Primani...?

Some may dislike this (possibly a certain Welsh teacher at Small But Perfectly Formed Language School), but I am a fan of Primark. I like the price, I like the colours(ish), I like the price, I'm always amused at the unusually chatty sales assistant who frequents the upstairs section at the Cheltenham store, and also, I like the price. On a recent trip home to the UK, I managed to fill one of those big blue basket things to the brim. Summer wardrobe: done. And on my return to (disappointingly cloudy) Italy, I had to buy extra hangers for it all. A small price to pay for a set of clothes (and shoes...and bags...) that no-one else here has. There are definite advantages to being part of a teeny tiny minority of native English speakers in these parts. Nobody is aware of Primark, what it is, where it comes from and how much it costs. Cue: major showing off of items that no one else has. In a country where an acceptable, 'fashionable' (yes, I am expressing my scepticism with inverted commas...more on this later) appearance seems to be crucial, I do enjoy the showing off just a little. An Italian, female acquaintance of mine commented on how nice my my new coral pink (ish) bag is yesterday. I gratefully accepted the compliment. Big smile. No mention of the £9 price tag. I shall wear my Primark goods with pride. Secretly hoping however, that they won't fall to bits as I'm swanning along the main street trying to look sophisticated...

The Primark Bag That All Italians Love. OK, perhaps that's a slight exaggeration...

Let's revisit previously hinted scepticism at Italian fashion. Although using the term 'Italian' is highly inappropriate, as many southern Italians have even said themselves that The North and The South are very different, in a number of ways that we can't even begin to count. In my opinion, the South barely gets a look in when it comes to 'style'. In an effort to improve my sketchy Italian, I have taken it upon myself to purchase many, many magazines. I'm not going to lie- the pictures hold my interest the most, mainly due to the fact that my simple brain is attracted to all things bright and shiny and expensive looking, but also because the pictures don't contain ridiculously difficult conditional sentences that I haven't a hope in hell of understanding. Nevertheless, I am reading more and it's paying off. And I am beginning to realise that 80% of articles/comments/other miscellaneous things are based on/written about Milan. Which is most definitely a long way from here. The other 20% is taken up by Rome and a bit of Naples. My poor little region barely gets a look in. Now I'm unsure as to whether this is because it has been observed that some folk down here are, to put it nicely, 'intrestingly' dressed and it would be a travesty to even mention such 'fashion', or it's because they have no guidance as to how to dress, due to the magazines being directed at those 'lucky enough' to live in The North. Either way, I shall continue to read, the Southerners will continue to dress in their own way, disregarding these 'guidebooks' of fashion (and, perhaps, rightly so..have you seen some of the 'clothing' in these things? Pyjamas for outdoors? Errm...absolutely not), and I shall continue to play 'spot the multicoloured trousers' with the girls. Oh, and write about such interesting multicoloured finds, of course...