Differences between British and American fashion

[VintageRainBoots]

Hi, all.

I'm new around here. Currently, I'm in Los Angeles, but my husband recently accepted a job in Guildford and we're in the process of moving to the UK.

I'm curious about the differences between American and British fashion tastes. For example, I've heard that British women tend to wear clothing closer to the body (i.e., more fitted) than American women; is this true? I could certainly see how it could be the case. "Baggy" clothing, especially t-shirts, are commonplace in the US. Few people bother to get their clothes tailored unless they're work clothes (e.g., suits for the office).

Also, Americans tend to dress quite casually (e.g., blue jeans and t-shirts), though I avoid t-shirts myself. In addition, people in the US tend to wear lots of "active" clothing, like yoga or jogging pants, even when they're not exercising! Is that done in the UK?

Finally, I have a closet full of Ralph Lauren polo shirts in a rainbow of colours (my berry coloured polo is my favourite!) and a large number of casual trousers (e.g., khakis and cargo pants). Would I stand out as the obvious Yank in such attire?

And, just for fun, what makes an American stand out as an American? Like, when you see someone walking down the street and you can just tell that they're American...what is it that they're doing/wearing that makes them us stand out?

Kenneth - I think that holds true for England too. I am just over your 32 cut off, and I don't have 'good' teeth. I think, back in the 80s/early 90s, orthodontics on the NHS was pretty much for correcting faulty bites. I did have a brace to correct the alignment of two teeth, but nothing to straighten them overall. It would never have occured to my parents to try and scrape together the money to pay privately, or take out a loan or whatever.

Now I am older I periodically toy with the idea of a brace, but can't face train tracks and night time retainers. I shall just make sure my girls have good teeth (so that bit of your theory works too!).

I had crooked teeth and wore a brace in my early teens - back in 1972. OH doesn't have good teeth due to having them "rearranged" in rugby accidents and he said one of the first things he noticed about me was my straight teeth

I don't have Hollywood teeth though.

Hmmm, everyone I went to school with seemed to have braces, my Cousin had them as a child then as an adult. I didn't but then my teeth are pretty much perfectly alined. My Mum was a bit anti-braces as she had had them and remembered pain. (I'm over 40 as is my cousin.)

I had braces free on the NHS because my bite was really bad (strangely it's much worse than my bark, boom boom ). And because I started being treated as a child, I was allowed to keep seeing my orthodontist after I was 18.

But in the US I think it's considered a thing you just automatically do for your children if you are comfortably off, no matter how slightly crooked their teeth are, whereas in the UK people tend to perhaps not do it unless there is a more severe degree of crookedness. I think it's less automatic a thing to do in the UK.

Jacksmania There's definitely a more visible industry and culture of teeth whitening in North America, and a lot of Hollywood and media people with Day-Glo white gnashers that I find very funny. But having discoloured teeth doesn't mean they're bad - as in diseased - that's what I find North Americans can't grasp. It just means you probably have a rich life full of glorious tea drinking and red wine.

at not knowing where to look when talking to someone with startlingly white teeth.

Agree with scare. I had braces as a teenager in the 80s, on the NHS. But my teeth were straightened so that they weren't completely haywire - they weren't straightened to a molecular degree. I think we accept a vaguely normal mouth of teeth rather than thinking everyone has to look like Tom Cruise (which is not normal). That glow is painful.

All the stuff about grooming and hair and nails and stuff reminds of the the time I had a facial in NY. Big mistake. The facialist asked me when I last had a facial. I muttered something like "ten years ago" and she was horrified. She asked me how often I threaded my eyebrows. I said never. She looked aghast and then I could see pity cross her face and then she said in a gentle voice: "Is it all just too much for you?" . It was really as if I was transgressing a social norm and I might actually need some sort of mental health intervention.

"Is it all just too much for you?"

I think women in NYC are expected to keep up to a very high level of personal grooming. They'd run me out of town with a pitch fork!

I agree that braces in UK/Ireland are used to correct severe dental issues compared to the American idea that all teeth can benefit from braces.

Glaring white teeth (anyone remember that episode of Friends with Ross' glow in the dark teeth?) are ott, but I do think yellowing teeth can be quite ageing. I was offered a brace as a child and turned it down, I'm now toying with the idea of an Invisalign now to straighten a few little bits of crookedness.

I can understand why Americans have the idea that our teeth are ugly as compared to theirs they often are. But on the other hand I like the fact that someone with a mouth full of higgledy piggledy teeth can still get a job on British TV whereas in America that just would not happen.

'Tis true about New Yorkers' grooming. I've got a friend there so used to visit quite often. Pre-DS I had some reasonable clothes, and took all my 'best' to wear over there, but compared to the local women I looked like a scarecrow. They're all so incredibly neat.

Remember the Osmond teeth?

Many year ago I was watching TOTP when Tony blackburn, who was presenting, said to turn the contrast down on the TV (Black and white TV in those days) and all you would see were his teeth floating around in the dark. He was right

hope you havent got a fanny pack

Important linguistic note, OP: 'fanny' in the UK means 'front bottom', not 'back bottom'.

you'll laughaboutitoneday yeah, my daughter has inherited my teeth, no better no worse but she iwll be getting a brace! i will just throw it on to the scheme and pay it off till i'm old and grey I also toy with the idea of getting braces as an adult sometimes. wish i'd done it years ago. as you get older you feel you get less value out of it.

squoosh i went and got moulds done for invisalign about four years ago, but they told me I wasn't a suitable candidate... they couldn't tell me why i wasn't suitable though. they send the moulds and xrays off to california and their verdict came back not suitable. it would have been ?4,000 and i was going to pay it off 118 euro a month for three years. If only i'd been suitable, i'd have nicer teeth and it would be paid off by now. no amount of dentistry would ever have given me julia roberts teeth.

I wonder why some people aren't suitable? You'd think straightening teeth is a kind of standard process. Obviously not. Have you tried 6 Month Smiles or Inman Aligners, they're the other two methods I've read about recently.

I think I will have it done. I've had my teeth whitened and it's made such a difference.

My DD went to an orthodontist in the uk (yes she is 30 so just under the dealine mentioned above for teeth straightening) becuase she had an overbite (which gave her a bit of a weak chin). Wow it made such a difference to her whole face, sort of pulled her chin forward. So I assume that that is why sooo many young americans have that 'firm jaw' look which is v attractive.

HOwever she bashed a tooth towards the end of her treatment by not wearing a gum shield at hockey practise so still doesn't have the row of perfect gnashers. It was to risky to start trying ot move bashed tooth (now slightly discoloured!)

not dealine, deadline

I really don't know Squoosh. my teeth aren't dreadful. but you know the way kirsten dunst has a snaggle tooth, but it's not terrible. My teeth are on the same lines. Not straight but I don't think people would recoil in horror, but maybe they would in America!?

at drjohnsonscat's facial. I think when we talk about teeth straightening and incredibly well groomed it's important to remember we are talking about a certain socioeconomic class. Not everyone in America actually lives like this. Although in the town I live in the professionals are all about massage and yoga rather than grooming - if you don't go to yoga or are not into woo, everyone looks at you with pity because your chi is probably all out of whack.

I wish I'd got invisalign done while I was here - moving back to Britain soon and it will probably be more expensive.

being incredibly well groomed

Here in my part of the States there is a pretty even split between the big hair, big teeth, big SVU, tiny body moms and the ones who look fresh-scrubbed, long not-done hair, oh-I'm-just-going-for-a-hike outdoorsy types.

Hi OP, please please please don't try to fit in. The UK suburbs needs people like you to be different, to be who they are. There is so much falseness and people trying to acquire some kind of status by buying Burberry, London life has become very dull.

If you must look truly British, buy Boden.

still, can i just say, i do remember when anna nicole smith died and her relatives were interviewed on tv,and I've never ever seen such bad teeth as I saw then!!! it was an eye-opener!

OP, go shopping in LA and buy the most American of American clothes that you can't get over here. Wear them loud and proud. I know nothing about fashion, don't know why I'm on this thread, but please don't follow trends, it makes people look false and weak-willed. In My Humble Opinion.

Has anyone ever seen the Simpsons episode featuring The Big Book of British Smiles?

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I had mine straightened/ realigned in Ireland in the 70s. I had so much wrong that I was a guinea pig at Dublin's Dental Hospital. A professor used to conduct lectures and demonstrations using my mouth (wide open for long stretches of time) and students would all gawk at it.