Flori-duh, land of the fashion faux pas

The sub-tropics, one either loves it or hates it. Unfortunately I fall into the latter category. The heat and humidity, not to mention the fashion, is enough to drive one insane.

I have a real issue with clothing at the moment. I will only wear natural fibres during the summer here. Silk, cotton or linen, with no hint of synthetic. Anything with a bit of rayon, a bit of polyester, becomes a sweat trap and is incredibly uncomfortable.

Surprisingly, it's not all that easy to find natural linens, (without rayon added) or even 100% cotton in a lot of the stores here. I would have thought that there would be a huge market for such breathable fabrics in this climate.

It seems that the people of Florida are somewhat sartorially challenged. Good dress sense is very rare here. Being from Melbourne, the fashion epicentre of the Antipodes, as well as being half Italian, I was used to dressing up for outings such as eating out and so on. It turns out that my fashion sense is very out of place here.

I refuse to follow the trend and abandon all sense of style and continue to wear my normal attire, but the price I pay for it is to be subjected to censurous stares from the herd, which can seriously erode one's confidence.

Detail from Butterfly Top.

I saw an older lady yesterday, wearing a glamorous emerald and gold caftan. Perfect. It looked stunning, such elan, I applaud her on that bold fashion choice. On the same outing I saw a woman that can only be described as Liza Minnelli after she let herself go, wearing tight, tight short denims and a tight white t-shirt as well as copious amounts of garish make-up and an over abundance of brummagem baubles. When it comes to style, Liza Minnelli is perhaps not the best role model.

The heat goes on and I will continue to wear my asymetrical skirts over pants, linens and caftan style silk tops, despite the peer group pressure, I will not succomb to the power of the herd. Keep your tight T-shirts and denim shorty short shorts Flori-duh!