Do people in Italy put allot of time into their appearance?

Question

I've heard that they do but I do not know. Someone once told me that all the women have very long hair, always wear make-up, and never are in jeans. Then they said the men never wear shorts or flip-flops (yeah, flip flops have became a fashion for guys where I live), and no pants below their waist (or is it waste?) line. lol, so whats true and whats not? Thanks for the answers!

I didn't mean all....goodness people that would be far fetched to think that every single person did that. Sorry for the confusion and chill down people, lol...its just a question.

Answer 1

yes. Italians care a lot more that other nations about appearance, and they judge you for the appearance too.

that's Italian Style....

I am not italian, but live in Italy...

Answer 2

I live in Italy, and yes, many Italians do take a great deal of pride in their appearance. I wouldn't say that most women here have long hair, I mean there are a lot that do, but they average hair style here is shoulder length and sometimes shorter.
We also see Italian women in jeans all the time.They are very fashionable here, sometimes they remind me of the runway models we watch on t.v back home in the States who are molding those clothes most of us Americans never actually see!
And it's unusual to see the younger women without their makeup on.
Italian men very much wear shorts and flip flops over here! As a matter of fact, our landlord has been in shorts and flip-flops every time he has come to our house this Summer. I don't see any young men or boys in pants that go below the waste, which I'm glad because I have always though that was a tacky look!

Answer 3

As in every country you need to make a distinction between everyday clothing, clubbing clothing, beach clothing and so on.
The answer above clearly show different visions, which is the way it should be. Fashion, and taste for fashion is very localized and it can change very quickly.
For example where I live young guys tend to wear big and low jeans.. in general in the place where I was born (Napoli) guys seem to stick to tight jeans.
Things are really "unstable" for a lot of other things, such as waxed or no-waxed men.. this summer it was a bit of anarchy about that.
The only thing that can be stated with is that shorts (unless you are 10 years old or you are walking to the beach) are a BIG no no.. I haven't bought a single short for ages.
So the girl that got the gay looking bf with jeans shorts either got a freak or he's using her to cover his real nature ;-).

Answer 4

All the women do not have long hair, however in general Italians are very fashion conscious and having a sense of style is highly valued. Most women in the cities are always well put together clothes wise and makeup wise when going out in public -- and the men also as far as clothes are concerned. Women and men do wear jeans but not not tattered and ripped. Also, most Italians wear good shoes -- no flip flops or sneakers/athletic shoes like in the US. Hardly ever saw men in shorts. To summarize, much better dressed in general than Americans

Answer 5

Yes looks and fashion are very important in Italy. As for jeans everyone wears jeans young to old just in a more moderate way than in North America, the people in Italy would never go out with ripped or torn jeans. Shorts are worn by everyone ,the only difference is that they only wear it on the beach, here in North America we go out with shorts but you don't see that in the streets of Italy.

Answer 6

Yes.

Looks, fashion and appearence is very important in Italy. Overweight, flip flop, tracksuit wearing people are very uncommon in Italy. In Europe actually.

Answer 7

As any mediterranean people we are quite pernickety:
we love fashion, making up and style.
It's just a way to express ourselves.
But, believe me, we wear jeans (even 60 yrs old people) and some guys wear even shorts (but not too short!).

My granny usually said:
"If your shoes and your hair fit good, you can even wear rags but you'll always look like a queen!"

Answer 8

i'm italian
i went to the USA last year, and people wear the same clothes
than in italy
fashion is the same in a globalized world

Answer 9

im from the states and have been living here in italy for the last 4 years. i know exactly what you are asking. to make it clear...A LOT of things have changed in the last 4 years.

when i got there 2002, i remember seeing guys walk around with these extremly tight tight pants, i was so convinced they were literally gay, but when i would go to disco bars all teh guys picking on girls were equally dressed like that. (my current bf was one of them). they liked to show off their 'butt' figure at least thats the reaosn my bf use to wear like that, from what he tells me. in the first months we'd go out i would tell him that 'THATS' not the coolest thing to wear IF you were to live in the states. when he went to visit me in august back in the states 2002, i remember so clearly, we were going to this water park and he came down stairs all set. i looked at him and flipped...he was wearing these mini cut off jean shorts, but i mean MINI. i looked at him and said, 'uh..no, seriously i wouldnt want you to go like that...youre going to give people the wrong idea...your my bf no?' and he wouldnt NOT believe me, and he hesistated that i was being pesimistic. my dad walked in that instant and froze. it was soo funny, he didnt even know what we were talking about, he looked at him and said, 'andrea (andrew in italian)....I would NOT wear that if i were you...'
the message went through and i think it was fromt hat point that he learned to realize the big difference between american style image and italian taste.

from then on he began to listen to my taste in clothes, nice kaky pants, no tighties, adequate baggy pants, cool shirts. he use to wear tight shirts as well, (many italians do the same) but with him it was ok since he had a real nice body built. there are many italian men who have flat chests and wear overly tight shirts.

so now, 4 years have gone by, and a lot of things have changed, the tight pants aretn that in style. young guys actually are beginnign to copy to the american baggy pants ( i can prove to you as i see them every day in college) and the issue on never wearing jeans, is and isnt kinda true. just put it thsi way, they dont wear them that often as americans do. in fact in college, im probably the one who wears them more frequent than all the others.

sandals as well, not that popular, you can easily determine a tourist that looks italian verses one that is itlaian, just check their feet, seriously not kidding. when i take the bus to class, i notice the difference. on a cold november morning, it would take only an american to wear sandals on such climates as those.

women? ill just give you my 'theory' on how the scale of women go around. i might be totaly wrong but beng here so long, im sure what im to say. i think, that here in italy there are only 2 types of women, 1 the type who are extremly nice and kind and dont really care about makeup and hair do . 2 the ones who really really care about makeup and are totaly bitched up. in italy they are either Bitchy or NON bitchy, nothing in the middle un like how i see it in the states.

ive met girls who have been really really really kind and extremly gentle and dont give a **** about makeup and all that, and girls who have the meanest bitchest of all kingdom and are really messed up in makeup matters. the good thing is that that type of girl you dont see that often but excists. the cool thing is that the girls that were all extremly nice and kind that didnt care about makeup were extremly beautiful. i mean i have a friend that she is the type who goes to school not caring about her looks and she doesnt realize how pretty she is, thats a cool thing, that you dont care about looks when you already are pretty enough and i dont think she even realizes that, she doesnt flirt nor be stuck up. many other girls are the same here in college.

the issue on short hair and long hair, thats not true, i had italian girl friends that had short hair. the hair do thing is another book to write about so im not even going to tell you about it.

ok i better stop here, i can go on for another chaprter or two if i dont stop.

hope you get the idea how italian style is here :)

Answer 10

Some of them do those things, some of them don't.

You can't say ALL of the people fit into one particular category, like the ones you listed.

That's called stereotyping.