Fashion Trends for the Under 30s

We've been in Edinburgh for 4 weeks now, and one thing that you can't help but notice are some of the striking fashion trends showing up on campus and in the city's main shopping area, Princes Street.  

Practical jeans, sweaters and wool jackets are prominent around campus and town for both men and women.  Layers, including sweaters and mid-weight wool jackets, are a necessity with the brisk winds and variable weather.  It can be sunny and cold (8 degrees C) in the morning, warm up by lunch (13 C), and within the next hour the winds have picked up and dark clouds are covering the sky.  Then it rains.  This is where your colourful umbrella comes in handy (mine's leopard print!).  Two hours later its clear skies again as the sun goes down.

Far more women here, students or not, wear skirts than what we're used to back home.  Another common and striking look is opaque or patterned tights with short shorts and Ugg-style boots.  Tights come in wild colours (eg. teal, purple, lime green, silver) and are paired with plaid or dark shorts, and brown, grey or black boots.  Occasionally ballet flats and a mini skirt are substituted.  

The club wear here has certainly surprised me, particularly the see-through mesh tops on young women.  Micro-mini skirts and dresses combine with black stilettos to make the wearer rather unsteady on the cobble-stone streets, but this is the fashion that all women are wearing to go out at night.  This look also reaches far beyond my earlier-imposed age cut-off of 30.  I've been told that guys will actually go up to international female students dancing at a club and say "You're not from around here, are you" because its obvious, what with our tendency to wear jeans and nice tops when going out.