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Yes, my co-workers from Europe and South America all dress very stylish even when casual. And my friends from Italy invest in very high quality clothing. The average man in Italy spends about 27% of his salary on clothing. When you get off a plane in LA you can always notice a difference right away, the women are extremely well groomed, nice hair, nails, clothing, the men are dressed nicely as well. Go to Seattle and everyone looks like they just woke up under a bridge in their REI and Old Navy apparel. Women wear bulky, baggy clothing, and everyone wears gray, black, or other dull, depressing and boring colors. I think people in Boston and Miami also tend to dress nicely, but in different styles. The people in the midwest tend to wear clothing that was stylish about 20 years ago. I find people in the south, in North Carolina and South Carolina dress very nicely. I love the look of docksiders and bow ties. These are all broad generalizations of course. But things I have observed personally and are just quick stereotypes.
I think it is also dependent on income, culture and demographics of an area. I have noticed this in many cities as well where one side of town people dress down and on other sides people look like they are from a magazine.
Good example of this is Buckhead Vs. Bankhead.
Even in the presence of so many corporate HQ's, ATL is still quite poor. Child poverty is a major issue .
Last edited by Adi from the Brunswicks; 01-21-2015 at 05:44 PM..
I don't quite understand why this is a difficult question. People can generalize all they want, but "well-dressed" doesn't traditionally mean jeans and a t-shirt, or most casual wear, even if it's "typical attire" for their area. The traditional idea is what Americans wore in the early 1960s and beforehand. Men wore a suit and tie; women wore a dress or skirt and blouse; perhaps even a pantsuit. People wore formal attire to a live theatre, music hall, upscale restaurants, weddings, etc. Jeans were for kids to play in or laboring/etc. around the house, ranch or farm, garage, etc. Nowadays people will call that "prudish" and "uptight," etc. but THAT was "well-dressed." The fact that people can't recognize the traditional concept of being "well-dressed" is somewhat sad. Clothes generally fit well and complimented/flattered the wearer. (For what it's worth, I write this as someone who owns several pairs of jeans.)
Americans generally dress for comfort and personal pleasure; not necessarily to be traditionally well-dressed, but "good enough for their surroundings". It not a priority to be concerned about what anyone else would think.
Every American city will have some sloppy dressers, but certain cities will still have enough people who tend to dress well. Here are a series of opinions: https://www.google.com/#q=best+dressed+cities+us
Even Europeans are less formal than years past, but still generally dress better.
The best dressed city in the US is New York City. Generally the bigger the city, and the more affluent the area, the more well dressed people you will see.
I hear in Europe that people in U.S.A. dress bad. Is that true or not? I cannot know if it is true or not 'cause I never was in U.S.A.
To generalize about a country a huge as the USA like you are doing sounds very ignorant. Clearly you don't have a clue about the US, if you feel you can think we are all alike here. Really a monodic topic. Learn about the countless cultures in the US first and then maybe you would understand people wear all kinds of different clothiers over here. Good luck. I think you will need it.
To generalize about a country a huge as the USA like you are doing sounds very ignorant. Clearly you don't have a clue about the US, if you feel you can think we are all alike here. Really a monodic topic. Learn about the countless cultures in the US first and then maybe you would understand people wear all kinds of different clothiers over here. Good luck. I think you will need it.
Let's be fair here. Most people generalize countries/regions regardless of where they're from. Americans may generalize East Asians as being Chinese, or Africans as poor, etc., even when it may not the case.
Let's be fair here. Most people generalize countries/regions regardless of where they're from. Americans may generalize East Asians as being Chinese, or Africans as poor, etc., even when it may not the case.
People generalize on body types too. Someone here once said that hairy men always smell bad. I have no Idea where they developed that thought. I have lots of body hair, but no odor issue.
Having traveled throughout much of the United States, I have to agree that there are regional differences in the way people dress. Economics has a lot to do with out people dress.....as does weather and age.
My husband and I are from Southern California (near the beach) - lived there most of our lives but retired 6 1/2 years ago to Prospect, KY. Southern California - the dress is casual because the lifestyle, in general is casual. Yes, people in business attire is the norm for those who work for corporations and some companies, people in the arts district dress artsy, funky, interestingly - but flip-flops, sandals, shorts, tee-shirts, jeans, khakis - this is the everyday dress style of many in beachy So. California.
When we retired to Kentucky, we noticed that people dress up here to a greater degree than in So. California. Yes I still see people in sweatpants and a wrinkled tee (especially out in the hinterlands of KY), but the norm in middle class Kentucky is that people (especially those over 25) dress nicely when they go out to run errands, go to dinner, church, etc. I notice that young people dress much more conservatively here in KY. In So. California, I would often see young women striving to wear as little clothing as possible while out in public - here I rarely see that. I've had to bump-up my wardrobe a bit and when going out for errands, I'll change my casual-at-home look into something a litter more pulled together before I leave the house.
American dress fashion is very different and more casual than European. What is considered acceptable and desirable for men to wear in Europe is considered girly to most American men. So we definitely are less formal in our dress and less metrosexual dress in men except in the gay community.
Cities in the USA that seem to dress more formal are SF, NYC, Houston & Dallas from my personal opinion.
One other thing, I've worked all over the world (currently in Chile) and keep my standard American fashion which makes many people look down on me...even though my personal wealth is probably 10,000 times higher than most people here.
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