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Thursday, October 6, 2011

Vancouver, you're ouwt

Vancouver was recently named by MSN Travel as one of the world's worst-dressed cities. Why do I care? Because I hail from this lush, green, oceanfront metropolis. While Vancouver prides itself on being repeatedly named one of the top cities in the world in which to live, it appears that its sartorial climate is not up to par (and I would have to agree). The reason?  The tendency of Vancouverites to dress as if they were heading to or leaving a yoga class.  I have been residing in Montreal for the better part of the past four years and while Montreal's inhabitants are forced to sport Canada Goose parkas and Sorel boots (or more stylish equivalents) for four months out of every year, at least when they take off the goose down they do not look ready to perform sun salutations. The style in Montreal is much more European - people appear to have put thought, time, and effort into their outfits. While Vancouverites may claim comfort for the reason behind their sartorial choices, I call it laziness. You can be comfortable and look presentable without having to resort to sportswear (a point I will bring up in a later blog post).

Image via Google
When you wear these outside the yoga studio, you're ouwt

In addition to the Lululemon dependency problem, Vancouverites have a serious addiction to Aritzia. While dressing in Aritzia doesn't make one poorly-dressed per se (the clothes are nice for the most part), the fact that everyone does it is perhaps another testament to the laziness of Vancouverites when it comes to dressing. Montreal does not have an Aritzia, nor thanks to Quebec's arcane language laws will it ever, but it is not like everyone sports complete Urban Outfitters or Zara outfits. There is a sense of creativity and individuality in the sartorial choices here**. 

That being said, Vancouver does have its share of stylish peeps - you can check out the city's style on one of my favourite street style blogs, Style Quotient.

** excludes certain McGill students see: black leggings, Ugg boots, short Canada Goose jackets #allwinterlong

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