Autumn- I thought the reason for long sleeves in hot weather wasn’t so much conservatism as the strong Taiwanese female preference for avoiding sun. You may see girls with parasols too as a result. Personally, I wear long sleeved pants and shirts in any weather in Taiwan to avoid mosquitos, a habit I picked up when I was living next to an agricultural field in the countryside.
I’m with Jennifer on this one; unless you go for the kitschy velvet/plaid/sequins/synthetics look in size 2-4, get some stuff at home. While they don’t like showing much skin, they also don’t like giving their skin any room to breathe. And bring some bras too, unless you go for pastel-looking, ultra padded A cups. shudder…
I find that Taiwanese women have terrible fashion sense on a whole. But then, I prefer the more classic (masculine) tailored suit look (Sharon Stone/Meg Ryan/Julia Roberts).
You’d never see one of them in clickety clack little cutesy gold lame shoes and polyester dresses with ruffles and bows. And correct me if I’m wrong, the outline of their nipples appear from time to time in films.
But then I’m no fashion plate myself in Taiwan due to many of the factors listed above.
I have considered going to Dihua Street, buying heaps of groovy fabric, and going upstairs to the tailors with magazine photos. It’s not that expensive from what I hear. Hmmm…maybe this autumn, after I shed those few kilos again.
But,oops, there’s the shoe crisis. Anyone know of a good cobbler?
I’d have to agree with you, Alien. Taiwanese in general just don’t have much fashion style compared to some of the other Asians. Even the rich Taiwanese often have poor taste. Koreans, however, dress sooooo friggin well!! Mainly the girls. In NYC, you always see them wearing the high end labels, i.e., Gucci, Prada, Armani and carrying high-end accessories and they always wear full make-up. And I’m just talking about the college girls!! I kept thinking they can’t possibly be ALL rich!! Afterall, the per capita annual income of Taiwan is higher than Korea’s, yet Koreans seem to be splurging more on clothes than the Taiwanese. My friend says she thinks alot of them buy fake labels tho. They definitely are among the more superficial Asians. But I wish the Taiwanese had more fashion taste. But it would be difficult to wear the suits you prefer in humid, rainy Taiwan, unless it was during wintertime I guess when it’s cooler.
taiwanese women show very little leg compared to women from say, california. you’ll see the short skirts or daisy dukes here and there, but not with nearly the frequence you might encounter in california.
as for comparing the fashion sense of taiwanese women to koreans, go to korea, not nyc. all the taiwanese girls i knew in nyc were dressed to kill, too. it’s in the homelands that you see what us overseas chinese call the “fob look.” there are a good number of korean girls at mtc here and their fashion is pretty much indisdinguishable from that of the taiwanese girls.
compared to a few years ago, though, the difference in women’s fashion between taiwan(and asia) and the us isn’t nearly as obvious. most girls i see here go around in hip huggers and baby tee’s or tank tops.
Yeah, the fashions for younger people are similar to back west; jeans of various styles and real or imitation designerwear (Ike shoes, Cuggi shirt and Cididas bag).
I think women from different ethnic persuasions must find ways to enhance their own attractive genetic attributes. This may be why Japanese fashion suits Taiwanese women more than it does most western women. And why larger western women in xiaojie attire look utterly ridiculous, while petite Taiwanese ladies in short skirts, long tailored jackets and spectator pumps look frumpy, usually.