... the fact that you are a foreigner. what does the typical italian wear along the amalfi coast in the springtime? does anyone have advice on what NOT to wear (other than the obvious wool sweater...)?
i realize i will stand out as a "tourist" anyway, but thought i would ask members on this board for their opinions.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kim,
Decobabe is our fashion expert and will probably have some advice. This has been discussed on the boards - do a search - there were some interesting discussion. I wrote a short page about this for the web site (but never take fashion advice from me - I live in jeans and t-shirts): http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/faq/clothes.htm
The general consensus is to dress nicely - not sloppy. Nice leather walking shoes, pants not shorts. We usually wear a little dressier of clothes than we do here.
Yes, I was wondering this very same thing as well. Planning to be on The Amalfi Coast in October for a honeymoon, and while I feel it will be painfully obvious that we are tourists, this thought makes me uncomfortable. So I would like to somehow be as inconspicuous as possible.
Our wardrobes are almost entirely black jeans and black tee shirts, and I am shopping now for a few nicer pieces to mix in and dress us up. We are used to dining in pretty casual places, but while there we are planning on splurging on some nice dinners, so I am concerned with showing up at a restaurant looking too sloppy.
Any suggestions will be very helpful!
Posts: 1 | Location: N ew York, New York, USA | Registered: 26 July 2002
Thanks, Pauline, for those links to the postings about fashion. I will wear skirts instead of shorts to be cool. I like your thingie on wearing bras in Italy.
I'd like to buy some business/casual clothes in Italy. I'm sure Italy's casual clothes is Hawaii's business clothes since we're pretty lightweight in that area. Try wearing an Aloha shirt to your office in Italy, that'll raise an eyebrow, I bet.
Anyway, do they have fashion discount stores there? I know it sounds 'cheap' and 'knock-offish' but I was just wondering about that and also about regular department stores. I dare not enter the upper class 'Rodeo Drive' type of stores, that's for sure. I want to come home with a suitcase full of clothes.
Oh, Decobabe, where are you?
Cynde
Posts: 442 | Location: 12 time zones from Italy | Registered: 02 March 2002
quote:Originally posted by tp8dxr: other than the obvious wool sweater
Actually, a wool sweater in the spring may be just the right thing to wear!!! A gross generalization, but I usually can tell the difference between Italians and tourists because the Italians are dressed much more warmly. My sister, who's lived in Florence for 20 years, and now dresses like that, agrees. A few years ago, in early Dec., the temp in Florence was in the mid-70's; I was at the bus stop, wearing a cotton shirt and a sweater, sweating like a hostage, surrounded by women wearing fur coats, admonishing me for taking 2 or 3 layers (of the 17 or so she had on) of clothing off of my niece as she sat in her carriage. In the sun. My sister got a lot of negative feedback about the "new nanny" from the neighbors. Fortunately, I was able to keep my job
Black jeans will be fine, I'm sure, in lots of places.
Maureen
Posts: 4722 | Location: Boston or Florence | Registered: 07 July 2001
There is a new book in English about all the outlet shopping in Italy: Designer Bargains in Italy by Theodora van Meurs, Editoriale Shopping Italia, 2002 (6th edition). Purchase from web site www.scoprioccasioni.it. "This guide with over 1100 addresses of top name factory outlets in Italy will tell you where to find the best designer bargains. Save 20% to 70% on all your purchases and pay for your holiday." Well organized by region with driving directions and opening hours.
For what it's worth, I find the middle ground in Italy lacking. High end shops there are, cheap stuff in the markets there is, but chic and well-made middle ground is lacking compared to say, France. Good pants cost $400 and up, the matching skirt can be $800. I don't spend like that. Having spent my whole life in a fashion oriented industry, I've developed an eye and I have bought several things this summer at low-end shops that were not plasticky and not chintzy and I am happy with them. They were long linen skirts and matching linen sleeveless tops and when handwashed and hung up wet are wearable without ironing. They actually look great when ironed! I buy at least one size larger than an Italiana would buy, but then I'm old. Pants in particular are cut to be worn skin tight. People on travel newsgroups are currently talking about how to recognize locals....they are the ones that are not tourists! I am not speaking about this group, because I expect slow travelers aren't re-stuffing bags every other day, but this country is presently filled with people who are wearing what they wear when they play softball in the park or barbecue in their backyards. For some of these people it will be the only big trip they ever do. What are they thinking? I can only imagine they dashed into Walmart and stocked up on things they'd throw away as they got dirty. I saw the perfect American woman last summer. She was wearing a sleeveless, shaped dress of light denim, sandals and a straw hat. The hat gave her away. Yes, a tourist, but one who might be invited somewhere by any Italian she might run into. Compare her to the same woman in her fifties who is wearing sports-ready pants or shorts in the city with a jazzy knit T shirt. Also a tourist, but not a chance that any Italian will really want to know her. Italians are vain. My neighbor won't go with me to the farm store without wearing good shoes and coordinated skirt and top. She called my designer platform beige sneakers gym shoes! Under thirty is one group. They wear ridiculous shoes that you shouldn't. They wear white that won't travel well. They wear clothes so tight you'd be taken for a pro in the US. The love VPL and wear contrasting underwear so you can see it better. (This is NOT all Italians as you will see.) Over thirty are often very dull, middle-aged looking. Again, not a universal thing. Skirts are cooler than pants, dresses without waistbands are cooler yet. I think it is perfectly OK to look like a traveler or a tourist but that you'll have a better time if you don't dress in cities as if you are at Virginia Beach. I am working on a photo essay on street fashion. I decided to do it because no one believes the scene until they see it. Amalfi IS the beach, or at least the sea. Trousers and skirts are fine. Unprinted T shirts are fine. If it's hot they are showing bathing suits with tie on skirts and matching thin shirts (because it gets cold at night) even for dining out. My neighbor's daughter is dating a glamor boy and he arrived from the beach the other day wearing ankle length white thin cotton trousers with a boatnecked white cotton sweater and boat shoes...yummy! She was wearing (on a fat day she's a size 0) a silvery mini dress over a bikini that showed through and silver flipflops. Neither of them would wear this in even our small city.
Posts: 2751 | Location: Umbria | Registered: 13 September 2001
quote: I'd like to buy some business/casual clothes in Italy.
Cynde, I've been reading on AOL that bargains in the designer outlet stores around Florence aren't as good as they were just last year. Although it could have just been a bad time ... if you're familiar with outlet shopping, you know that on any given day, 'you takes your chances!'
In Italy I've found department stores such as Rinascente, Standa, and Coin to have decent selections of women's clothing. They carry some trendy things, but also nicely designed jackets, slacks, and blouses that don't cost hundreds of dollars. Between the dept. stores and small boutiques, I think you'll be able to add some interesting pieces to your wardrobe.
Colleen in California
Posts: 13914 | Location: On 'staycation' in The Beautiful San Francisco Bay Area | Registered: 06 August 2001
Yep, we've got designer outlet stores here and I go through the clothes and wonder, 'Who in the world would where a fur coat here in sunny Hawaii?' How can they possibly push that item here?? I don't get it. And the quality of the clothes aren't too great - fraying, seams come apart easy, etc. And to think that people buy these clothes at regular price. I have to look at the tag to see if the designer label is real.
But back to Italy. So if I go to Milan (is this the fashion capital of the world?) I would do okay on finding reasonably priced business attire? Do they have thrift shops there? I once went to one here, on a search for a Halloween outfit, and nestled between these awful looking battered suits I found this gorgeous blouse and skirt combo that was protected in one of those thin plastic bags (that kind like you get back from the drycleaners). I think the person died and her family donated her clothes. So on an impulse I bought it for $20.00 and drycleaned it. That was rare though.
And shoes.....I read that athletic shoes are a fashion faux paux. I WILL be bringing those shoes but I will also bring along my comfortable sandals and shopping around for sandals and shoes there.
Also, are hats fashionable there? I like wearing hats (to protect my face). I'll be going next April-May so I hope it's not too windy or rainy at that time.
Blah, blah, blah, I can go on forever.......now I feel like going shopping.
Cynde
Posts: 442 | Location: 12 time zones from Italy | Registered: 02 March 2002
A freind of ours stayed with us this year. She live in Los Angeles, but writes for a Texas newspaper. She wrote a good article on outlet shopping that you might enjoy. http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/living/travel/3617880.htm
I think I could spend an entire day just being in one of those warehouses. Do some Christmas shopping and all. Bring back some cool gifts for my mom. I can't wait!
Hey, so you all do shopping tours, eh?? Interesting. What do you charge? I'd really like to experience that. But I think I will want to go to Milan first (going from north to south) even though they say that the style is 'SO 5 minutes ago!' Then if you still provide tours I'd like to try that while I'm passing through your area for a few days. I have to check and see what kind of schedule I'll end up with before I commit. Egads, my credit card is going to melt from overuse.
Cynde
Posts: 442 | Location: 12 time zones from Italy | Registered: 02 March 2002
quote:Originally posted by decobabe: I saw the perfect American woman last summer. She was wearing a sleeveless, shaped dress of light denim, sandals and a straw hat. The hat gave her away. Yes, a tourist, but one who might be invited somewhere by any Italian she might run into. Compare her to the same woman in her fifties who is wearing sports-ready pants or shorts in the city with a jazzy knit T shirt. Also a tourist, but not a chance that any Italian will really want to know her. Italians are vain. My neighbor won't go with me to the farm store without wearing good shoes and coordinated skirt and top. She called my designer platform beige sneakers gym shoes!
This was a great essay. Thanks for posting it. And the above statements express perfectly why I am so careful about what I pack to take on my trips to Italy. I've had other American travelers jeer at me for being "concerned about what the Italians think of me." But the truth is, since my favorite hobby is collecting people, I don't want to give anyone a single reason to consider that I'm not someone they would want to get to know.
Judith writes wonderful articles about fashion - doesn't she? I am trying to convince her to write a sort of "column" for us - maybe one each season - about the current Italian fashions.
Cynde: Just had to respond. Grinned when I read your comment about Aloha shirts. We were in Italy in May and much to our surprise we saw Hawaiian shirts in windows of many clothing stores in Rome and Milan. Lots of the outside vendors were selling them too. We always buy soccer shirts for our great nephews and while going through the racks, there were the hibiscus, palm tree, etc. designs right next to the shirts we were looking for.
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