Black and Macs

There was an article about Sydney and Melbourne fashion in the magazine that comes with the Sunday paper a couple of months ago; one page written by a Sydneysider, one by a Melburnian.

Now I've had a bit of trouble with Sydney fashion, as you might remember. It's not just that I can't find the right clothes, but I can't find the right colours either, in fact some shops have window displays so gruesome they hurt my eyes just walking past, yellow and fuschia pink being permitted combinations all across the city.

And then ding! The penny dropped. That was what was different about Melbourne. Everyone was wearing black.

So the Sydneysider in the magazine article was revelling in the fact you could go straight to dinner from the beach in a swimsuit in Sydney (though I'll have to beg to differ on that because I'm pretty sure I'd be knocked back in a couple of my beach ensembles; cellulite chic having completely failed to take off in the eastern suburbs).

And her description of Sydney fashion included the following.

The younger fashion set in Sydney have a bowerbird approach to clothes - the more items that can be worn at once and still look acceptable, the better. They love to push the boundaries, putting together pieces that should never work.

The Sydney woman of a certain age will not disappear into black like her Melbourne counterparts...Sydneysiders don a kaleidoscope of colours....offering more glitz per square centimetre of fabric than anywhere else in the country (except the gold coast).

While the Melbourne writer had the following to offer:

Melburnians prefer the classics over planet fashion's fickle fads and follies that seem to dictate the way Sin City (Sydney) dresses.

and

Melbourne has more style in it's little finger than Sydney will ever have. Melbourne's style is structured in a European kind of way, subtle and genteel rather than slap-in-your-face. Sydney, on the other hand, is built around monumental showpieces; like the harbour brige and the "look at me" Opera House - and it peddles a showy fashion aesthetic, there's more flesh, more flash, but definitely not more style.

So that's it. I like to wear black and grey. I like macs. I can't wear yellow, I feel uncomfortable wearing patterns and a bracelet with a necklace at the same time seems somehow overdressed. I'm a Melburnian at heart, a plastic Sydneysider. But could I put up with the rain?