Posted by rita on Wednesday, May 17, 2017 in 2017 Blog post.

https://youtu.be/TW0N21xlgro

So far in Cefalù, I have eaten in the restaurants in town, gone to the beach, and had gelato (everyday), but I had yet to go shopping for clothes. I had no need for more clothes (and weight in my luggage), but I wanted to purchase something from Cefalù just to have it to wear and remember my time in lovely Cefalù. I had only window shopped before in Cefalù and the rare times that I did step into stores in Cefalù, I was taken aback by the high prices the boutiques were charging. However, unlike malls back home where you can visit different malls and shop at the same stores, the stores lining the streets here aren’t only more expensive, they are standalone. There isn’t another similar store around the corner and so, the prices in the stores reflect that. I do wonder, though, how these quiet stores have been able to keep their businesses afloat because most of the boutiques I have walked past have appeared to be empty, often with a store owner or attendant standing in the doorway. Do these stores just depend on the patronage of tourists alone? Back home, going to the mall, I have never seen so many empty stores and leisurely employees. Stores that don’t attract customers simply cannot afford to stay open. With this in mind, I decided I probably wouldn’t be buying any clothing in Cefalù, but then my classmate, Cynthia, told me that she had come across an Italian “Forever 21,” an inexpensive, fast fashion brand in the United States, of sorts on her way back from the grocery shop and we decided to make a trip to the clothing store together to perhaps find something new (and Italian) to wear.

We went to two stores right next to each other, Tally Weijl and Piaza Italia. Both stores were playing American pop music in them. We heard Calvin Harris and Mariah Carey and EDM music in the stores and were surprised that the stores were playing English music. In fact, the boutique stores we had gone into often played Italian music and I could not recall ever hearing American pop music in any stores in Cefalù so far. As far as the fashion, I noticed that the clothing, while similar enough to American styles, was slightly different. The clothing, on the whole, was largely Forever 21-esque. Fashion isn’t too different between back home and here in Cefalù. I also noticed some interesting graphics on the clothing in the stores. Firstly, the text I saw on all the clothing here was written in English. This also surprised me because I wondered why the text wouldn’t be written in Italian, as that is the language spoken by the majority here. Is American culture that pervasive in society here? Additionally, I saw many t-shirts emblazoned with American pop culture symbols, such as Batman and Coca-Cola. That didn’t surprise me too much because these things are internationally recognized, but what did surprise me were t-shirts that had “New York City” written on them. I would have expected to see “Rome” or some other Italian marker on clothing here, but saw no such thing. From the music to the clothing, I honestly couldn’t tell that I was shopping for clothes in Italy. The music was the same and the clothing too. Furthermore, both of these stores had more customers milling about than I had seen in the boutiques. As for the prices, the prices were much fairer than the boutiques for similar styles, but they were a bit more expensive when compared to fast fashion in the United States. On the whole, my shopping experience here in Cefalù was not very different from my in-store shopping experience back home.

Upon further research, I found that while Piaza Italia is an Italian brand, Tally Weijl is actually a brand based in Switzerland. I understand why all of the clothes we saw didn’t appear to be Italian and more American style. This is because for the Switzerland brand a place like New York City is known around the world as a cultural and fashion force, so it makes sense for it to be written all over the clothing we saw. Another thing I noted to be interesting was the location of the fast fashion stores in Cefalù. These stores weren’t centrally located or clustered as popular stores are back home. I think this is because the stores don’t quite fit the narrative of the romantic little Sicilian town that is Cefalù. When one thinks of Cefalù, they don’t think of stores such as these ones. They think of the quiet streets, restaurants, and little boutiques that line the main street. These fast fashion stores almost contradict the very simple and sweet ideals of the town the tourism industry here is founded upon. That is why they aren’t to be found on the main streets. Anyways, I am curious to find out more about the clothing stores here, how they make their profit, and whether they continue to operate during the off season. This experience was actually culturally edifying, as I was learned about the differences and more present similarities between my shopping experiences here in Cefalù and back home. I am happy to continue to look for these similarities and differences and surprises during my time here!