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Clothes and Nationality

Walter

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How come certain nationalities can pull off certain looks whereas others cant. When I go to Italy I try to take home certain things I see and it just does not work. I could pass for Italian in terms of general looks but being Belgian it just seems right when I wear a mix of English-French looks (if that makes any sense-I mean basically French with some British stuff thrown into it.) Have you experienced the same thing? I cant seem to make sense of it. I can understand that certain types of build, skin tone etc look better on some people but a tall blond-haired guy from Milan will look cool with the Italian look (ultra high shirtband, light brown shoes, whereas a Dutchman will just look customey with it). Strange, is it not? (no pornography here it is just that I want people to read this topic
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johnw86

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(no pornography here it is just that I want people to read this topic Â
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Why, of all the cheap tricks.
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I can't wear Italian styled clothing--my German ethnicity (and body type) just can't make it work.
 

Cliff

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(no pornography here it is just that I want people to read this topic Â
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Well, if there's no porno....I'm going home. Â Â
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Seriously though, perhaps it has something to do with your comfort zone. Â How comfortable do you feel when trying to expand your look. Â If you feel awkward, then perhaps you feel as though you're not pulling off the look??
 

Alias

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Being a Korean in Seoul, I can wear lots of cool things that you thought would only belong on the pages of a fashion mag. We're not as crazy as maybe the guys in Japan who get showcased in Fruits, but we do get a lot of leeway in terms of fit and color.
 

Fabienne

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Although I have my basic look which consists, at work, in a basic "more elegant than most" look (skirts, dresses, high heels, etc), I don't shy away from wearing a shalwar Kamise, a long provencal skirt, or "streetwear". As I am the only French person most people know at work, they assume that is how all French people dress. I think I sometimes amuse them.
 

briancl

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i think by nationality you refer specifically to the country in which you live and therefore the culture that influences you. people in italy are comfortable with their choices not only because of their body type, but also they dress like the other italians they see every day. does that make sense?

anecdotaly, i really enjoy many italian cuts and designers even though i am 100% born and bred in the states. i do have a measly 25% italian blood, but i don't think that has much effect on my likes or dislikes.. especially because the german and english in me shows most prominently.. blond hair, blue eyes, fair skin, need i say more?

another small anecdote is my girlfriend went to school in london and has a very obvious english twist to her style and wardrobe.
 

Etruscan

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I'm an American of mostly English origin (one quarter Austrian), with fair hair and skin and blue eyes. Hence I might be expected to favor a British sartorial aesthetic, yet most of my wardrobe (two-thirds to three-quarters) is Italian. I don't think there is any apparent incongruity about that; it's just what I favor. One's ethnicity need not be one's sartorial destiny.
 

ernest

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How come certain nationalities can pull off certain looks whereas others cant. When I go to Italy I try to take home certain things I see and it just does not work. I could pass for Italian in terms of general looks but being Belgian it just seems right when I wear a mix of English-French looks (if that makes any sense-I mean basically French with some British stuff thrown into it.) Have you experienced the same thing? I cant seem to make sense of it. I can understand that certain types of build, skin tone etc look better on some people but a tall blond-haired guy from Milan will look cool with the Italian look (ultra high shirtband, light brown shoes, whereas a Dutchman will just look customey with it). Strange, is it not? (no pornography here it is just that I want people to read this topic Â
tounge.gif
)
I guess nowadays social group is much more important than the counrty. All people in the same group dress more or less in the same style all around word (rich countries) Doesn Charles dress in the same way as Juan Carlos ? Doesn't a worker from France dress the same way as a worker from Austria (track suits, jeans and sneakers) ? Doesn't a CEO in the US dress the same as a CEO in Japan or Italy (bespoke grey suit, white shirt, red tie, cufflinks and black oxfords) ?
 

ernest

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but being Belgian it just seems right when I wear a mix of English-French looks (if that makes any sense-I mean basically French with some British stuff thrown into it.)
You should wear Belgian style if style is connected to nationality.
 

markb

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Originally Posted by Walter,May 20 2005,11:33
but being Belgian it just seems right when I wear a mix of English-French looks (if that makes any sense-I mean basically French with some British stuff thrown into it.)
You should wear Belgian style if style is connected to nationality.
You don't mean like Hercule Poirot?
 

Bradford

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I guess nowadays social group is much more important than the counrty. All people in the same group dress more or less in the same style all around word (rich countries)
I think Ernest makes an excellent point here.

The style of clothing you choose is determined more by your socio-economic status than by your nationality. I actually have an entire book that discusses this phenomenon, "Cult Heroes" by Deyan Sudjic, pub. 1989. It's out of print now, but that's the point it makes, that people in all different parts of the world respond to the same advertising and images and draw their clothing styles from these elements.
 

globetrotter

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I am not sure that ernest is right, here. there are very subtle diffrences between people from differnt nationalities in the same socioeconomic level (a french and a german and a japonese CEO really don't dress exactly alike and niether do an american, british and greek worker). but if you go farther than that, remember that more than half the world population are represented by arabs, indians, africans and chinese - and there wardrobe is very different from Europeans, Americans, Latin Americans and Japanese
 

ernest

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(ernest @ May 20 2005,08:59) I guess nowadays social group is much more important than the counrty. All people in the same group dress more or less in the same style all around word (rich countries)
I think Ernest makes an excellent point here. The style of clothing you choose is determined more by your socio-economic status than by your nationality. I actually have an entire book that discusses this phenomenon, "Cult Heroes" by Deyan Sudjic, pub. 1989. It's out of print now, but that's the point it makes, that people in all different parts of the world respond to the same advertising and images and draw their clothing styles from these elements.
100 years ago, the place you live may have been important but today you can buy all you want in most of big cities (in Paris I can buy English shirts, Spanish shoes, US track suits, German sandales, Russian chapkas...) or on the internet (I wear a Seiko not available in Europe). Clothes like many other things are globilized.
 

ernest

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I actually have an entire book that discusses this phenomenon, "Cult Heroes" by Deyan Sudjic, pub. 1989.
The name of this guy i DEJAN.
 

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