My host sister in Argentina was blunt to say the least. Over my 11 months she was not at all afraid to tell me if she thought what I was doing was wrong or if I was mispronouncing something, but most of all, she was happy to call out my choice of clothes. If I had it my way I would be in sweatpants and sneakers everyday of my life, and my motto – comfort is key. But my host sister Laura, is extremely put together, loves to go shopping, and spends hours on her outfits. So, not only did we clash on how much we cared about how we looked but we also clashed because the cultures we came from encouraged different stylistic choices.
Surprisingly enough though, much of Argentine style is taken from U.S. and European trends so when my host family accepted an American girl as their host student they began to expect someone straight out of “Mean Girls.” They were way off. But there are some large differences in the overall clothing trends between the U.S. and Argentina, mainly ones that my sister Laura thought were just humorous.
Probably the clearest difference is the shoe wear. Argentinians seem to like shoes that are bigger, almost “brat” style while Americans are more in favor of slimmer shoes or casual wear. Platform shoes are incredibly popular down south while when I brought my pair back to the U.S., my sisters here couldn’t believe I would ever wear them. They also add a few inches, so many of the shorter girls loved them because of that as well.
Also, within the shoe category, the issue of Sperry’s and in general, athletic socks. Sperry’s seem to be fading from style a bit but are still generally liked by Americans and the idea of boys wearing Sperry’s isn’t uncommon. I was made fun of consistently if I wore my Sperry’s. Apparently, they are old women shoes or school shoes but outside of that, just ugly. Further the idea of wearing Sperry’s with mid-calf athletic socks was completely laughable to all my friends and host sister. Wearing mid-calf athletic socks in general was considered ugly, even with sneakers or even at basketball most girls wore different socks to avoid the mid-calf style. I couldn’t believe this!
And then one final trend I noticed was just the general uncommonness of casual outfits. Sweatpants out in public were hardly ever seen, but even leggings and a jacket or jeans and a t-shirt were uncommon day to day wear. When people went out they had to look completely put together which just seemed like too much for me. Flannels were extremely uncommon as well, it was as though the typical comfort outfits were off limits.
Some of this I adapted to, I did buy a pair of platform shoes, I put a little more effort into my day to day look, I even didn’t wear all the socks that I had brought from home. But other days I just played the foreigner card and did what I wanted, they would just shrug off my choices as the American.
There is an importance to embracing another culture, but there is also an aspect of maintaining your own, especially if you just need to feel comfortable time and again.
For more on Argentine Fashion:
A Few Argentine Bloggers With Some Insight