Socks!

[shivver]

I was reading an article yesterday that listed the attributes that, when you're traveling in a foreign country, broadcast to the natives that you're an American, and one of the items listed is "wearing white socks". Now, you have to understand, I have no fashion sense no matter what country I'm in, including my own, so I have no idea and I have to ask: what color socks are you supposed to wear?

Please enlighten me, so that I can endeavor to not be so damned American when I'm traveling abroad. There's nothing I can do about my accent, but I can certainly try to make my footwear fit in.

Comments

[shivver13.livejournal.com]

Well, at the very least, I wouldn't wear socks with sandals. That's pretty standard, I think (though I do see people wearing them here). I think the next time I visit the UK (which I really hope will be soon), I'll invest in some black and dark gray socks.

Mostly I'm concerned with being so obviously American that I become a target (of either scams or thieves). I'm not so worried about regular people picking up that I'm a foreigner. I did notice the difference between what women wear in the UK and in the US (or at least the US West Coast). In the UK, women never wear t-shirts and jeans - even the most casual women, in the park playing with their kids are wearing blouses and trousers. (Which is another thing that marks me as a foreigner - I wear jeans all the time.) And they never wear trainers - always nice shoes or sandals. I did notice that men don't wear t-shirts much either - the only t-shirts I saw when I was in the UK was on some teenagers in a group who seemed to be part of a school outing, and even I could tell they were foreigners, since they were not in uniform. (my guess was that they were Norwegian).

[thisbluespirit]

Where were you and what time of year was it? Because trainers, jeans and T-shirt aren't uncommon casual wear here at all! Darker jeans are more common than the lighter, but still around. It would be less common in city centres or winter, obviously - trainers are way too chilly in winter.

[shivver13.livejournal.com]

It was September, 2014, and we visited Bath, York, Edinburgh, and London. The weather was very nice the whole time - I don't think there was a speck of rain, though it was a little chilly in Scotland. We were very surprised that there was so little casual clothing.