fashion update

I wrote a little bit about Chinese fashion and style back in the fall, but this time I have pictures to for your viewing pleasure. Everything I wrote then is still applicable now (rhinestones, bows, lace, etc.)--the women are very gaudy in their style. The majority of women wear heels (boots with heels in winter), which I cannot imagine--my feet hurt just thinking about it! The most surprising trend is tights or hose with the control-top part visible; this is extremely common under shorts, skirts, and dresses, and is just confusing to me...isn't the point of the control top part to hide it??

(I love her "I'm going to look hot at the botanical gardens and pose with flowers" look. The feather in her hair completes the look).

Also, animal prints are very popular. Actually, any prints are popular.

As you can probably tell, most of these pictures were taken the day Adam and I went to the botanical gardens. I love these women for their taking into account both fashion/style and weather-appropriateness.

Enough about the ladies; we have also noticed 2 main trends in male fashion. One is the murse (male purse), which is generally leather and brown or black in color. Men also tend to carry the purse or bag of female companions, regardless of size. The other popular style is long fingernails (or at least just the pinky); this is apparently to prove that the man does not do hard physical labor and is a status symbol. Unfortunately, no photographic verification of these styles as of yet.

A final trend that Adam and I have noticed is that couples and families tend to dress in matching outfits. We have seen countless "his and hers" jackets/hats/T-shirts, etc. Luckily, I was able to capture a few:

(this is a double whammy--a matching couple AND an awesome hair piece next to them)

After all of our travels, it appears that many of these styles are more popular in cities, which makes sense because they're not laboring in fields and they generally have a more disposable income. Also, with the rapidly expanding middle class, people are more interested in appearances. This is true with regard to dentistry as well--I have seen all of 4 people with braces in the past 9 months. I assume that number will rise as people have more and more disposable income and interest in appearance. The New York Times recently published an article about the growing rates of plastic surgery in China; this information is not so surprising, based on our observations and experiences. I would love to see what the styles are like in the next 10 to 20 years--I'm sure we will see straighter teeth and just as many heels!