wear and you can guess if I’m making them up or not:

1.       A bright red, short, bodycon strapless bandage dress with no tights and sliver glittery strappy high heels

2.       Cut off jean shorts, a t-shirt with a dog on it, and Crocs

3.       White skinny jeans with black ‘check’ lines all over them, paired with a white t-shirt with sunflowers and the words ‘fuck off’ printed on it and jelly platform shoes

4.       A blue strapless sheer ‘mullet dress’ that is super short at the front and see through at the back with socks and heels

5.       Beige silk ‘parachute’ pants with a khaki denim shirt and spiky sliver heels

6.       Black short skirt, pink ankle socks with a frilly trim, yellow peep toe high-heeled shoes with butterflies on them, and a red vest top.

7.       Lime green satin hotpants

Of course the answer is I have seen all of them. My personal favourite was number 3. I have also seen on my travels:

1.       Teenage girls wearing hipster glasses with no glass in them, just the frames

2.       Neon pink platform trainers (move over Baby Spice)

3.       Unbelievably strange slogan t-shirts like ‘did’ht’, ‘what life feels’, ‘live to live’ etc. Think something is getting lost in translation

4.       Men in crocs. Everywhere.

5.       Sheer pop socks. On every woman. Usually worn with bare legs, a short skirt and heels

6.       Men rolling up their shirt when it’s hot to show off their bellies. No I’m not joking.

On the plus side, it makes people watching very interesting as I am constantly gobsmacked by what people are wearing. My commute is like one long catwalk show. I kind of like the fact there seems to be no trends, no fashion to follow, everyone just wears what the hell they want. On the other side, it makes my eyes bleed.

Can’t wait for the winter weather to see what that brings – if I don’t see someone rocking a (faux) furry Russian Cossack-style hat with a mini-dress and sandals I’m going to be really disappointed.