Packing Clothes for Your Trip to Europe
… or five reasons why you should stop worrying and love your existing wardrobe.
If you read many of the websites for travelers, you would think that Americans were absolutely obsessed with how to dress when traveling to Europe so that no one will mistake them for a visitor. We all get a little nervous when in new situations, but let’s practice some common sense.
Myth #1: Dress right or be a target for crime.
If the Italian teenage girl wearing a fur collared puffy ski jacket, worn blue jeans, and gold lamée tennis shoes in the middle of the Louvre’s plaza, chittering away with her friends, frantically avoiding the nun escort for her group, and completely unaware of her surroundings is safe from pickpockets just because she’s European, then — we’re doomed.
Truth #1: Pickpockets are opportunists.
What you wear has little to do with how a pickpocket selects a mark. Pickpockets look for quick opportunities where their mark is completely distracted (often by an accomplice) and has a high probability of a big payoff. You could be a business person, a fashionista, a college student, or just your good old self. If you’re distracted, overburdened with luggage, or indiscreet with your personal behaviors, then you could be wearing the latest Gucci suit and still become a mark.
Myth #2: Wear black all the time.
This myth has interesting roots in a half truth. When you are traveling in large urban areas, visiting major tourist attractions, most likely you are on the edge or near large business districts. By tradition, in these large urban areas white collar business people are going to be dressed in traditional suits of somber colors – black, navy, and charcoal gray. Dress like a business person in a business district and you’ll blend in just fine.
Truth #2: Wearing black can make you stand out like a sore thumb.
In the United States, an overabundance of black/somber dress is almost always associated with East Coast and more specifically New York City. Once on a flight from NYC to Portland, Oregon, we had a stop over in Denver. We called it the black leather/plaid switch off. So, if you’re visiting any major European city, you can’t go wrong, but get outside of the suburbs of these regions and you’re going to get funny looks and some people will treat you differently (and not altogether positively sometimes) because they’ll think you’re city and not local.
Myth #3: Jeans make you look like an American.
Sure, the United States is the home of jeans but did you know the home of denim is Nimes, France? (de Nimes = denim). Yes, in the past jeans were not all that popular in much of Europe but with the falling dollar and the fashion industry’s interest in “Western wear”, jeans have become more common throughout Europe, especially with the younger generations.
Truth #3: Well tailored jeans can be chic.
Even in the United States, the style of jeans has changed completely in the last ten to twenty years. For women, you can get denim pants that are styled in the same cuts as several styles of trousers. A pair of fantastic shoes, a well-cut blouse, and a flattering pair of jeans allow you to be comfortable without ironing your pants every morning. And honestly? If casual is your style, then they are the perfect pants.
Myth #4: Tennis shoes make you American.
Just like jeans, the regional source of a fashion item does not mean it is a bad thing.
Truth #4: Sometimes tennis shoes are a practical choice.
Refer back to my sentence about the Italian teenager in the gold lamée tennis shoes. Like jeans, sportswear such as tennis shoes has permeated the youth culture in Europe from its fashion beginnings in the United States. But, more importantly, cross-trainers and the like can be very comfortable when you are walking several miles a day. You don’t want to wear them into a Michelin star restaurant, but they will keep you from getting blisters or sore ankles at the end of a long walk.
Myth #5: Americans lack style.
It is stunning who the culprit is in the case of this myth – pretentious Americans. It is a case of internalized stereotypes and an inferiority complex. If you listen to them, we all wear white tennis shoes and track suits whenever we travel. Whenever someone needs to generalize to make a point, beware.
Truth #5: American fashion designers are world renowned.
If you need any assurances that Americans have style, check out this list of fashion designers. And what we don’t produce internally we import frequently. Even big box stores have their buyers go to fashion shows at home and abroad. You can have the latest common fashions from around the world for as little or as much as you want to spend.
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4 comments
You say: “Americans … absolutely obsessed with how to dress when traveling to Europe so that no one will mistake them for a visitor” — but they are visitors, aren’t they? Americans need to get used to the idea that they will be spotted as Americans 99% of the time in Paris and even elsewhere in France. There’s nothing wrong with being spotted as an American.
Ken – That’s pretty much spot on. It is amazing how much digital space on travel boards and sites is taken up with people concerned about how they look or, how other Americans look. And I agree with you 100%. I have been mistaken for French in Paris three times — all by other tourists! So, maybe our goal should be to fool each other — “You’re on vacation? I never knew!” “Shh! Don’t tell anyone I am enjoying myself in a foreign country!”
You most certainly don’t want to be taken for a local. Unless you speak the language like a native and always know where you’re going…
In my travels in Spain I was occasionally mistaken for a local…until I started to speak. In Germany, a shop girl kept addressing all sorts of questions to me, oblivious of the fact that my friend was doing all the talking. Cause for confusion.
But at other times, when my foreignness was obvious, people were quick to come to my aid. And if you blend in you’ll never have the great cross-cultural encounters that being a foreigner will bring you.
Kinsey — I agree entirely. Our trip to China a few years back was a fantastic lesson in no matter what one does, you’ll never do enough to be taken as a local. It’s hard to blend in within an Asian country when you are over six feet tall and lily white. You can certainly be polite and engaged in the cultural experience, but no one is going to ask you if you were born around there! I find it fascinating that Americans become all consumed with this concept of blending in while traveling in Europe. Immersion, not camouflage, I say!
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