[ Fashion ] Dress up Locally while Traveling [ ft. Hualien, Keelung, Harajuku and Tuscany ]

In big cities that we live, like Taipei, New York, London, we can often see people dressing up themselves specially, being interviewed and snapshot. He/she often stands in front of a pure color wall to be shot so that we see every detail of his/her outfit. This time we see a street style teen, next time we meet with a girl who is good at playing with colors with a extremely visually eye-catching outfit. Various styles wandering back and forth in the city embodies the embracive nature of a city. And that always amazes me as a metropolitan.

Well, there are times when we are not in a city, yet in some unique places that are away from the cities. This is time to try a special method to dress up yourself: integrate the unique local elements into your outfit. That way, we can not only show our respect, and also create an unusual type of scene that is harmonious to it. 

Here, I am going to introduce my styles and outfits in the following places in Taiwan (Hualien and Keelung) and abroad (Harajuku, Tokyo and towns in Tuscany, Italy) that I visited.

[ 1 ] Taroko, Hualien ,Taiwan

Taroko is a dream land that almost all Taiwanese have been longing for. It is just indelible after you see those huge rock formations, giant yet gentle. Like a mother, she gently holds the blue Greek, Li-Wu. Sometimes suddenly you look up into the air, you realize that the immensity of Mother Nature has been and will be there caring for you always. All you can feel is a sense of safety in her arms.

To express my affection to the tenderness and greatness of the Mother Nature, the set of colors, quality and texture that I chose for my outfit perfectly follows the rock formation, and also echoes to the material of minerals. Also, with a huge portion of my exposed skin and body lines, it is just like that I merge with the Mother Nature, so as to show my deep admiration to her.

Plus, I have always fascinated by manicure. Out of my love to the nature, the style of the manicure that I do often adds elements of the nature. This time, the painting on my nails are the spirt of the blue sky, minerals, and water. It is also a symbol of the blue Greek, Li-Wu.

[ 2 ] Qixingtan, Hualien, Taiwan

Along the east coast of Taiwan in summertime, the Pacific Ocean is always with a pleasing fluorescent blue color. It makes me want to immediately wear a comfortable white top! In these years, it has been very trendy to wear an oversized T-shirt, with or without any pattern on it. The large-area ​​whiteness of a t-shirt completely reflects the dazzling sunlight into your eyes, making you feel “Ah! I here, without doubt, came to the warm seaside!”

To enhance the pleasant feelings, I went for loose pink shorts for the bottom – mixed with slightly fluorescent pink. I also matched it with a small purse that is with black and green plaids, which is also based on fluorescent colors. Though it is a bit not what original ocean color is like, it is still visually refreshing because the colored area is not too large!

[ 3 ] Chen-Pin Fishing Harbor, Keelung, Taiwan

It was once being the largest fishing harbors in Taiwan traced back to the Japanese colonial era. Although the past glory has been long gone, so far Chen-Pin Fishing Harbor has still served as a security blanket for fishery boats. Lately, cute coffee houses with a wide variety of colors have been built up in the first row of the coast.

Some people might say it is a bit not natural to paint those houses with different colors, however, we can never resist the sense of happiness that colors can bring to us. The colored houses perfectly match with the blue cute fishing boats, creating a scene that it is absolutely a happy fishery little town.

As for color-choosing for the outfits, my friend Aggie and I both went for ice-cream colors – vanilla green and purple. Plus, the colored houses and the cute fishing boats together bring out a bit nostalgia atmosphere, so the cutting of my top follows the old-fashioned style, which looks square and loose, with the 90s low notch collars.

[ 4 ] Takeshita Dori, Harajuku, Tokyo

It has always been exciting when planning to make a trip to Takeshita Dori, Harajuku, Tokyo – a cute kind of bizarre place in Japan. Before going, I bleached large part of my long hair into a light pale blonde color with super excitement.

It was a fall afternoon, I dress up myself with a thick milky pink top with puff sleeves (it would be better if it is with two big shoulder pads). I matched the top with big yellow plastic earrings and sweetheart curls with light blonde highlights. If you like to look a bit cool, you can also wear a pair of ripped jeans to neutralize the sweetness of the upper part body.

Yeah, it perfectly suits the swaggering but kawaii Harajuku Takeshita style. Okay, let’s rush to order cotton candy with those high school girls! And take a snap in one of those photo-sticker booths ^^

[ 5 ] Townships in Tuscany, Italy, with their name unknown

Here I would like to introduce these beautiful townships locating in Tuscany, Italy. Driving along the way from Florence to Rome, we bumped into several of those townships and started out wandering. In this region, many townships still preserve an atmosphere of primitive simplicity from the sophisticated modern culture. It is also where Siena, one of the most famous town, is located.

Overall, the color tone is light beige brown. Churches, rock walls, rock stairs here have well preserved the medieval architecture style.

Surrounding the village are the endless pastoral hills soothingly going up and down until far away. The light mist far away in the air blends the sky and the land together in a way that is breathtakingly beautiful. It reminds me the temptingly carefree new life described in the novel “Under The Tuscan Sun” which is also adapted into a movie. The pastorals, churches, wine and children’s laughters one after another consist the complete whole of life.

There were not too many tourists due to inconveniency of transportation. Local people grow various kinds of flowers and plants in front of their house. Thus, wearing a vintage shirt with floral prints is the best solution. It would be better if it has a low collar, that way it helps to add a bit more sense of passion. It is also recommended to match with a modest straw hat and a pair of jeans. Just like that, we made a relaxing holiday complete^^

We also visited some other rarely known townships and wineries in Tuscany (and YAY for not being surrounded by too many tourists). There was not too much information on the web and we were a bit worried about getting lost, yet we were so mesmerized by this romantically dream-like adventure. In these townships, I mainly wore bright and relaxing colors and matched a straw hat.

[ After Thoughts ]

I think I will continue styling for myself this way: check out what special features are there about the place you are going to visit, pick some of the features that inspires you, and dig out clothes that correlate with those features from your closet! It is quiet enjoyable to do so!

Next time, maybe I will practice how to dress up when traveling to Kenya to witness the great migration of wild life, or to Madagascar or the rain forest to explore the wild nature^^

[ To be continued… ]

Text: Jenny | Photos in Hualien Taiwan, Harajuku Tokyo, Tuscany Italy: Luke | Photos in Keelung Taiwan: Agathe