Chinese Fashion

My first thought when I came to China and saw all the people around, was that these people dressed weird. Several minutes later, I realized how judgmental I was being And I realized it was very possible that everyone was looking at my watermelon tank top and black Walgreens-flip flops thinking I was the weirdo.

While you cannot generalize the clothing style 1.3 billion people, here are some patterns I've been noticing so far:

Males

1. The Beijing bikini: where fat older men wear wife beaters pulled up to their man boobs, showing their naked beer bellies. (Does it ever get that hot enough where this can be deemed socially acceptable? I don't know. Beijing summers can be pretty hot though)

2. Tight everything and low cut. Tight jeans, tight shirts, low cut V knecks and some strange colors

3. Rooster hair for the younger guys. This involves a lot of gel and a lot of times, streaks of blonde or orange.

4. Some guys wear these really crazy matching pattern top and bottoms. I don't know whether to describe them as goth, or hip pajamas...

Females

1. Platform shoes! These are amazing! I am talking platform converse, platform boots, platform converse boots,  platform sandals, platform heels, everything. And what is nuts is that even with these shoes, I have never seen a girl over 5"4. Which makes me wonder just how short these people are... (total self esteem booster for me though)

2. Feminine, pastel colors and lace.

3. Lady umbrellas for the outdoors so as not to shed any sunlight onto their deliberate white skin.

4. It is completely acceptable to wear the shortest skirts imaginable (even to work), but anything on top is conservative.

5. Little to no make up, but lots of skin formula for deliberate white skin.

Photo: see point #4 under Males