Subtle Differences – Men’s Fashion Edition

Manly, macho, heteronormative life is alive and well here in northern Italy. I assume it’s maybe different in a big city but from what I can see out my window, there are not a whole lot of men embracing their feminine side or alternative fashions. And yet there are these little differences in the way men dress and act here that make you aware that the cultural norms are not the same as ours. The double cheek kiss when greeting someone is a great example. I love that even in our very connected world there are these snippets of culture that hold on tight and let us know we aren’t all the same. This is a small town in all the ways, and I want to find a place for myself here, so as much as I would like to share pictures to illustrate this post, I will not. You’ll have to use your imagination.

The man purse.

I am ALL FOR the man purse. It’s practical, it’s…well, practical is about it. How often do the wives, moms and girlfriends end up being responsible for carrying the snacks, the napkins, the sunblock, the wipes, the chapstick, the money, because they have a purse? So I applaud the Italian men on their self reliance. But a guy with a purse in Italy is not progressive, he’s just a guy with stuff to carry. It’s dorky, sure, but mainstream. In fact I saw a group of cute teenaged boys the other night and I’d guess half of them were carrying a purse, so maybe it’s me who’s the dork, that wouldn’t really be much of a stretch. These purses men use are all crossbody, usually black or brown and normally fabric with a Velcro or zipper closure, but sometimes made of leather. Not huge, not tiny, but just the right size for a phone, wallet, keys, glasses and a salami or two. I can’t even begin to express how much I would LOVE to rifle through an Italian man’s purse, it would be like a archeological dig!

Summer footwear.

We were eating lunch at our favorite Pieve di Teco hot spot the other day (pasta, of course) and watching the people go by. Felix leaned in and whispered “Is that guy wearing slippers?” I looked over and saw a group of four construction worker dudes. All of them were wearing reflective vests, t-shirts and cargo shorts. Three of them were wearing work boots. But one of them was wearing white espadrille mules. I looked at Fe and said “No, those aren’t slippers, they’re white espadrille mules.” “Oh, okay,” he said, “they looked like slippers to me.”

There is a guy here who I privately call “Canada Guy” because he once showed me pictures of his trip to Canada for a loooong time while I was trying to pay for dinner at a pizza place. This is a big guy who swaggers up to the cafe every evening and spends a few hours drinking beer and talking loudly with the other bros below our window. He always, always has a purse. He also wears decidedly feminine sandals – many different pairs. I am entranced by this man and the juxtaposition of his bravado and strappy shoes.

Tattoos in English.

This one might be hard to convey. In the US there are something like 12 billion stupid tattoos in another language on people’s bodies. I’ve contemplated getting one myself. And here, a tattoo in English is pretty common. I met a young man at a birthday party who was obviously much too hip, gnarly, sick, rad, jive and off the hook to be talking to me – he’s a DJ. From what I understood he plays music for weekend long raves in the woods. So yeah, he’s COOL. But he had a big, newish tattoo on his arm that said ‘Follow your dreams…’ in loopy script that took up a large part of his forearm. He’s still cool, but it’s in spite of the tattoo in my no-one-asked-or-cares-what-you-think opinion.

Gold chains and cologne. So many, so much.

Men’s fashions that aren’t at all different: Groups of old guys with expensive bicycles, decked out in all the gear, who spend way more time drinking coffee together than actually riding bikes.