An American In Spain: Fashion Edition

By Kristen Peuvion on July 11, 2014

For the past three weeks, I have been studying abroad in Bilbao, Spain. When I first found out that I had the opportunity to take classes in Spain’s fourth largest city, I knew things would be much different than they are in the United States. After all, it is a completely different culture.

Among the differences were language, food, meal times, the pastime of drinking, and I could go on forever. But perhaps the difference I was most excited to experience was the fashion.

Before I left, my idea of Europe was that everyone dressed fabulously at all times. I also had this idea that Europeans were wearing head to toe designer labels. I’m not entirely sure where this misconception originated, but since my arrival in Spain, my perception of fashion in this part of Europe has definitely changed.

This is not to say, though, that Spanish fashion is the same as U.S. fashion. While there are many similarities between us and the Spaniards when it comes to clothing and style, there are several differences.

The first difference I noticed since I have been in Bilbao, was the shoes. People here, more specifically women, do not wear flip flops. In America, I think it’s safe to say that we love our flip flops. It is the token footwear option in our summer wardrobes. However, in Spain, I have noticed very few people wearing these flimsy sandals.

At first, I was perplexed by this: after all it is summer here. Then I quickly discovered two possible explanations for this.

For one, it doesn’t get very warm here, and it is often raining in the summer, so it would make sense that flip flops aren’t the best option. Secondly, Bilbao is an urban area. Since it is a city, traveling by car doesn’t make sense. This city is meant for public transportation, or the easier option, walking.

The people of Bilbao walk everywhere, and given that it is a town situated in the mountains, walking through the city often involves walking up and down several hills varying in steepness. For these two reasons, it makes sense people don’t want to be walking around in shoes with no support in them.

But, what perplexes me is what they wear instead: wedges. You heard me. The people of Bilbao who must walk up and down hills all day, opt for wedges as their go-to summer shoe. Not all of them are crazy six inch heels, but I have stared incredulously at women wearing anything higher than two inches.

At first, I thought they were all crazy. My feet were killing me after only one day of walking through the city in flats–I can’t imagine how it must feel in wedges! The longer I have been here, though, I have decided that they must have just gotten accustomed to all of the walking so much so that it doesn’t matter what kind of shoes they wear.

image via fashion.si

Another difference that has stuck out to me is the definition of casual wear, which ties into the misconception that people in Europe dressed well 24/7. Before I got to Spain, I honestly was expecting to see everyone looking super chic everywhere I went. After all, people had told me that you never really see people wearing sweatpants abroad.

It turns out this statement was actually pretty accurate, but perhaps I just misinterpreted it. Since arriving here, I haven’t seen anyone in sweatpants, unless they are doing some sort of physical activity. I have yet to see a person in Bilbao wearing sweatpants while running errands like we seem to love to do back in the states.

But, a lack of sweatpants doesn’t equate to enviable style. In fact, people here dress about as well as they do in the U.S. You can find people all over the place ranging from exceptional style to people with no sense of style at all. The casual wear here consists of jeans and t-shirts rather than sweatpants and sweatshirts, but it is still nonetheless casual wear.

Finally, I have recognized that Spaniards in Bilbao have a greater taste and appreciation for outerwear than anyone else. Everywhere I turn I see people in great coats and jackets. I think this is a testament to the weather here. Since Bilbao is situated in the mountains of northern Spain, the weather changes in a matter of minutes. Residents of this city need to be prepared for it to be chilly and rainy in the morning and then have abundant warm sunshine around lunchtime.

This is where the great outerwear comes in. I have seen so many beautiful leather jackets, chic and casual anorak jackets and bright rain jackets all throughout the city. Not only do these coats look nice, but they’re more often than not, good quality. You can tell that they have invested in their outerwear, which is for good reason considering the constantly changing weather conditions. I think we might need to take some pointers from the Spanish and step up our outerwear game back in the U.S.

image via collegefashions.net

Overall, the fashion that I have seen in Bilbao, Spain is not all that different from what we are used to in the United States, but these few differences have stuck out. I came here expecting to be in the Garden of Eden of the fashion world–I realized I was mistaken, but that is not to say I am disappointed in what I’ve seen.

Fashion and style are universal things despite their differences in different countries and they are beautiful, creative and self-expressive no matter where your location may be.

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