Over-blinging it

Last week, I discussed out-dated one-piece piste fashion. Well, you’ll be pleased to know that even those with the latest gear sometimes screw it up. The colours from the eighties are actually making a come-back, but there’s still a big difference between then and now. That difference is geometry. That’s right, back in the eighties, jackets were all about geometric shapes — a triangle on the centre of the jacket or a diamond on the back, with squares of different colours sewn together to make a patchwork jacket. In 2010, the fashion is more about either one solid colour making up a jacket, or a patterned fabric. For example:

Solid colour on snowboarder Solid colours and patterns on skier Solid colours and different patterns on snowboarder

On the left here is someone who has broken up the limeness of his pants with a darker jacket.  In the middle, proof that patterns can look good when coupled with a solid colour. The guy on the right has gone for mismatching colours, and thankfully, just one pattern. That’s all good. These sorts of combos are currently very popular.

Pyjama ski outfitLess popular, thankfully, is patterned tops and bottoms. This guy on the right, for example, is actually a really good skier (he’s easy to spot), but I can’t help thinking of pyjamas when I see his outfit. Talk about busy! I like the way he’s got his matching blue jumper tied around his waist, but I wish he’d stick it over his jacket instead. In the sparse five minutes I had yesterday to snap all these photos, I failed to see anyone wearing patterned ski pants with a different patterned jacket, but it’s the worst combo possible, usually involving lots of colours and totally clashing patterns. It’s a great sign that nobody was out and about in mismatching patterns, but it does sometimes happen, and to be frank, twenty-year-old one-pieces are kinder to the eyes.

Of course, all this is just my opinion, and this guy probably considers my chocolate brown jacket and bright blue pants totally boring and “so 2008”. (I feel like lending him my pants actually: they’d go nicely with his jacket and turn the volume down a bit.) Perhaps next year, I’ll be looking back at this blog entry and wondering how I could be so silly to think that anything less than matching jimjams on the piste is a good thing. But for now, I’m resisting. And I think I will next year too.

About

I'm a technical author, journalist and writer from Australia who has been living in Europe since 2000 and exploring the world from there. My passions are writing, snow sports and travel.

2 Comments on “Over-blinging it

  1. My son skis in a lime green jacket so lime it’s almost yellow, pairing it with dark grey pants. I remember being surprised by his choice of skiwear back in the autumn when we suddenly realized that last season’s ski pants only came to his knees. I thought he’d go with something a little more toned down – maybe a small pattern (herringbone, par exemple), but in discreet colors. Nope. He wanted lime! It suits him, though, because he gets very tanned.Not that he’s skiied much this year…but at least the lime has doubled up as skateboard wear.

    I’m not hot on the turquoise/blue/white patterned outfit you snapped, but agree that the outfit is vastly improved by the turquoise sweat-shirt tied around the waist. It’s all about “le look”!

    xx Francesca

  2. Your photo of the good skier im matching patterned jacket and pants reminds me of a child’s outfit. Although it still wouldn’t be very good a three year old would have a greater chance of “getting away” with this look!