Comprar Hasta Caer Muerto

Last Friday I went eshopping.

I had been good enough, stopping only occasionally in Zara to pick up a disposable going-out top as needed. But the recent dawn of warm weather combined with a reassessment of my closet practically forced me out the door of my residencia and onto Barcelona's Passeig de Gracia, a big street lined with boutiques both for the luxury and stylishly frugal consumer. Unfortunately, where I usually have very little trouble spotting dozens of things I like, I went in and out of shops with nothing more than the hopeless feeling that accompanies a less-than-fruitful shopping excursion. After a few months here, I've come to realize that Barcelona street style involves a LOT of solid neutrals. Black, brown, gray, cream, and army green really about covers 90% of the average Spanish wardrobe. That extra 10% makes room for colorful scarves and this truly diabolical Spanish brand of clothing called Desigual. Imagine tasteful handmade clothing on a conveyor belt as it is first shot with paintball guns, then stamped with stickers of weird eyeballs, dragons, flowers, and any other design that would have made for a fun temporary tattoo when you were, say, 8 years old. Then it goes through a shredder so that whatever semblance of a piece of clothing is left from the decorative treatment is now lost. I think the idea is that it's "atypical," but I think that might just be code for ugly. Sorry. But true.

So the Spanish wardrobe is either streamlined and urban and neutral and ultra-serious or smoking crack. All of the students in my residencia opt for the former, dressed very similarly in skinny jeans or leggings, layered tissue tees and sweaters, a leather jacket, boots, and an equally drab scar in solid neutral or washed out cheetah print. Not to say that I've never donned something similar, but I miss the quirky touches and outlandish accessories that I so often see in New York. Very rarely do you see a sense of humor in the way people dress here. Moreover, there seems to be very little color. While black had snuck into my NYC wardrobe in the name of function ever since arriving to Fordham, I still seek prints and colors (particular oranges and purples) when I'm out shopping, especially for the summer! After a few hours and a "can-do" attitude, I did find one pretty fabulous fuschia frock (yay alliteration!) that I'll be sure to post a picture of as soon as an event warrants itself worthy of such a dress. I also bought some pretty cute khaki-colored espadrille canvas sneakers that were too cute to pass up, and then quit shortly thereafter for fear I'd suffer an allergy attack from all of the dusty colors that filled the stores. I gotta admit that the Barcelona look can be hot, but I think I'd rather show my true colors. (Yuk yuk yuk.)

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