This morning I rode the bus downtown for an early morning meeting. Because parking in downtown Seattle is a complete pain in the ass, not to mention expensive, I take the bus when I’m going into the heart of the concrete jungle.
This morning I noticed when a fashionable young woman, clearly a young professional, got on the bus and sat down across the aisle a few rows in front of me. Her outfit was super-cute and I nodded approvingly to myself, giving her a silent thumbs-up for such a fab ensemble. She was decked out, head-to-toe, dressed to the nines with a professional polish – fantastic leather high-heeled boots, a pretty gray pleated flared skirt and a nice wool coat. In Seattle it’s not unusual to see well-dressed women. The men, on the other hand, as a general rule – are a hot mess.
We’ll save them for another time.
What I did not approve of, was that this well-dressed young woman, instead of carrying a purse or a briefcase (something you don’t see enough of in Seattle) was hauling (and I mean hauling) a backpack the size of Jamaica. It wasn’t a purse in the style of a backpack, say in a nice black leather. Oh no, it was a ginormous, North Face ordeal that you would take on a camping trip with all of the doo-hickeys sticking out of it. It looked like it could carry a small family. And she had to position it so it wouldn’t fall off her lap, which it tried to do. It was awful and I had to divert my eyes.
What was this woman thinking, I wondered? And where are the fashion police when you need them? Seattle needs some serious help.
From riding the bus on occasion, I’ve learned that the backpack to purse ratio, among well dressed women in Seattle, is way too low. If a man is carrying anything more than his cell phone, he will most definitely be carrying a backpack. While not the most attractive look, you will never see a man purse in Seattle. We’ll let the guys get away with carrying their crap in a backpack. I don’t care about how they look – I’ve given up.
But the women? It’s shameful, really. Seattle women need to take a field trip to New York and realize that Seattle has a bizarre fashion sense all its own.
A friend of mine, who also grew up in Connecticut, recently relayed a disturbing fact to me. She said that it’s trendy in Seattle to shop at stores like REI and The North Face – all the places that sell camping gear – and buy the brand-named camping clothes, even if you’ve never camped a day in your life and aren’t ever planning to do so as a fashion statement.
You heard me. Some poor fool will spend their hard-earned dollars at Columbia or The North Face buying a fleece pull-over and waterproof hiking pants just to be cool. As if that’s an acceptable look. And most of them don’t buy the attractive versions of these clothing items or sizes that fit right. You should see these faux camping folk! They look terrible.
I’m sorry, but this isn’t just disturbing to me, it’s downright frightening.
Who knew that it would take me moving here to become a fashionista? I’m on a mission. Stay tuned…
