The Frau's New Fashion Find

It can be challenging to live in the world’s most expensive city when you are used to shopping at the biggest sale ever at Kohl’s 365 days a year. Not only are things in Zurich triple the price, but there just aren’t that many choices.

Coupons and discounts are few and far between in Switzerland, so the Frau grabs what she can. For instance, last week, she clipped out a coupon from Blick am Abend for 5X the Cumulus points at Migros. So needless to say when she was offered a voucher for Zalando, a virtual mall that delivers anything fashion-related right to your door for free, she couldn’t pass that by.

Over 23,000 shoes. The Frau isn't used to such choices!

First of all, fellow yodelers, there are over 23,000 pairs of shoes to choose from on the fr.zalando.ch website. Imagine the Frau’s dilemma. She hadn’t seen this much selection in Switzerland ever. It was almost like shopping at Target. She could search by size, color, heel size, type of shoe, and more. The only catch was, she had to do this in German or French as the site delivers practically everything except the English language.

Kein Problem. If she ever needed an excuse to improve her French or German, being able to shop on a site that offers no worries of customs tax is it.  And also no worries if the shoes or the almost 32,000 clothing items you can choose from don’t end up fitting. Because you can return them within 30 days for free. Free. The Frau likes free.

Speaking of free, Zalando even offers a toll-free customer service number. The Frau asks you: what other Swiss entity offers this? Call the SBB and you'll get charged CHF 1.19 a minute. You know the drill. In Switzerland, if you’re a customer and want help, it’s usually 1-800-PAY-US-MORE.

The Frau also likes sales. But why wait until July or January? If you’re an American cheapskate like her, you can go to Zalando just to search for sale items exclusively. Or for sale items and your favorite brand. 

Hint for all other shopaholics: if you sign up for the Zalando newsletter, you can get CHF 10 off your next purchase. The Frau already did, of course. Clip, clip. This coupon queen is in her glory.

Do you shop online in Switzerland? Any sites you like? Or other good deals to be had?

Scary Worldwide: The Band Uniform

In honor of Halloween, I wanted to share something that is a truly frightening phenomenon worldwide: the school band uniform. Pictured above is Baden's version (heads have been chopped off to protect the innocent).

What an outfit. Wow. Makes me feel better about that wool, navy and orange shoulder padded suit that I had to wear in high school.

Note to all band members: I know it's not your fault, but putting a feather in your cap is never a good idea.

Did you wear a band uniform in school and live to tell about it?

Horrible American Fashions

“Americans are a disgusting people,” said my American husband the other day.

The sad thing is, I had to agree. If you go to the U.S. after living in Europe, you can’t help but cringe. People are fat. People are sloppy. People wear their pajama bottoms in public. (If you don’t believe me, see the above photo, taken in Naperville, IL).

Now I’m all for casual. I like baseball hats. I like sweatpants. And I don’t like the stress of worrying about what I’m going to wear to go to the supermarket. But still. There are limits, both in what should be casual and the amount of food that should be consumed.

To consider the level of casual, take an advertising agency creative director for an example. These people are notorious for taking casual to the limit.

In the U.S., a typical creative director dresses like he’s about 18 even though he’s 45. Baseball hat, untucked T-shirt, shorts, and flip flops or running shoes.

In Switzerland, a typical creative director wears a button down (tucked in), jeans, belt, and leather shoes.

Now be honest. What do you think is more appropriate? Has the American definition of casual been taken too far?

American Clothes

The only time I really get use out of my American clothes is when I go on vacation. Don’t ask me why, but somehow when I’m a plane ride away from Switzerland, I feel like I can suddenly break out the Americana. The running shoes, the sweatshirts, the shorts. They all get celebrated with equal pleasure and vicariousness. (I held back on going all out and bringing the sweatpants to Norway, but that was a mistake as Norwegians actually wear these.)

Now that I'm heading to Chicago tomorrow, I will revel in everything comfortable for 10 days straight. And it will all come out of my closet at home or from shopping as I plan to bring pretty empty suitcases.

But this time, I won't be going into "I'm a tourist and I don't care" attitude about my clothing. Because no one will notice anything strange if I prance around in flannel (except of course that it's out of season). After all, what is sold as pajamas in Switzerland are sold as street clothes in the US. And the fun part will be seeing what I bring back with me and making that same realization all over again.