What to Wear? (Seattle: storage, bus, public transportation)

[ness]

Is it true people from Seattle don't carry umbrellas? So...if you're building a wardrobe for Western WA what should you know? What is the typical winter outfit, summer outift of a WA native? Is there a perfect shoe for WA's moist climate?

[jwb123]

Yes, it's true people don't use umbrellas. Get yourself a good gore-tex jacket, with a zip out fleece liner (like a North Face). Plan on getting wet and having a hair style that will deal with that - seriously.

Typical winter outfit - of course personal style comes into play - but I guess jeans, sweater or layered long sleeved shirts, and gore-tex jacket. You see a lot of these types of shoes, in various styles/makers/fabrics...

Women's All Weather Mocs from Lands' End

Summer is pretty typical summer wear you see anywhere... even when the weather doesn't warrant tank tops and flip flops, people wear it anyway to give the illusion that it's warmer than it is

[jabm67]

Yes, use of an umbrella marks you as an alien intruder.

When I moved back to Seattle in 1988, I went to REI and bought a top-of-the-line Gore-tex raincoat there. It lasted well over a decade; I bought its replacement in 2000, IIRC. I didn't need much else in terms of raingear. The rest is just taste & style. The weather is mild enough that you can pretty much wear what you feel best in, and/or what is best for where you spend your day.

[jwb123]

There are people who wear shorts in the winter. Standing next to someone in full down.

Seriously, wear whatever works for you and your body temp.

[ness]

Originally Posted by jabm67

Yes, use of an umbrella marks you as an alien intruder.

When I moved back to Seattle in 1988, I went to REI and bought a top-of-the-line Gore-tex raincoat there. It lasted well over a decade; I bought its replacement in 2000, IIRC. I didn't need much else in terms of raingear. The rest is just taste & style. The weather is mild enough that you can pretty much wear what you feel best in, and/or what is best for where you spend your day.

DH works for REI. He'll be happy to hear your jacket lasted a decade. I have a tendency to be cold...rather than hot..so I'll probably have to get good at layering.

So....here's another element to this question. How fancy are Washingtonians (is that right?)?

My New York cold weather uniform is long underwear, jeans, black powerstretch fleece, 3/4 length black wool coat, scarf, and boots. My sense is that WA is much more laid back than NY....so I guess the REI goretex makes sense.

[jwb123]

How fancy are Washingtonians (is that right?)?

They aren't. At all.

[scirocco22]

I notice a lot of people using umbrellas now. But as others have stated, it's a sign of either a transplant or offspring of a transplant.

Back when I was a kid, it was considered a rather strange apparatus ...didn't see many of them at all. I guess they didn't fit the image of the rugged northwesterner. Of course, back then we didn't have gore-tex either. I remember my scouting days in the woods with rubberized poncho and matching hat over a flannel shirt and jeans.

--'rocco

[Wanderlust07]

Re the umbrellas (or lack thereof): I think most people who have been here a while realize that the rain is often accompanied by merciless wind, which will either rip an umbrella out of your hands or at least turn it inside out repeatedly, rendering it useless and providing entertainment to passersby. I've tried to fight to keep an umbrella open on a stormy day, only to either nearly poke my own eye out, or someone else's. Add to that the fact that once you have a wet umbrella and you try to bring it onto public transportation, you're likely to forget it because you'll try to place it someplace where it won't drip on you, like the bus or ferry floor. It's just not worth the hassle. As recommended, a wind and water-resistant jacket with hood will come in handy.

Boots will most likely be your footwear of choice. Get something with a good grippy sole so you won't slip when it's wet out -- brick and cobblestone can become especially slippery in wet weather -- and that will be versatile enough to dress up or down.

[bmsea]

Originally Posted by ness

Is there a perfect shoe for WA's moist climate?

My perfect shoe is the Dansko Professional Clog. It is comfortable for walking around downtown, perfect for jumping over small puddles, keeps your feet dry, is casual but can be worn with slacks.

When I moved here from LA, all of my high-heel-open-toe-cute shoes went into storage. The fact is that what worked when I was driving to work and walking 25 steps to my office simply didn't work when I had to run to catch the 7:53 bus.

All my LA girlfriends may make fun of me for losing my sense of style, but my feet are comfortable!

[ness]

Originally Posted by bmsea

My perfect shoe is the Dansko Professional Clog. It is comfortable for walking around downtown, perfect for jumping over small puddles, keeps your feet dry, is casual but can be worn with slacks.

When I moved here from LA, all of my high-heel-open-toe-cute shoes went into storage. The fact is that what worked when I was driving to work and walking 25 steps to my office simply didn't work when I had to run to catch the 7:53 bus.

All my LA girlfriends may make fun of me for losing my sense of style, but my feet are comfortable!

I LOVE Dansko and already have a couple pairs. They do seem like a good bet. I'm an LA girl and I do get teased quite a bit about the clogs. My friend is also a Dansko convert and we joke that they are wonderful except for the occassional clog-related injury....where you step down in just the wrong place on a bump or ridge in the sidewalk and roll your ankle which then turns into an ungraceful fall to the sidewalk with purse contents flying everywhere. lol just thinking about it.