rapidly deteriorating sense of fashion

When I first came to Madrid, I was justifiably horrified by many of the fashion trends that have taken hold of the madrileños. Things like denim mini skirts with black leggings and brown pirate boots. Or outfits composed entirely of different shades of green: olive green pants, kelly green t-shirt, jade necklace with matching bracelet and earrings, and forest green boots. Even when there are other colors in the outfit the madrileños like to monochrome it up. A hot pink t-shirt showing from beneath a garrish red sweater, for example. Boots and purse in different reds to "match," of course. The women are also fond of nylons with patterns on them, such as flowers or criss-cross patterns or even, god forbid, animal prints. Young couples also have a thing for matchy-matchy. You might see a young Spanish woman in skin-tight white jeans, a mustard yellow sweater and heels, and a thick white belt (purely for decoration and not worn through the belt loops but rather on top of the sweater), and you can recognize her mate by the white sweatshirt with mustard yellow accents in it, not to mention the white and yellow sneakers he´s wearing. These are the kinds of outfits that made my eyes bulge and my mind stumble when I first arrived. And while I still know, intellectually, that they are fashion faux pas that would have Stacey´s and Clinton´s heads spinning, I have grown so used to seeing them that they don´t even phase me anymore. Gold leopard-print nylons? Yeah, what of it? A young woman with an 80´s fright wig, dressed all in skin-tight black except that her pants are strategically worn halfway down her ass to reveal her shiny silver underwear? Completely normal. Though the fact that her haircut makes it look as though she has a frightened black cat perched on top of her head is still too much for me.

So here it is mid-November and the leaves are just finally beginning to turn. The weather has been colder, cold enough in the mornings and at night in fact to warrant a warm coat, gloves and a hat. With the cooler weather comes more layers of clothing, so the madrileños have been concocting new and interesting ways to "match" the clothes in their closets. And being short on clothing myself, I am unfortunately finding myself wearing rather interesting outfits. Right now, for example, I´m wearing a sea green boatneck sweater over a pale moss green crew neck t-shirt, so that you can see both greens loud and clear. Intellectually I know that the pairing is wrong; it´s just that I can´t SEE that it´s wrong anymore. Honestly the outfit looks fine to me. Brings out my eyes even. Oh lord am I in trouble!