It’s been a while since I featured a guest post and I think this is a great one to come back with!
The lovely Alina is from Germany and blogs at ‘A Panda in Wonderland‘. She is passionate about fashion and travelling, amongst other things. Psst, she’s also currently running a giveaway!
Today she will be sharing with you how she doesn’t give up on her personal style, even when it means loving the fashion of one culture (Japan) that conflicts with her own (Germany).
When the doors of the arrival gate opens it is not only the cold, rainy weather that welcomes me back to Germany but also the judging gazes that lie upon me.
I’ve been traveling back and forth to Japan since 2008 and the problem of wearing my japanese outfits back home has not gotten any better. In my opinion some countries are either too conservative or too boring to accept something ‘different’ from what they see everyday. Seriously, doesn’t wearing jeans and T-shirts all the time get boring?
The usual comments I receive (most people don’t even have the courage to say it to my face) are: ‘Isn’t that too short?’ , ‘What’s with the dolly look, she must be one of those anime freaks!’ or ‘How old is she to think that she can wear such pattern?!’ Most of them giggle or point fingers on top of that. Honestly speaking, I don’t really give a damn anymore what they think since I rather wear my unique outfits than drown in the boring crowd of Jeans.
I’m facing the same problems with hair accessories like bows or hairbands. In Japan you are constantly being complimented on them while back home everyone is rolling their eyes. It is scary how some people just can’t tolerate what they aren’t used to.
If you have ever been to Tokyo, you are probably aware of the fact that almost no one looks the same, outfit wise. They all have their own style, a different hairdo and fashion taste, yet it seems to be tolerated by everyone around them. If you have time, sit down in a nice câfe and watch the people who pass by, it always inspires me fashion wise.
Colorful or patterned tights are also a little bit risky over here. You immediately end up in the cheap woman section even though you are just trying to pimp your simple H&M dress. Ridiculous in my opinion. Clubbing in my ‘night out’ outfits from Japan is a unbelievable pain in the ass because everything that Japanese consider stylish (Oshare) is judged as slutty over here.
So no matter what you do, you either end up in the ‘slutty’ or the ‘anime freak with no taste’ section. Even though you are just chosing another fashion style than the majority is.
Nevertheless, I’ll continue with my personal style and would like to encourage everybody else who is facing the same problem to do the same.
After all it’s me (you) who have to feel comfortable in what you wear not everybody else 😉
