European wardrobe vs American wardrobe

[Geek2]

I've been thinking about lately how different my wardrobe looked when I lived in Finland vs now that I'm living here in the US. It seems to me that in Europe women build their wardrobe from few key pieces and then they rotate the clothes through out the week. Even business outfits. (I worked in an office in Finland before I moved over here.) Women will typically have like 3 pairs of pants, couple of skirts and then maybe 5 shirts and perhaps 2 business suits. A few very well made pairs of shoes that are expensive but last many years. You only have sales in the stores twice a year so you know that when it's a sale time it really is a sale time. Here in the US I found that if you get caught wearing the same outfit during the week (I mean like the same pants with a different top) people give you the looks. At least this is how I found it to be in all the office environments I've worked in. I've had several colleagues who never wore the same outfit again after I saw them wear it once and they would tell me that they go shopping for clothes every other weekend and sometimes every weekend. When I first moved over I didn't really pay attention to this but now after 8 years of living here I've been starting to compare the lifestyle here and Europe. It's very interesting. What do you ladies think about this? Since we have users all over the world I would love to hear how your wardrobe looks like (do you have closets and closets full of clothes some of them totally untouched and you don't even remember what you have or do you use all your clothes in the closet all the time?) and how frequently do you shop for new clothes, shoes etc?

 

[Liz]

yeah. it sucks. people are always focused on stuff like that. it's horrible. it's bad for the wallet! high school is harsh in the US. i would hate to live in cities where you had to stay up with the Jones's

 

[QurlySq]

Speaking strictly of me, I'm a confirmed shopaholic... Every few months I'm going through my clothes and shoes so I can weed out the ones I don't wear and donate them to whatever charity is closest... I'm only one person and I can't live in anything less than a two bedroom apartment because of all of my stuff (clothes, shoes, and other things)... I think that over here, it's just all about excess in general.... I have so many clothes and shoes that I'll wear something and maybe not wear it again for 6 months or so, and then people swear that it's brand new because they don't remember seeing it...

 

[Leony]

I'm not sure in Japan, but I think most people in Japan doesn't really care whether you wearing the same outfit every other day during the week or not. But, they do care for the style and brand. What I learned after I living 5 years in Japan is that if you are wearing some brand stuff, people will think differently about you or worse they'll sometimes treat you different from people who don't wear brand stuff.

Well, the bottom line is "They will treat you nice if you treat yourself nicely first."

I dislike that, and it was giving my husband a hard time to explain that to me, because I don't wear brand outfit that much and I've never really intend to buy any brand outfit/stuff. It was always he (my husband) who bought or picked it up for me

As for the outfits, I do have some clothes that I forgot and it's totally untouched. That is why I'm planning to decluttering my wardrobe soon.

I buy clothes only when I think I need a new one or if I stumbled up on the prettiest outfit in stores.

 

[MARIAN]

i think the euro wardrobe is the way to go. americians are so fashion victims.

 

[girl_geek]

Interesting, I've never noticed that! I, like many college students I know, only have a few pairs of jeans often wear the same pants twice a week. It does seem like a lot of girls try to wear different shirts though; if I wear a shirt two weeks in a row, I make sure to do something like wear it on a Monday one week and a Tuesday the next, so the same people won't see me in the same shirt, lol. (During the semester I don't have any classes that meet 5 days a week.) I hope that won't be a big problem after I graduate -- I only have 3 or 4 pairs of dress pants that currently fit me, and not many work-appropriate shirts either. I've been trying to build up my professional wardrobe the last year but it's very hard because I don't have a lot of money and it's very hard for me to find clothes that fit .... so if my coworkers don't like my small rotation of clothes, they can just get over it

What cracks me up is that my husband wears the same thing every week. He only has 5 or 6 work-appropriate outfits but what's crazy is he wears the same thing every day of the week -- like every Monday he wears his red shirt and black pants, every Friday it's his dark blue shirt and khakis, etc.... (And don't tell him I said so, but he often matches his underwear to his shirt, lol, it's always red underwear on Monday...) He works in a bank where most of the other employees are women and I'm sure they've noticed, I wonder what they think about him.

He also has 2 favorite golf shirts he wears to church, and if I don't tell him to wear something else he ALWAYS wears one of those 2 shirts .... he went about 6 weeks where all he wore to church were those two shirts, the other people in the church were probably wondering if he only owned two shirts, lol

Are all guys like this? My ex always tried to wear the same shirt to church each week too! lol

 

[Laura]

Originally Posted by Reija(admin) Here in the US I found that if you get caught wearing the same outfit during the week (I mean like the same pants with a different top) people give you the looks People in the US would think i'm a freak so coz i have about 4 or 5 pairs of combats/jeans that i LIVE in during the winter. We're allowed wear casual clothes to work so its cool. I have lots of different tops though, from cardigans to fitter jumpers to v-neck short sleeved tops..
Its so funny though coz you always know who's american in Ireland coz the guys ALWAYS are wearing shorts! I've yet to meet an american in Ireland that has worn long trousers *giggles*

 

[girl_geek]

Originally Posted by Laura People in the US would think i'm a freak so coz i have about 4 or 5 pairs of combats/jeans that i LIVE in during the winter. We're allowed wear casual clothes to work so its cool. I have lots of different tops though, from cardigans to fitter jumpers to v-neck short sleeved tops..
Its so funny though coz you always know who's american in Ireland coz the guys ALWAYS are wearing shorts! I've yet to meet an american in Ireland that has worn long trousers *giggles*

lol, I have known guys that wear shorts when there's two feet of snow outside .... I think they're insane though!

 

[suzukigrrl]

I really admire the wardrobe styles of people in other countries! I have a few plain pairs of pants, skirts, and shirts that are very versatile and can be mixed and matched. I also prefer to have just a few pairs expensive shoes that will last forever. I do have some fabulous accessories, jewelry, socks, and stockings so my wardrobe isn't all boring. And of course I have fabulous makeup too! I can't afford to shop very often, and I really only buy new clothes when I've worn out something. I prefer to shop at flea markets, thrift shops and second-hand stores because it breaks my heart to see so much good stuff go to waste. It drives me crazy to see people with an enormous wardrobe that just goes to waste because they don't want to wear the same thing more than once or twice.

 

[Leta112]

I LOVEE Europeaon fashions...When I was in Croatia, I fell in love with how you can wear ANYTHING and people wont talk about what you wear. Their fashions are so calm and cool. Then when I came to America, I was like...wow! They are really like not similar. Here, in my opinion, the fashion is show a lot of skin and look skimpy, but in Europe, the fashion is wear whatever, you can rock anything over there!

 

[pretty_pink13]

Yeah I definatley think that you can wear just about anything in Europe, London especially. Since I do have a european backround (1st generation American) they do generally have a small collection. IMO,It depends where you go I think, because every country is different and has their own fashion and obsessions, I do think Italy, has an extreme big fashion sense and they really like to look good, my cousin lives there (in Rome) and I visit her every year. When I went there the first time, my cousin informed me that all the fashion comes out first in Italy and then it reaches NYC, where I used to live. I also have traveled to London, my other cousin lives there and its kinda like whatever goes, there really is no trend because they are the trend and they wear what they like. I think Americans have a sense of that shopaholic syndrome where they just shop and do it in habit or to make them feel better. I do though have that problem and love shopping and I feel like I never have enough!

 

[Lealabell]

I think here in Europe we're more about quality than quantity, particularly for work. Most people tend to buy some kind of capsule wardrobe for work with a few key pieces that work together, because we don't buy so much we tend to go for better quality. I think we tend to focus far more on accessories as well and use those to update our look rather than clothes. However, I think we buy cheaper clothes for going out and casual wear so that we look a bit more current.

 

[Sofia]

I am definitely a person who would not be able to live in a one bedroom apartment. We are 3 people and we have four bedrooms in this house and I take up 2 bedrooms and 3 walk-ins, not including what we have at the apartment. Horrible I know, but I just like changing my outfits frequently. By outfits I mean, I own lots of jeans, tops, skirts, dresses, then that's not including lounge wear, gym wear, winter wear, etc. If we get into shoes and bag, ughhh. I have a small department store worth of clothing and accessories and I'm so anal that everything has to be in order or I'll just forget I have it and then go buy it again. It's happened before.

As we speak I have a huge trash bag sitting on my office floor with clothing that is going to be donated. I try to do so every few months, because I just don't know where I'd be if I didn't.

 

[Mirtilla]

Originally Posted by Lealabell I think here in Europe we're more about quality than quantity, particularly for work. Most people tend to buy some kind of capsule wardrobe for work with a few key pieces that work together, because we don't buy so much we tend to go for better quality. I think we tend to focus far more on accessories as well and use those to update our look rather than clothes. However, I think we buy cheaper clothes for going out and casual wear so that we look a bit more current. So true, totally agree with you.

 

[Lealabell]

I think in Europe we're more interested in how we look in what we are wearinf as opposed to how many times people have seen us wear it.

 

[jessica9]

it isn't that americans care more about how many times you wear an outfit than how they look in the clothes. it is just some way we were raised - i don't know why exactly. i think americans tend to look at wearing an outfit twice in a week as a reflection of one's economic situation. and it may also be tied up in hygene and general cleanliness.

i remember when my boyfriend and i first started going out, i made sure to wear a different outfit he had never seen before for almost half a year! i don't know why! sort of ridiculous now looking back...it sure isn't easy to do! it's a way of showing a person different expressions of yourself i think.

i don't think european fashion is more current than american fashion - it is just different. current is sort of a relative term. if you go to any big city, you are going to see more people who care more about fashion and take a more individualistic take to it. europeans definately seem to have more confidence expressing their style though. americans sort of stick to the "classic" look. i WISH we had sales like they have in europe!

p.s.) note to florentines: genie pants are NOT cool!!

 

[nydoll23]

I have alot of clothes but i dont do it for fashion sake,i do it cause i like to dress up and have options.I buy new stuff once a week, sometimes every two weeks. I never wear the same out fits going out though,like for a party or dancing,etc.