Thread: question on how russians dress compared to americans

a friend of mine who used to live in russia told me once that russians can spot an american on sight just by looking at them and how they dress themselves. is this true? i dont really find it hard to believe, i was just wondering what exactly makes us stand out? how do russians dress and what do americans do differently? i think someone told me not tucking our shirts in is something americans do different. is this true? thanks a bunch!

Big cameras, rude manners, disrespect, and just generally lower IQ's i think are some of the first things they spot.

Generally, natives can identify tourists easily just by looking in any country...

When americans (well, not only americans) come to tropical countries, they tend to wear some T-shirts that only tourists could use... And they are always sun burnt.

*sighs at dogboy* i knew i should have put a disclaimer at the bottom not to include negative stereotypes, but i had hoped people werent so narrow minded on this forum. you're sterotyping millions of people from a few idiots who only care about themselves. lets try this again. excluding tourists, and only concentrating on americans who travel to russia for other reasons such as education, business, family, etc., what do americans do differently in their dress and the way they look/carry themselves?
P.S. thanks for the reply ekalin : ) thats the kind of things i was wondering about, although not the only thing

I think its peoples attitudes .

People from different countries have very different attitudes, and some times they clash, IE Germans in Australia.

Australians don't give a shit, Germans want everything to be perfect.

lol yeah i think thats true. how many Germans are there in Australia anyway?

Too bloody many. They come here for holidays. Is it just me or a Germans really racesist?

Originally Posted by TaintedDoughnuts

*sighs at dogboy* i knew i should have put a disclaimer at the bottom not to include negative stereotypes, but i had hoped people werent so narrow minded on this forum. you're sterotyping millions of people from a few idiots who only care about themselves. lets try this again. excluding tourists, and only concentrating on americans who travel to russia for other reasons such as education, business, family, etc., what do americans do differently in their dress and the way they look/carry themselves?
P.S. thanks for the reply ekalin : ) thats the kind of things i was wondering about, although not the only thing

wow lets just ignore everything negative in the world, lets just put everything bad out of site and just push it away. even if your friend looks dumb just lie! tell them they look good. i'm so tired of daisy growers sugar coating everything, and not looking at the whole picture. it's the same soccer moms that love to ban video games that are so bad because it's wrong to steal cars or say "butt" in a video game. well, i say america is retarted, im tired of retarted americans, and i wish my own country wasn't so retarted. it's freakin embarassing.

haha, dogboy, I think you may be on to somthing there.

Originally Posted by TaintedDoughnuts

a friend of mine who used to live in russia told me once that russians can spot an american on sight just by looking at them and how they dress themselves. is this true? i dont really find it hard to believe, i was just wondering what exactly makes us stand out? how do russians dress and what do americans do differently? i think someone told me not tucking our shirts in is something americans do different. is this true? thanks a bunch!

If you'll smile 24 hours a day, anybody will know you're american

Russian fashion is much more up to date and european in comparison to American style. The Russian girls here are always dressed well, never sloppy. Even in casual clothes they look like a fashion statement.

from the few russians ive seen on tv and pictures it seems that the women, well kinda dress like guys a bit. the prime example would be the button up shirt, saying that my exposure is very limited

The only place I see the girls dress even close to conservative is at church. But even there it is common for the babushki to chase them down and yell at them for being too revealing.

Jealous sea hags

It's their job to protect The Faith. (They're rewarded by being indestructable. You should see them stick their hands into the center of a blazing candle stand and pull out the melted ones without even getting singed!)

1) Most (of cause not everyone) of Russian women always use cosmetics (even on the beach) and they think a lot about how they look.

2) Women look after their man (husbands and sons) too.

And my personal opinion: when I was in Thailand we where sitting on the bench near the shop -- the most dirty and untidy tourist always speak English. I don't know why.

but...

Americans that live in Russia for a lot time (I have a lunch every day with a group of them) differ from Russians only by the smile.

i went to my russian friend sergeys house last friday, i saw his great grandparetns, i smiled at them when i met them... man i felt like an idiot... the whole freakin room was all awkward. but it seems like russians at my school smile alot, well more than normal, at least, to me anyways.

I'm English, not American, but when I was in Russia I noticed that at first everyone immediately knew I was a foreigner. When I bought some clothes in Russia that changed and people actually stopped me to ask directions etc.

The main difference I noticed was that the Russians tended to wear darker colour clothes (in my beige skirt and red coat I was obviously a foreigner, in a black skirt and black coat I could be more Russian).

I also noticed that the Russian women did wear makeup on occasions I wouldn't bother. They were extremely smart, neat and attractive.

In Britain I can usually spot American tourists because they're the only ones wearing shorts in London. They seem to have different hair styles too, and walk with more confidence, somehow. The British usually only wear shorts when they are the loud tourists in southern Spain! Germans have a unique shape for glasses!

Ok, ok, stereotypes: but there are genuine differences between different nationalities, caused by their history, their geographical location, their language etc. It would be awful if we all became the same, some average culture. Of course there are individuals who don't obey the stereotypes: stereotypes are based on an average of the entire population, they're only wrong if you assume they apply to individuals or if they are out-dated!

...just like most Americans can spot foreigners here in the U.S.:

1) We can smell you!!! Americans consider most of the rest of the world to be hygeine-challenged. Even the japanese, who are cleanliness fanatics, don't brush their teeth as well as Americans.

Besides, average American food is bland compared to most of the world. We don't usually reek of cabbage and onions and garlic and curry and chilies and leeks and limburger and vinegar. We eat chicken and potatoes and carrots, hamburgers and hot dogs, ham sandwiches and bibb lettuce salads with thousand island. We don't sweat out our food!


2) Smile! How are those teeth? American teeth, for the most part, are straight, white, and clean. No tartar. We pay a lot of dentists a lot of money.


3) Got an ashtray? Americans don't smoke. Those who do are careful about where they smoke, and do their best to disguise the odor.


4) Stand the **** back!! American personal space during conversation is approximately 120% to 300% that of other countries. In polite conversation with someone you don't wish to mate with, you shouldn't be able to smell their lunch when you talk!


5) I don't get the "unstylish" or "low IQ" comments. Americans are brash, and uncaring about other cultures, but low IQ? Unstylish? There is a certain segment of the American population which adheres to what we affectionately call "Eurotrash" style, where you wear black and little else. But beyond that, we go with fashion moguls such as Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, and Donna Karan. Preppy is in in the U.S. So is pop. Both are colorful and anti-"Eurotrash". So we end up sticking out, so what? It's a two-way street.

Man, I must be a weirdo. Except #s 3 and 4 none of those apply to me I haven't been to the dentist since I was 11, I don't even look at what clothes I own, and I consider the spice rack to be the single most important part of the house. And I probably am going to get a pretty bad reaction from you Puritans, but on weekends I don't even shower or change my Friday clothes unless I have to go somewhere. That's Mike's time, damn it.

That thing about personal space is really funny. Where did those percentages come from? I keep imagining like two people having a casual conversation and then a scientist appears out of nowhere and is like "EXCUSE ME, FOLKS" and sticks a tape measure between their faces and jots down a bunch of notes.