Southern Comfort

I like big cities. They offer an exciting combo of museums, dining, shopping and my favorite, people watching. This past weekend I visited Atlanta and discovered the city style is a wonderful mishmash of hip-hop cool, preppy pairings, professional, polished looks and easy breezy sundresses and skirts.
I could tell the rapper Lil Jon (who is originally from Atlanta) had a heavy influence in much of the hip-hop style. Guys donned oversize tees and polos with long, baggy shorts and big sneakers. The rapper authenticity even carried through in gold teeth (!), flashy medallions and shoulder-length braided hair. Despite the casual-cool of these outfits, I could tell that these ensembles weren’t cheap.
On the dressier end of the spectrum, some of the businesswomen I saw wore classy suits with different pant lengths (long or Capris), accented with sky-high stilettos and medium-sized handbags. Daytime ensembles also included a lot of dresses and skirts and various short lengths on women to keep cool. It is hot down there, people.
Nighttime wear was impressive. While men’s getups were relatively tame (dress pants and crisp button-up shirts and lots and lots of Polo shirts) women definitely rocked the trends. Younger women favored short, trapeze-style dresses (seen on celebrities like Lindsay Lohan and Nicole Richie), low-cut sundresses, and tanks and halters with short skirts and shorts. The majority of outfits were paired with three-inch or higher pumps or strappy heels.
It was interesting to compare the difference in clothing from our conservative Midwest city to this Southern hotbed of style. I can tell Atlanta’s weather, sheer population and accessibility to trends are influencing factors in what clothing trends “Hotlantans” gravitate toward.