Well, Summer is here and with it come a variety of new social quirks and idiosyncrasies. Russian's adore the sun! Any chance to whip the gear off, adorn the super mini skirt and don the socks and sandals, is taken full advantage of. The summer fashion is amazing! Amazingly shocking! Don't get me wrong, the ladies clothing, or more to the point, lack of, is rather eye catching. No complaints there. However, the guys on the other hand seriously need help!
To start with, the socks and sandals/thongs/slides is rampant, as if it represents the epitome of summer"cool"! It doesn't stop there, for some reason as soon as the sun appears, out come the all white outfits. ALL WHITE! From head to toe, it's not hard to confuse many of the men for professional cricket players. Oh yeah, another style ground breaker is the open shirt look. Normally undertaken with the mandatory white linen shirt, this look works especially well on windy days, after the gentleman has had a belly busting feed and has adorned the very necessary gold bike chain. It's a crowd stopper, oh yeah, I forgot, the hairier the belly the better.
Men's hair cuts remain pretty much the same regardless of the season, brushed down, with a deadly accurate straight fringe. The hair dressers must all graduate from the same academy because every cut is a carbon copy of the next. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to buy hair wax. It's as rare as hens teeth.
So, in case you're wondering what else the bewildered Aussie has been up to, apart from critiquing the local fashion scene, I been following most of the other traditional Russian Summertime activities. Shashliking, taking the odd country getaway, drinking, swimming, sun bathing and not cruising the streets, shirtless proudly showing off the knee length socks and sandals. I may have been Russified to a degree, but this is one crime I'll never commit.
Country getaway.
