Fashion File ／現地ファッション事情

Before I came to this country, I was advised to particularly dress conservatively, when you are young. Though I am not so young, I do look young. Extreme difference between resorts where you can pretty much be naked with a tiny mini bikini while in the Manhattan and on other residential islands, you are expected to dress "respectfully" and "decently". My Kurti shirts that I have been wearing in Nepal and knee length skirts that have been tacked away in my closet for the past two to three years (as the trend was a bit shorter skirts recent years) are once again in my heavy-rotation wardrobe list. No short skirt, no open neck shirt and no no-sleeves in the office and not so much on the street.

As I observe on the street, I would say 80% of women wear hijab (head scarf) and a small minority wears the black head-to-toe veil (not bulka need to research the name). So, the covered percentage is quite high. But, most of them wear modern clothes with hijab. In the office, the percentage is much lower, and some of the ladies are very fashionable with tight trousers. They must be quite progressive to work in the UN.

As much as I miss wearing my nice summer dresses, I am relieved that there is not a so super strict dress code. And at a same time, I also do feel relieved that this is more or less non-consumerism, no high-pressure-to-dress-nicely and always have up to date outfits environment. I do love shopping and dressing up, but I find it hard now to be in a hyper capitalist- consumerism society where you are made to feel inadequate if you don't have this and that and end up almost compulsively want to buy things just because.

こちらは宗教上、あまり足と言うか肌を出すのが御法度なので、数年前にはやっていた膝丈スカートが大活躍。最近は短いのが主流（だと思うんだけど）なので、着る機会がなかったので、何だか嬉しい。後は、ネパールで着ていたチュニックのシャツは露出度が低いし体の線も出ないので、丁度良い。来週、インドに出張に行くので、また何か買ってこようかなー。ベールを被った女性の隣をノースリーブで太腿もむき出しにした観光客が通り過ぎて行く、なんともおかしな構図のこの街。ここ最近は、週末にしか着れないカジュアルだけど可愛い服（ジーンズやオフィスでは着れないスカートやワンピース）を買ってそれを着るのが好きだったんだけど、この生活では現地スタイルと、その外とリゾートで着る服のギャップが反動でどんどんエスカレートしていきそうで怖い。