I knew I was in Miami the moment I got off the plane. Yes, there was an announcement welcoming me to the city. Yes, I knew where I was going,so actually getting there wasn’t a surprise. But that’s not what I mean. I knew I was in Miami because the women (even in the airport) were dressed different than in Houston. Very different.
I was expecting the holiday-wear, the shorts and the flip-flops and the casual gear. I was expecting the hats and the sunglasses and the other very obvious signs of people on vacation. What I wasn’t expecting was the others, the normal people. Specifically, the women going about their normal days.
They were dressed in bold colors, dynamic shapes, clothes with movement and flair. The clothes were more fitted, the heels were higher, and the necklines were lower (though not tacky). Their gaits had attitude.
I looked and thought, “That’s what I want to be when I grow up.”
Surely, I told myself, as I went around admiring the “native” outfits, surely I must just be misremembering. It can’t be that women in Miami dress with more style than in Houston. I was probably under some sort of vacation-induced amnesia that was causing me to forget the very stylish women in Houston. I must have seen these outfits, these clothes, out in the wild in my own environment.
Yes, I told myself, that had to be it.
And then I came home.
Where are the clothes I saw just hours before? Where were the bold colors and the flowing skirts? And the heels? What happened to the clothes? Surely they don’t just sell these styles in Miami. Surely women in Houston have access to them too.
And I paused.
It’s not that women in Miami dress with more style, I’ve realized. It’s that they dress with a sense of fun. I look around Houston and see women who are dressed with function in mind. Conservative. Pretty but practical. Stylish, but in a different way.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
NOTE: there aren’t any photos of the women because I thought it was rude to photograph strangers.
