What is Charlotte's sartorial "style?" (Eastover: fit in, home)

[brokensky]

What's our style of dress here these days?

When I was growing up, Charlotte was known as the mecca of Prepdom. All things prep . . . just dress in golf or tennis clothing and you would fit in. Country club casual.

I still see that and wear a lot of that type of thing myself . . . heck, DH likes madras, Hee Hee. I tend to do a uniform for daily wear working at home - depending on weather - khakis or jeans or 2 piece terry or velour (don't tell Oprah - she said those 2 piece terry or velour things were hideous - OH WELL). So when I run out doing errands . . . I basically see women dressed like I am . . . separates, cute shoes, simple jewelry . . .

But I stick to a pretty close 3 mile radius and tend to run into a lot of soccer mommies and other telecommuter types . . . so maybe the rest of CLT has a different style.

Is Charlotte still Prep Central? What do you all think Charlotte's "style" is?

[the 7 oh 4]

Depends if you are in the burbs or more intown like Plaza-Midwood or NODA. Just go to the Penguin in Plaza-Midwood and you are most likely to see anything...especially from the employees. People usually tend to dress a little more conservative in the burbs. Overall I would say pretty much anything goes now a days!

[brokensky]

If I were young and skinny, I would dress in a much more adventuresome style. I would dress more "sex and the city" . . . but even tho I love to wear the Manolos . . . seems the feet rebel against high heels these days for more than a few hours these days. . . sad, but true.

[BarbJ]

Inspired by all the sexy young things around town, I tried the high heel bit the summer before last. Really got carried away. They looked great in my closet but when I tried to wear them out the front door my legs let out a loud cry of pain. They still do look good in my closet though.

As for other clothes, I think it depends on the age and the area. As 7 oh 4 says, in Plaza Midwood you're more likely to see tatoos than madras. At SouthPark, you see everything. I do think Charlotte is more preppy than Minneapolis, my old hometown. My kids who grew up here refuse preppy. With them, however, I think it's a bit of reverse snobbism.

I think that maybe certain areas have their own uniform or style; Eastover and MP, might be preppy, Dilworth a little more adventuresome, east Charlotte, well now, I don't know. UNCC very casual - even the professors. UNCC students are often in various degrees of undress (flip-flops, loooow tank tops and high shorts). I expect you can find almost everything in Charlotte.

[brokensky]

Thanks, Barb! That was a really great overview!

And I agree. . . those sexy shoes look terrific in my closet . . . and on occasion, I do dress up and wear them . . . but for "around town," no way. All day would put me over the edge, Hee Hee.