Dressing to fit in: A foreigner's survival guide to China

Spending long periods of time in Beijing often has the effect of changing a person's personality and tastes without them even noticing. No matter how much time you spend in the city's Western restaurants and shops, Beijing will get a hold of you before you know it, especially if you're making a conscious effort to fit into the surrounding culture. The most visible expression of culture is of course a person's clothing. In Beijing, fashion is, generally speaking, all about bright colors and frills, and fashion sense seems to be closely tied to a person's gender.

Beijing fashionistas

Beijing women are stylish. Everyone who earns even just a tad above the average wage takes a keen interest in the latest international fashion trends and imaginatively adopts them to his or her own style. And those who cannot afford to buy the latest designer labels can always buy the ripoffs, and in that way make sure they always stay on top of what's hot in the world of fashion.

We Finns are traditionally a tracksuit people, but even when we fail to opt for that rustling epitome of sports apparel, we always remain conservative, sensible and informal in our way of dressing. A Finnish woman wouldn't be caught dead wearing some girlish puff dress, no, a pantsuit is the only way to go! That's why the über feminine Beijing fashionistas, with their tiny dresses and frills and bows and big hair donuts make a Finnish woman feel like she had just swallowed an entire wedding cake. A Finnish friend of mine who had spent many years in Beijing once showed me a colorful sweater decorated with oversized buttons she had just bought. She told me she had never thought of wearing something like that, but that the sweater had just somehow followed her home. But no wonder, since it was such a nice looking sweater, she analyzed... Later on she said she had seen a few women in Beijing wearing the same sweater, which had made her feel like she was really on top of the latest fashion trends. At this point it may be in order to mention that two of my most favorite skirts were bought in Beijing and one of them is adorned with a bow and the other with frill... In addition to them, I also have a couple of sequin shirts in my closet, but should the matter ever arise, I would never admit to having bought them! In any case, for some reason the clothes I previously thought to be so elegantly simple in their design just don't seem to do it for me anymore...

Who would help the men?

A shopping spree can sometimes turn into a nightmare. (Image: Radio86/Anniina Koivula)Now that we've established that women in Beijing are extremely fashionable, it's time to consider what has gone awry in the case of the city's men. Beijing's streets are full of men in black, as business suits are considered the ultimate in all-occasion wear. As a result, you run into them in all kinds of work environments from business meetings to construction sites. The fit of the clothes and of course their cleanness directly correlate with how wealthy a person is. Leisure time, on the other hand, is a whole other affair. Then the outfit of choice is either pajamas or a tracksuit, which can be worn on every occasion, even, for example, to a symphony concert. Apparently some fashion icon has at some point also said that men should wear their slacks as high as possible, at least above the belly button. On hot summer days, the number one way for men to cool down is to lift their shirts so high that there is no way anyone in the entire neighborhood could avoid seeing their belly buttons. These Beijing hunks surely draw gasps from the female population, but most likely for different reasons than they think.

Extra large sizes for extra prices

Small boutiques, such as Feng Ling, sell the best in designer fashion. (Image: Radio86/Anniina Koivula)Even if you haphazardly ended up becoming a fashion victim in Beijing, following the latest trends is not always as easy as you would think. Especially if you happen to be the wrong size. A trip to the supermarket turns into torment when overly eager shop assistants swarm around you, grabbing your arm and declaring that they sell the biggest sizes of clothing in town! Hey, come on! I really don't want to buy clothes with XXXL labels on them! It wouldn't hurt to take a basic marketing course or even get some insight into the workings of the female mind. Although, interestingly enough, the majority of sales clerks in China happen to be women! If you happen to finally find clothes that look nice and fit right, you still often have to engage in some serious bargaining to avoid getting completely ripped off. No, I will definitely not pay 30 euros for a T-shirt, nor will I change my mind about that Beijing Olympics baseball cap... Moreover, bargaining is such hard work that by the end of it I'd be able to fit into a smaller size anyway. And don't think that telling the salespeople that you live in China and that you know exactly what the going price for a so-called authentic pashmina scarf is will in any way work in your favor!

At some point I also found myself developing antipathies towards those ignorant tourists, who were happy paying ridiculously high prices for everything and in that way contributing to the price inflation. That's why the one piece of advice I give to all my friends traveling to China is 'haggle, haggle and once again haggle!' It's just plain stupid to pay too much for something. On the other hand, after that experience at the supermarket, the air-conditioned luxury boutiques suddenly seemed a lot more appealing... After all, that's where the most stylish Beijing women shop anyway.