Ruth's Musings - Swiss Fashion -Culture

Believe me, it does strike me as funny that after all of the amazing adventures we have had since moving to Switzerland in September, my first post is not about an adventure. It is about what could loosely be classified as a Swiss fashion that seems to transcend into Swiss culture. More specifically, let's call it scarf culture.

When the days started getting shorter and weather became unpredictable, with cold and wet thrown into what had been sunshiny and clear, the scarves started showing up. It really struck home one day as I sat on a train (on our way to the carrot festival) and saw three women sitting across from me. They were all on their way to work, obviously didn't know each other, and yet were all following the same scarf routine. During the ride, all had unbuttoned their coats, and loosened their scarves. Now that their stop was imminent, they all rewrapped their scarves (step 1: fold it in half, step: 2 place it around your neck, step 3: slide the two ends through the loop you created by folding it in half), carefully placed the ends over their chest (this seemed to be the most important step), and then buttoned their coats back up over the ends of the scarf. The result... style... nothing less than Swiss style! I have thought about this a lot, and wonder how you learn the right way to place the ends of the scarf inside your coat (I believe this can only be defined as a matter of preference); I also wonder how many scarves a well dressed Swiss man might have hanging in his closet.

A well dressed Swiss man? Nein! A well dressed man... perhaps, but not Swiss - the scarf is all wrong...

Based on my observations, these pieces of fabric serve as a functional tool (keeping you warm when the wind whistles down through the top of your coat) and a fashion statement, as can be seen by the well dressed man who has carefully matched his scarf to his outfit. Needless to say, I have decided to adopt this part of Swiss culture and will be bringing it back to the US with me!

A well dressed Swiss hund? Nein! Definitely a well dressed American dog though...