It was a decently warm day today, around 15 degrees. I had been cooped up in the house for a couple of days now, so I decided to go out. I've been wanting to go to the new Lululemon store in DC (there are a few now apparently) to check out what they had... and I was feeling like I needed a hoodie and some pants to bum around the house in. So I went to their new store on P and 15th in NW DC.
I ended up buying a couple of things (no hoodies unfortunately) and also ended up going to Whole Foods across the street. It also got me wondering about the clothes and fashion items out West that I was used to and to some degree, miss. It isn't that much of a stretch to say that the folks out West dress differently that the people out here. I used to go to work in t-shirts and shorts or jeans. To some degree, there are people dressed like that here too. But, I get the feeling that is in the minority. Every morning on the bus you see well dressed men and women heading to work here. I feel like a bum next to them.
I think out West, we dress to be comfortable, for the weather, for the outdoors etc. T-shirts are pretty big out in Vancouver. I've always liked a good funny t-shirt. I have, over the years, had quite a few funny ones myself. The American Eagle stores out there seemed to carry a really good selection of funny t-shirts. You don't really see that here. Now, it could be that the fashion lines change over the seasons or whatever, but I think there is something to it. You don't really see that many people in t-shirts here I find. Maybe the odd guy in the summer... but not really as many people as I used to see in Vancouver.
I was also thinking about the brands you find out there... there is a lot of Canadiana out there. From shoes by John Fluevog to jeans by David Bitton (I prefer his t-shirts personally), to brands like Lululemon or West Beach and Aritzia (not for men... but still, they compete with Lululemon for the female customer), there is a lot of stuff that you can rarely find out here. I think Lululemon is the only brand I have really seen out here of the lot... I don't think those items really fit the market here. Vancouver is saturated with women (and men) wearing Lululemon or tna or whatever stuff... there is instant brand recognition there. And as my friend Chris used to say, a pair of Lululemons can make ANY ass look great. I agree with him by the way. Trust me folks, when you see a derrière in a pair of those pants... you'll see what I mean.
I am no fashion fanatic or follower... I never saw the point of magazines full of advertisements for clothes nobody in their right mind would pay for or wear... but anyway, I find it funny that decent looking clothes or at least things I thought were decent are not found out here. Take Mexx for example. A Dutch company now owned by Liz Claiborne, they exist in plenty in many parts of Canada. Certainly, they exist in a good number of places in Vancouver and you can find their items in many stores there (like Sears for example). They don't exist in the US anymore. There used to be one in DC when I first moved here... but they buggered off. They compete with their European counterpart, Zara amongst others to fill that sort of niche market. Zara does exist here to be fair... but I never liked their stuff anyway.
Take Benetton as another example... you rarely, if ever find men's clothing there. I remember walking into the store on 5th Avenue in New York... with 3 floors and they told me, they don't have anything for men there... They've always carried men's clothing elsewhere in the world. One of the earliest memories I have of this brand is their United Colours of Benetton advertising and store windows in Chennai. They have a massive store there.
Years ago now, when I talked to my cousin about moving out to DC, he said that I wouldn't like it for many reasons. He went to school in Pennsylvania, used to live in New York, and now lives in some small town in California, surfs every chance he gets and he was right about moving here. It is different. The culture is different. The clothes are different, the food is different, the people are different. Not that any of it is meant to be a negative... I'm just saying, its different. I like the more outdoor and nature oriented thing we have out West.
There's something to be said for the comforting feeling one gets from being surrounded by giant Rocky mountains and the mighty Pacific. You're a small, insignificant collection of carbon based particles living amongst them trying to make a living and eek a life out of it all. There is something magical about seeing coniferous trees filled with snow or deer in your backyard or seeing the odd black bear wandering in your neighbourhood. Or the fact that a chunk of city can get shut down because a Northern Spotted Owl made its way into the city. Out West, we also have some interesting annual events, like the counting of bald eagles in Brackendale. We have plenty of Orca and sea life out there too, from seals to sea gulls and the odd sea otter hanging out in Vancouver harbour. Out here, we have Presidents and government and concrete and what not... but no wildlife. Not even crows. I think they've all been killed off by West Nile or something.
Its just different out here... I feel a disconnect with nature. You're never too far from nature in most parts of the West Coast... there are mountains, lakes, rivers and ocean out there. There are animals and birds of all sorts out there. Maybe its just that a lot of that stuff is a lot more accessible out there... but somehow I never quite felt that disconnect out there. You are surrounded by nature. Its part of life. From hiking every weekend in the summer to long weekends by the lake or kayaking in the ocean, the outdoors and nature somehow becomes a part of your daily life. And its not like winter time stops you from any of that. Snow shoeing, skiing and boarding... all sorts of stuff that involves nature. I may sound like a broken, negative, old record, but the longer I live out here, the more I think I made the wrong decision. And I wonder if people do ever move from the West to the East coast. To the big concrete cities that is. Oh well, so much for all that.
I ended up buying a couple of things (no hoodies unfortunately) and also ended up going to Whole Foods across the street. It also got me wondering about the clothes and fashion items out West that I was used to and to some degree, miss. It isn't that much of a stretch to say that the folks out West dress differently that the people out here. I used to go to work in t-shirts and shorts or jeans. To some degree, there are people dressed like that here too. But, I get the feeling that is in the minority. Every morning on the bus you see well dressed men and women heading to work here. I feel like a bum next to them.
I think out West, we dress to be comfortable, for the weather, for the outdoors etc. T-shirts are pretty big out in Vancouver. I've always liked a good funny t-shirt. I have, over the years, had quite a few funny ones myself. The American Eagle stores out there seemed to carry a really good selection of funny t-shirts. You don't really see that here. Now, it could be that the fashion lines change over the seasons or whatever, but I think there is something to it. You don't really see that many people in t-shirts here I find. Maybe the odd guy in the summer... but not really as many people as I used to see in Vancouver.
I was also thinking about the brands you find out there... there is a lot of Canadiana out there. From shoes by John Fluevog to jeans by David Bitton (I prefer his t-shirts personally), to brands like Lululemon or West Beach and Aritzia (not for men... but still, they compete with Lululemon for the female customer), there is a lot of stuff that you can rarely find out here. I think Lululemon is the only brand I have really seen out here of the lot... I don't think those items really fit the market here. Vancouver is saturated with women (and men) wearing Lululemon or tna or whatever stuff... there is instant brand recognition there. And as my friend Chris used to say, a pair of Lululemons can make ANY ass look great. I agree with him by the way. Trust me folks, when you see a derrière in a pair of those pants... you'll see what I mean.
I am no fashion fanatic or follower... I never saw the point of magazines full of advertisements for clothes nobody in their right mind would pay for or wear... but anyway, I find it funny that decent looking clothes or at least things I thought were decent are not found out here. Take Mexx for example. A Dutch company now owned by Liz Claiborne, they exist in plenty in many parts of Canada. Certainly, they exist in a good number of places in Vancouver and you can find their items in many stores there (like Sears for example). They don't exist in the US anymore. There used to be one in DC when I first moved here... but they buggered off. They compete with their European counterpart, Zara amongst others to fill that sort of niche market. Zara does exist here to be fair... but I never liked their stuff anyway.
Take Benetton as another example... you rarely, if ever find men's clothing there. I remember walking into the store on 5th Avenue in New York... with 3 floors and they told me, they don't have anything for men there... They've always carried men's clothing elsewhere in the world. One of the earliest memories I have of this brand is their United Colours of Benetton advertising and store windows in Chennai. They have a massive store there.
Years ago now, when I talked to my cousin about moving out to DC, he said that I wouldn't like it for many reasons. He went to school in Pennsylvania, used to live in New York, and now lives in some small town in California, surfs every chance he gets and he was right about moving here. It is different. The culture is different. The clothes are different, the food is different, the people are different. Not that any of it is meant to be a negative... I'm just saying, its different. I like the more outdoor and nature oriented thing we have out West.
There's something to be said for the comforting feeling one gets from being surrounded by giant Rocky mountains and the mighty Pacific. You're a small, insignificant collection of carbon based particles living amongst them trying to make a living and eek a life out of it all. There is something magical about seeing coniferous trees filled with snow or deer in your backyard or seeing the odd black bear wandering in your neighbourhood. Or the fact that a chunk of city can get shut down because a Northern Spotted Owl made its way into the city. Out West, we also have some interesting annual events, like the counting of bald eagles in Brackendale. We have plenty of Orca and sea life out there too, from seals to sea gulls and the odd sea otter hanging out in Vancouver harbour. Out here, we have Presidents and government and concrete and what not... but no wildlife. Not even crows. I think they've all been killed off by West Nile or something.
Its just different out here... I feel a disconnect with nature. You're never too far from nature in most parts of the West Coast... there are mountains, lakes, rivers and ocean out there. There are animals and birds of all sorts out there. Maybe its just that a lot of that stuff is a lot more accessible out there... but somehow I never quite felt that disconnect out there. You are surrounded by nature. Its part of life. From hiking every weekend in the summer to long weekends by the lake or kayaking in the ocean, the outdoors and nature somehow becomes a part of your daily life. And its not like winter time stops you from any of that. Snow shoeing, skiing and boarding... all sorts of stuff that involves nature. I may sound like a broken, negative, old record, but the longer I live out here, the more I think I made the wrong decision. And I wonder if people do ever move from the West to the East coast. To the big concrete cities that is. Oh well, so much for all that.
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