Tuesday 19 January 2010

Swiss Love

Cyril and I booked our flights to Switzerland!! And we're leaving in three weeks from tomorrow!

Goodbye Olympics; Hello Alps! (Goodbye Money as well, but that's another issue)
I miss absolutely. Everything. About CH. The best part of it moved with me to Vancouver, but some of the great things are still missing.



(My own little piece of Suisse. Taken on Granville Island)


One thing I do not miss, however: losing the ability to dress myself.

(PLEASE NOTE that my Swiss friends living in CH are definitely a source of inspiration & that they love me whatever I wear - this is just an inner struggle. Trivial, but legitimate. Continue: )

Being of the thought that fashion and appearance is one of the ultimate forms of self-expression, I find this particularly troublesome. Every time I live in Europe (which has been for over two years, in total) my sense of personal style dissolves into nothing. I can't create outfits that speak to who I am or how I feel. I get so lost!

I think I've figured out why, though. In my experiences/observations, the majority of European people dress the same. That's not to say there aren't eccentrics or slummies in Europe, there are just less of them. There are less people who stray from the fashion norm in general. And because the overwhelming majority of people say the same thing with their clothes, I feel rather left out - I don't dress like them. Well I often feel out of place here as well, but in a different way.

There is definitely more fashion variety in Vancouver; I don't necessarily think I fit into most of these clothing cliques either, but variety makes me feel less awkward in my sartorial choices, even if I still stand out. Because other people stand out too.

And so I am stuck between fitting in and standing out - going even further to say that when all people fit in, it's hard to stand out. Not entirely because I feel awkward, but because who can I look to for inspiration and a break from the norm?



(Incuboy via Flickr)

So what do I do for 2.5 weeks of fashion banality? For this reason alone, luckily it will only be 2.5 weeks. I have never had a European stint anywhere near this short before, so hopefully I will be able to stand my ground, if awkwardly, and wear what I want. That, and I will pack accordingly. Somehow.

And, BLOGS. Blogs are likely my biggest & greatest sense of clothing inspiration - and I can still read them in CH.

I'm curious - does this happen to anybody else?

4 comments:

  1. I had a very similar experience when living abroad in Paris. The women were all beautiful and totally fashionable; except, they all wore the EXACT SAME outfit as eachother. It was really quite odd... Maybe I'm too America-centric, who knows! Annie.

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  2. I think you should let your freedom flag fly! Haha! You'll be on holiday...take it in, enjoy it and dress as pretty as you like ;)
    p.s. bring us back lots of pictures!

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  3. I hope, my crazy house with crazy poeple :) are been also inspiration for you. and you will see, my new home is crazy too. Erin, i feel like you and I recommend you, go straight your one way!
    And i found always, Berne is very open and poeble crative, when you compare with Kopenhagen, where everybody is dressed in sporting style and I always like a paradisebird. In Edinburh everybody dressed in black or dark blue and I also an exeption in my strong red/green clothes.
    So I enjoy me to see you again full from creative idees!
    Yes inded, you have the best swiss piece with you!

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