Fashion notes

Bras. Italian women aren't ashamed of their brassieres. They wear backless dresses that highlight the bra stretching across their not quite naked backs. They wear regular bras under racing-back shirts, so that their bra straps are boldly visible. Hell, they wear standard bras under strapless sun dresses, and not bras with those clear plastic straps, either. They wear bras under one-shoulder shirts, insouciantly displaying a bra strap on the bare side.  I find this shocking but admirable. I should note that whatever's showing always looks new and clean, and often colorful, which underscores that this is not sloppiness but a deliberate fashion choice.

American unisex foot

Shoes. When my sandals broke early in this trip and I bought myself a new pair in the men's department at Globo, I was pleased that, to my California eye, they didn't look anything like the clunky sandals that most men in America wear. In Berkeley, where men and women both wear Keen's most of the time, these would easily pass as women's wear.

Out on the street in Italy, however, especially here in the South, people often glance at my feet when I wear them, and l realize that these sandals are indeed big and clunky compared to the emphatically feminine shoes most Italian women wear.

Italian emphatically female feet

Even grannies who trudge around in glorified house slippers choose slippers with a little heel and a dainty front across their bunions. Younger women often wear high platforms or towering heels when they're dressed up (which they often are), and even for casual occasions they put on delicate little sandals embellished with flower cut-outs or shiny trim. Even teens who wear sneakers with their baby-doll dresses usually choose glistening gold or silver high-tops or Converse covered in studs or sequins. In this as in other respects, Italian women are really into drag. To them I must look like one of those crazy old women who shuffle around in a housedress and their dead husband's wingtips.

Postscript: Immediately after writing this, I went out and saw streams of young teenage girls wearing very short skirts or short shorts with very plain canvas sneakers. Maybe they're rebelling. Or maybe I don't know what I'm talking about.

Men's haircuts. Short hair is popular with men here, just as in the States. But a subset of young men in their late teens and early twenties are sporting what I guess you'd call extreme fades. To my eye these styles are even more comical than the Hitler haircuts you see on some young Americans. If people my age think such hairdos are ridiculous, it's no wonder that the young folks are adopting them.

I've been wary of taking photos of these young Italians, since the hairdos seem to correlate to a certain amount of rowdiness. I did manage to get this rather fuzzy shot of three of them cruising the park tonight.











Then as luck would have it, a handsome young exemplar sat down right next to us at the restaurant tonight, giving me the opportunity to sneak this snapshot.

He was with a very attractive young woman with long hair and very glamorous shoes.