I am completely guilty of this.
I have been trying to figure out why when we vacate our country, or our usual surroundings, we also appear to vacate from the style which we have formulated for ourselves. When I returned from London, I looked preppy as hell. On a trip to Paris, I was obsessed with navy and white stripes, and my Chanel flats. In Italy, I spent my days on the coast near Cinque Terre in a peach coloured shirt dress. A shirt dress?!
For any of you that know me, or my style, I am not preppy, I do not look classic-French (thought I wish I did), and I will never be able to channel the style of the beautiful Italian women who passed me in similar attire.. So why abandon my style when I travel?
Part of me thinks that we transform to escape. Not in a 'deep' way (as though we are escaping Sydney like it is the equivalent of hell), but in the way that in the process of relaxing, or exploring, or whatever the purpose of the holiday, you want to lose yourself in the culture of wherever you may be.
Another possibility is that maybe we simply do it for fun. There is something exciting about wearing items that in Sydney you would not consider. Being able to get away with wearing crazy pieces is appealing. In addition to this, there is something fun about wearing wacky stuff in a place where no one knows who the hell you are.
Possibly we change our styles to assimilate? I personally do not change my style for this reason (for me, it is more the first two), but I can see the urge to ditch the thongs and the wife-beater when walking around and having people stare at you, and wondering what the hell you are wearing.
A big factor for this change stems from 'The Hunt'. "The Hunt" is the type of shopping you do when you are on holiday, and basically involves sourcing the most amazing "I definitely did not get this in Australia" pieces, to then take home and show all of your friends. (Note that bonus points are awarded if these goods are also inexpensive.)
Whatever the reason, I have been thinking about this changing of one's style for a while now, and on a recent trip to Bali, I set myself the challenge of not returning looking like something that had escaped from a Temple. Keeping in mind that I travelled with two of the greatest hunters I know, I knew resisting transforming would be a challenge. Adding to the pressure of my travel companions, I also had been informed that Bali was great for cheap finds. Great.
All this said, in setting myself to goal of not maxing my credit card on tie-dyed garments, I managed to find some amazing pieces. I had leather pieces made for virtually nothing, and found some incredible jewellery to wear with my more simple pieces I already own. It actually suprised me how easy it was to source great pieces that fit with my existing wardrobe when I had identified that I was guilty of changing when I travel...Who knew?
On the flight on the way home, I was on a high, seeing the scads of Aussies with their hair braided with beads on the end, and the piles of tie-dyed pants, skirts, dresses, tops, sarongs-as-tops, and bags that all these people had purchased.
The funniest thought we had on the flight home was that these bronzed people who resembled something more from a bogan-woodstock than anything else would get off the plane and catch a glimpse of themselves in a mirror and think "what the hell did I buy this for?!" or "Why in the name of Christ would I have my hair braided at my age?!" Ah, sweet satisfaction.
So as a little recommendation to anyone going anywhere over Christmas or the New Year. I think you should keep in mind that travelling is about your state of mind. I say explore, drink and eat as much as you can, and take in everything you possibly can, but do not lose the thing that ultimately makes you, you - your style.
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