Perhaps this post might see me expelled from this forum! It is though meant as an objective personal view so please accept it as that!

Having been in the US then Europe, then Aus in fairly quick succession again, I can't help but notice the relative street fashions. Again the Aussies come last... Sorry but the impression I formed last time in Aus was re-enforced again on this trip. We can all debate what is meant by fashion but my pitch here is not how well each city/country keeps up with fashion (no one should!), nor what labels are on show. No it is about just how good people look when out on the town. What follows is a crass generalisation so please dont think I am tarring all people with the same brush!

Generally though, the French come top in my estimation, followed by the Italians, with Americans lower down and Australians pretty low. There seems to be a tendency in Aus to dress up in the evening and while this concept is fine, it seems to be confused with over dressing/dressing inappropriately. Fashion is also not just what one wears but how one wears it. Seeing gaggles of girls with short dresses but not the legs to match, running down the road shouting, is ahem.. Seeing also long dresses and attire fit for the opera, wandering down the road and into a wine bar, just looks really odd! The contrast between the Australian girl on a night out and a Japanese/Asian one, is high. During the day and night, the later generally just look really smart and elegant. The contrast was stark after flying out of aus and staying a few nights in Thailand, where simple elegance and fashion abounded. There are parts of the UK that also are similar with the inappropriate dressing so it isnt confined to Aus!

Maybe the problem is that people will go with the norm, so if a simple strappy top, well fitting jeans and small heels, or simple elegant short dress and no bra is the norm in some places, so others will follow. If squeezing into a too tight dress, having 3 layers of straps over the shoulders and tottering around on high heels in the norm, then well maybe they think thats good!

My advice would be:

Really know your body. If you need to, slim. Aussies are not the slimmest- sorry, just an observation..
Dont take friends advice on how your body looks or what you look good in
If in doubt, dress down not up
Dont wear really short dresses/skirts unless you have slender thighs
Dont wear long elegant dresses to the pub/wine bar
Dont wear high heels unless you can walk properly in them
Learn how to walk with grace
Dont wear a bra and a multiple tops and end up with a thousand straps. If you can, just burn the bra.
Dont wear high thongs- delicate small panties.
Think elegance, no matter what you are wearing and act with that in mind.
Make up and jewellery needs to be subtle and appropriate
Simplicity, clean lines, good fits, all add to someone looking good.
Spare the top look, for when it is appropriate.

Ok now shoot me....

Alicia
xx

Post Last Updated:15.03.2008 at 13.00

Ok, get out, you're expelled! :P

No just kidding. Firstly, I agree that a lot of the faux pas mentioned happen way too much here in Australia. Inappropriate dressing and not dressing for one's figure (or simply not bothering to put in any effort at all) are all very common failings. That said it is not without it's stylish people.

Secondly, where abouts in Australia did you get to? Dress styles vary hugely between states and cities - it also depends on which part of a city you go to etc.

i agree :) i think the issue is that they actually dont care :D

Post by Tania

Ok, get out, you're expelled! :P

Damn I was going to say that!

No expulsion!-you are too kind:)

Tania's point is so true in any country. Within different groups in society, within, different parts of a city, within different cities and regions, there are differences in how people approach "fashion". The differences though are less across these segments in some countries such as France and are wide in places like the States and Aus. This trip involved Melb and the Daintree/Reef then road trip hol for two of us girls driving from Port Douglas to Bris:) Why have a Louis Vuitton in Cairns? Seemed so out of place in that lovely town where one simply wants to walk in the wet warm rain in a T or lounge in the lagoon in a swimsuit.



Fashion in Melbs is very variable it seems while down the north QLD coast, largely backpacker fashion, was fine during the day but again some amazing sights in the evenings, reminiscent of UK Newcastle in its past, (and now lol). Port Douglas had the wealthy element showing how they could (or could not) dress, while Melb for sure has some pockets of really smart and beautifully dressed people. Again though overdressing spilled out in some segments and the really bad on the streets was again evident. Previous visits to Sydney and Bris would make me rank the cities (very crudely) as Melb the best for fashion sense followed by Sydney, followed by Bris.

We love Australia's nature:)



Alicia
xx

I've got to say I notice this too!

I've noticed people wearing clothes too small; I don't think people realise that even if you're a beautiful size small, attempting to squeeze into an extra-small is not attractive, nor is a size extra-large trying to fit into a large, etc. People don't dres for their size a lot of the time simply because they're in a bit of denial.

I can't stand the wearing of clothes not for your size.

I think people need to see these gorgeous, fashionable place in the flesh to be able to get the message across.

Just as a note, I would like to think I dress rather well ;)

Courtenay xoxox.

Oh, and I've got to add, at my formal last year - which was actually a formal-formal - there were girls wearing "dresses" which were extremely short and some resembled oversized t-shirts! I mean come on! We don't get that many chances to dress up like that and they didn't take advantage of it!

Gah!

Okay, I'm done now.

Courtenay xoxox.

possibly its culturally related. I think the average aussie are so laid back that its easier for them to mimic something thats in trend, even though a bad one, rather than putting the effort into what really works for them and what doesnt. Oddly its quite opposite with asian culture. Their lives are so conformative in terms of work, education and famil expectations that there is a stronger sub culture to be different. Thats why their street fashion is so abundantly interesting but ironically they all want to be rich and successful and love their high end designer gear hence the great mix of both. I think they are more ready to part $$$ for a pair of dior homme jeans then aussies would. They'd probably go wtf, theyre just jeans and I could get something that looks similar down the road for a quarter of the price. We mustn't forget that there are some switched on people like ourselves....just not enough..ha

when I was in italy I noticed that everyone took alot of pride in their appearance which probably explains why they looked good day and night.

check out the links in "intreseting websites" thread. they have street picks from all over the world that gives a good visual explanation of all of this.