As I have written many times before, I can’t help but stand
out in Armenia. My height, fair skin,
blue eyes, shaved head, and facial hair - they all mark me as a foreigner. And then there are my clothes.
Many years ago, I was visiting Morocco and someone was
trying to get me to buy clothes from his shop. His angle was that I stand out
as a tourist and if I dressed like a Moroccan, I would blend in. I laughed at him and declined the offer. The same goes here – I could dress more like
an Armenian but I would never be mistaken for one. And while I am often mistaken for a Russian,
I don’t really want to dress like them.
Appearance has a lot of significance here and I have noticed
that people take great pains to make sure they look good, even if they don’t
have a lot of money. Dirty shoes, holes
in your clothing, frayed hems, wrinkles, and stains are all frowned upon. If
someone’s shoes get dirty, you usually see him or her wipe the dust and dirt
off immediately. Wives and mothers tend
to do laundry all of the time and it is remarkable to me how whites are kept so
clean in a country that is very dusty and where people sometimes wear the same
clothes for multiple days. Having said that, you do see people – including many
in villages and the poorer people in towns and cities – who clearly don’t have
the luxury to dress well so their poverty is even more evident.
While there are exceptions (as with everything) there are
certain style elements that characterize the populace here. I will start with men’s clothes since the
cultural issues I have written about before make the women’s clothing styles
interesting on a different level.
Colors - One thing you notice as you walk around Armenia is
that people are very fond of black, gray and white clothing. Even in the harsh summer sun, you often see
guys in black – head to toe. You also
see people in all white and sometimes all red but black is the predominant
color.
Logos - Lots of clothes here have logos on them. Dolce & Gabbana, Versace, Armani and Adidas
are very popular. Somehow I don’t think
they are genuine, though, since a logo shirt may only cost about $5 and I am
not aware of any two or more of the above making t-shirts together as you see
here.
Tracksuits - Another common thing – which I think this was
inherited from the Russians – is the tracksuit.
Whether they are copies of the official Armenia team suits or just a
plain black Adidas one (or, as some of the knockoffs have – “Adibas”) they are
everywhere. Some guys at my gym will
walk in wearing a tracksuit but then change into a different one to work out
in.
Shirts – there are three varieties that I see here – the
form fitting tee shirt, the form fitting sweater and the more classic button
front. A lot of the tee shirts and
sweaters have busy designs on them.
Pants – Jeans are pretty popular but they may have creases
ironed into them. Dress slacks (dark
gray or black) are very popular and pretty much all that men in their thirties
and up are seen in. Tracksuit pants are
also common without the matching jacket. Even though it gets very hot in the summer,
seeing men in shorts is rare. Young boys
may wear them, but by the time they are teenagers, not so much. Near the house is fine, but I can count on
one hand the number of times I have seen a guy (not a tourist) walking in
public in shorts.
Shoes - Shoes here tend to be black and pointy and/or made to look like velvet or other materials. While you sometimes see guys wearing
sneakers, you more often see what I would call dress shoes, even with a
tracksuit. Even during winter, when the
streets are lethally icy, the dress shoes remain but the leather soles allow
one to do a sort of cross-country skiing maneuver that I never mastered.
Suits – I usually only see suits for occasions like weddings
and they tend to be shiny. And while not
technically a suit, seeing someone in an “outfit” is not uncommon. But some guys like to mix it up – it is not
unusual to see someone in a nice shirt, track pants and dress shoes, or a tee
shirt, dress slacks and dress shoes.
Even with these generalities, I have notices trends of a
sort while I have been here. The first
summer in Gyumri, it was all black, everywhere.
Last summer, I started seeing red shirts all over the place. And this year – skinny jeans and red
shoes.
So how do I manage with this? In New York, I had an inclination for dark
clothes and brought a lot with me so I fit in pretty well with the color
palate. I needed to buy a sweater this
past winter and had a tough time finding one in a solid color with no
logos. I finally found one but the largest
size available was on the tight side. I
have been in need of new shoes and, while there are tall people in Gyumri and
my size is available, the points would make my feet look even bigger than they
are. I’ll wait.
The way that young women dress here is at odds with how
conservative society is toward women. To
say that many dress provocatively would be an understatement. I guess the reason for this is that marriage
is the primary goal of many young women and by dressing provocatively the chances of
attracting a husband are increased.
Older women tend to dress more modestly.
Colors, logos, etc – Women wear more variety as far as
colors go, but black is pretty common.
Animal prints are a common feature in many women’s outfits, and
sometimes you can see different animals on one garment. The logo thing crosses
genders and women are fond of glitter, beads, bedazzling and anything that
sparkles.
Young women - For young women, clothes tend to be very
tight, skirts can be very short, and heels very high. A lot of skin is shown or additional layers
tend to act like push-up bras. There is
a lot of glitter or bedazzling evident. Hair tends to be big and either teased or
“done”. French manicures with elaborate
designs are very popular. As far as the
shoes go, the heels are evident even in winter.
When I have asked about how they manage to walk through ice in
stilettos, I was told that it is easy since the heels act like ice picks and
prevent slippage.
Older women – Older women are more inclined to dresses, even through the winter. The dresses are normally less form fitting and some wear pants instead. The hair is not as done up but virtually all dye it – seeing a head of gray hair is not common.
And every once in a while, you see something that defies description.
For female PCVs, these fashions present a challenge. Due to stereotypes about foreigners (being
more “free” than Armenian women) dressing like a young Armenian woman is not
seen as wise. I have heard about
discussions with co-workers about why heels are not worn, pants vs. dresses,
absence of makeup, etc.
There is a backlash to some of the trends here. Several people I have spoken to refer to
“qyartu” in the same way that Americans refer to “guidos”. The “qyart” label refers to an entire
attitude of flashy dress and “gangsta” attitudes that seem to have been
inspired by the Al Pacino movie “Scarface”.
Take a look at the “Anti-Qyart Movement” page on Facebook if you want a
better idea of how it shows itself.
So I wonder how this will affect me when I go back to the US. I must admit that a lot of the clothes here remind me of Brooklyn in the disco era (or Staten Island today) so maybe I am just getting back to my roots. I can get ready for a night out by putting on this number that I acquired here.
