Teen Dress Code in Sicily
 

My 15 year old daughter wears the currenly in style short, shorts. Will this be a problem in Sicily or should she only bring her Bermuda shorts (to the knee)? Help--we need to pack soon.

Hi G,

How about 1 of each?

((I))

A 15 year old in those tiny shorts will get a lot of attention from men in Sicily, ranging from looks, to double takes, to following down the street trying to talk to her. If she, and you don't mind that, then let her wear them but don't even think about going into a church with those shorts on. Maybe save them for any beach areas you will be visiting.

Grinisa is correct. Italian teen girls do not dress provocatively as the girls do here in the states. She will draw attention from men of all ages should she wear short shorts.

If it were my daughter, this type of clothing would be left at home.

If you're in a resort it won;t be an issue. But if you in any smaller towns it's possible that your daughter - if dressed in short shorts and a midriff top - may be mistaken for a prostitute - and treated accordingly. (Frankly - in a lot of make-up and 4" heels the same mistake might be made on 12th ave in Manhattan.)

She really does need to understand that she is going to another culture - and dress accordingly.

The reaction will be the same as in any western country - we do live on the same planet after all!

As a parent - your judgement.

Where are you going in Sicily? Some parts of it are more conservative than others. In general, I would say that when you are around the much-touristed seaside places -- Taormina, in particular, and Ortygia as well -- you'll see plenty of skin. In places like Ragusa, or Agrigento, it's going to attract unwanted attention.

Can your daughter be persuaded to cool broomstick skirts? Lightweight and they are respectable anywhere, including inside churches if that's on the agenda.

I rarely saw anyone wearing shorts in Sicily. Much less showing of skin - most of the girls were wearing jeans, no matter what the weather, and I didn't even see many spaghetti-strap type tops (but 90% of the tops seemed to be black)

One lesson the young women (aged 14-19) who are students in the school where I taught in Italy learn very
quickly is that it IS different. They must dress accordingly or get followed, cat-called and spoken to in ways that their ever-improving Italian vocabularies recognize as really vulgar!

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I'd let her take her shorts and see if she feels comfortable wearing them there.

Sure, let her take the short shorts, but have her pack some sort of weapon as well, because she'll need it to fend off the pests.

Look, Italians are more relaxed about their bodies than others and pre-menopausal women (and girls) dress sexy and get a response. So shoot them? I don't think so.

I'd be worried about forcing a 15-year-old to wear clothes she thinks make her look unattractive (or are miserably hot in Sicily). Nothing is going to happen to her because of the way she's dressed. She could be dressed like a nun and if you let her wander the back alleys of Palermo, it's trouble. But if she wears shorts in Siracusa and gets some stares, she'll either ask to buy the next skirt she sees, or put on her Bermudas -- or maybe once she gets there she'll decide the shorts make her look like a tourist and will beg to buy jeans even if its 1000 degrees. She's fifteen. She's not eight.

By the way, shorts are seldom what women of any age wear in Italy. One more commonly sees shorts on men, and especially men from northern European countries who come to hike up Etna or something. It's considered a masculine item of clothing. She might want to know that. Short skirts are more commonly seen in Italy on girls and women, but longish skirts are fashionable too, espcially billowy, comfortable ones.

Gms and all:

All of the above seems to beg another fashion question:

What is more distasteful...a 15 year old girl wearing short shorts in Sicily, or grown men, especially those in or near their golden years, sporting shorts all over the world that don't come close to covering their grossly ample midsections (and that's being polite)??

Stu T.

Forcing a teenage girl to wear clothes that she thinks make her look unattractive? How does the issue devolve to that way of thinking?

There are plenty of alternatives. Fifteen-year-old girls all over the USA wear sundresses, skirts, and other attractive, comfortable clothing in summertime. It's not as though there aren't options...

I'm guessing that she would be far more uncomfortable attracting a lot of attention from Sicilian men than she would be wearing a skirt. And that's no reflection on Sicilian men, either; I'm very well aware of how Italian and other Mediterranean men act compared to the way American men do, and it's never bothered me. When my daughter was 15 and in Italy, though, it sure bothered her!

If the alternative is Bermuda shorts, she might definitely feel they are unattractive. I guess you didn't noticed I first suggested broomstick skits instead of shorts.

I think by the time you are 15 you are allowed to decide to wear shorts, even if it gets wolf whistles. If you don't like the wolf whistles, you'll change. But Sicilians are not going to be offended by an American teenager in shorts, so let's can that cover for trying to impose clothing choices on a teen.