Fashion

To talk about the fashion, I first have to talk a little about the Sydney culture. As I mentioned before the city of Sydney is very diverse in its ethnicities, its food, and of course the customs. It being the perfect melting pot of the old English traditions, American pop culture, Eastern Asian immigration influence as well as other parts of Europe being a heavy influence on the culture here. While the indigenous influence isn’t as heavy here in the city, I know that in other areas of Australia, their influence adds to the diversity as well. This has a heavy impact on the fashion. Different communities have different tastes. For example, the Asian community wears a lot more neon and tend to have longer skirts. However for most of this, I am going to focus on a majority of the people that I have seen; however, just be aware that there are variations within different communities.

During the week, a lot of people dress in business clothes as we are in a city, but their business attire is very different than ours. The American business wardrobe is based on black, where it seems that the wardrobe is based in pastels and jewel tones.

More Pastels and cream colors than in the states. The shorts also are a lot less tight

The clothing isn’t as tight here in Australia. Many business women wear flowing skirts instead of tight business suit skirts. You are more likely to see heels here than in Arizona but compared to other big business cities, like New York, the dress is a lot more casual here. You are more likely to see sandals here than in New York.

For men, you see a lot more navy and browns in their outfits. Instead of black dress shoes, you will see them wear brown shoes. Other than that, a lot of the other business dress code is the same.

On the weekend you will see more beach attire, the usual sundress, flip flops (they call them thongs), and shorts. However, even their beach attire and weekend clothes are more dressed up than us. Jeans are common but never with tears and you almost never see people in yoga pants like in the states. Dresses are more common here and while there is still the occasional short short, on average the hems are longer, the tops and dresses are more modest. The high boots that are essential in Flagstaff, are practically nonexistent. Instead, ankle boots and sandals are typical.

This is the kind of outfit that you would wear on the weekend.

The American influence is still very heavy here. American TV shows can be seen on the T-shirts of a lot of the younger guys. Little Kids still fashion American logos like Nickelodeon or Disney. And some of the younger boys can even be seen wearing American football jerseys. Even in the adults, you see American pop culture plastered on their T-shirts.

The fashion is different here, but it is also a really welcome change for me. I like being able to wear longer skirts, to wear higher necklines and be part of the trend instead of going against it. It is a welcome change that I think will be seen in my wardrobe when I get back to the states.