Between yesterday’s Hepatitis vaccine and today’s blood tests (all part of getting ready to go to Taiwan) if I wore a sleeveless shirt I’d blend right in at the druggie center.
I’m having a severe case of clothing irony at the moment. For the last several years, at this time of year when the fall catalogs start arriving I’ve had a severe case of yearning for wool and fleece and flannel clothes and all the things that go with them, turning leaves and chills in the air and snuggling under a blanket and the images of flickering fireplaces and rosy apples and shiny copper that go with fall. (No, I have no idea why copper pans should be particularly autumnal either, but they go with that set of mental images.) This year I have all the fall things; I noticed small clusters of fallen leaves a week ago; Monday evening was distinctly cold; I’ve been wearing jackets for the past few weeks; I noticed yellow leaves on the trees yesterday.
But I still don’t get to buy wool and fleece and flannel, aside from the very light sweater I bought in Norway (and that was really an unwarranted indulgence). Three reasons: no Bean’s catalog here (they do ship to Europe, but then I’d have to pay both shipping costs and customs fees). But throwing money at it solves that problem. The other issues are more insurmountable: nowhere to put new clothes if I did buy them, with the limited clothing storage in our flat, and the fact that from November on I’ll be in a much warmer climate.
There are a few nonseasonal things I need to buy, as replacements of basic things; the washing machine here has somehow gotten unremoveable small dark marks on my white button-down shirts, and my good pants for work are about ready to be replaced. But European clothing tends to be much more expensive; according to Rudder, clothes are much cheaper in Taiwan. I may have a better shot at finding things that fit there than in this country full of tall people (though it’s also possible the lengths will be right and all the shirt sleeves and pants legs – and seats – will be too tight). Also, I have no idea what people wear there.
Yes, it does matter – don’t give me the lecture about not caring what other people think. Even if I didn’t care about and enjoy fashion (and I do, to some extent, though my taste is too eclectic to be a true fashionista) there’s the question of professionalism. I’m not as worried about leisure clothes, but what you wear can affect how you’re perceived at work. (This is true for both men and women, but the rules for women tend to be subtler.) In Arizona, for instance, bare arms and legs are not considered unprofessional. There are other cities in the US where a skirt without hose under it is an office faux-pas. Bare legs are fine here (I’m just talking about omitting pantyhose; I don’t mean short-short miniskirts) though tights are popular anytime but high summer, but bare arms are less common at work. Wearing an all-black outfit will get you comments about going to a funeral in Houston, but it’s SOP in New York and is fine here, but bright colors that are fine in Houston look a little gauche in Philadelphia. White is the Chinese color of death; I have no idea if that affects clothing choices. How professional do short sleeved or sleeveless tops look as opposed to long-sleeved ones, do long sweeping skirts look unpolished, are panty hose necessary, are sandals acceptable in the office, are plain fine-gauge jersey T-shirts dressy, do professional women wear mostly skirts, pants or a mix, will my long hair seem too young or too hippy-ish a style, and so on. And so on. So my shopping needs to wait until I get there and can gather some impressions.
But once again, no fall wardrobe replenishment for Dichroic. And given that Taipei temperatures get up the 80s into October, probably no wool and fleece and flannel next year either. Sigh.
Bummer. Fall clothes are my favorite of all. The day I get to put on my black turtleneck is its own holiday.
I am totally with you about needing to strike the correct note at work. ‘Do your own thing’ is strictly an off-time mindset. And then only if you don’t have kids who might need social lives. (Trust me, I learned this the hard way. Momming has its own dress code.) ~LA
Don’t worry about the white clothes in Taipei, people wear them all the time. The monks wear black and orange at funerals, and those are not taboo colors either. I wore a white robe at the two funerals I’ve attended in Taipei (for in-laws), but no-one came in off of the street in white clothes the way you’d see people in black at a Western funeral.
White is mostly off limits in gift wrap and flowers. Basically, anything you give as a gift should not feature white as the most prominent color. My wife tends to shy away from white napkins at holidays as well.
Red is the best gift color.
Leaving your chopsticks sticking up and down in your food is the big death-associated taboo – it looks like incense stuck a pot of sand – that is they way it is burned for the dead at altars. Always lay chopsticks flat across the top of your bowl or plate when you are not using them. Chinese tend to set tables with the Japanese-style chopstick rests much less often than the Japanese do, but use them if provided.
Thanks! This is really helpful.
You can email me if you have other questions. My wife is Chinese / Taiwanese, and I lived for 2 years in Japan. If I don’t know the answer, I’ll turf it to a Chinese in-law.