Fashion

Here is what I hope is a welcome break from my soap box posts regarding the current administration.

When I would visit here before we moved here, my experience of the people was limited to the suburban mall 'Promenade St Bruno' and the downtown strip on Ste Catherine. St Bruno tends to be not very different from Woodfield mall in Chicago. But the people on Ste Catherine (teenagers I later realized) always had a very forward looking and European sense of style.

After moving here, seeing the people in the Mont Royal distict that was comparable to the yuppie enclave of Lincoln Park/Lakeview where we recently lived, I started to think they had a more conscious sense of style. It seemed almost like it people paid attention to get dressed up. Collared shirts on the guys, the tops that women wear are fitted. T-shirts are not as prevelant, but they seem to be stylized or be more personal. Not free advertising for a beer company. Oversized sweaters and clothing is rare to see. Sports jerseys are also much less common.

Recently, I have come to a conclusion, which may change. I don't think that people pay more attention to fashion. I think both the fashion is different and it is more of a standard to dress a certain way. For instance, I guy here would wear a certain shirt to work, that someone back home would only wear in a night club. What I am trying to suggest is that it is not that people actively say, I am going to or must dress up. It is that the standard is different. It's an accepted part of society as far as I can tell.

During our trip to Chicago the upcoming weeks, I hope to verify some of my observations, the differences, or recollections of the way things are back home. I plan to keep posting, but it is possible that they may stop while we are there.