Words by Bibs Malone, Writer

When traveling, it is always a magical experience seeing all the differences between your home and a new location. As a lover of fashion, I always notice what aspects of a city’s fashion are unique and special to the place I’m visiting. I recently had the privilege of visiting Spain’s capital city, Madrid. Whilst there I observed the many fashion trends that help make the city so amazing.

I was lucky enough to be able to explore Madrid with someone who lives there. My good hometown friend, Paige Hayes, who is studying abroad in Madrid for the semester, gave me some of her first-hand observations about fashion in Madrid. Hayes’ described how in Madrid, especially in the area of Salamanca, people are always dressed up. She says that it is rare to find people in casual clothing and everyone is fitted for a day in the office. Paige and I also noticed how a striking amount of people wore leather. Whether it’s leather jackets or pants, you would see someone rocking this material on almost every street.

Street and flea markets are also a huge deal in Madrid. On a Sunday, we visited the most popular open-air flea market in Madrid: El Rastro. This area was jammed-packed with booths and stands selling an infinite number of products. Levi jeans were selling for 15 Euros, and I was able to buy a Thrasher sweatshirt for 22 euros. The market also had countless stands of extremely affordable crystal jewelry. To anyone traveling to Madrid, this market is a must for inexpensive and cute fashion.

Art collides with fashion on the streets of Madrid. Throughout the city, you can see these beautiful statues of women with painted dresses. These statues are called Las Meninas (the ladies in waiting) and were created by the artist, Antonio Azzato who was inspired by the work of Diego Velázquez in order to bring more art and color into the city. Seeing these statues was an amazing example that art and fashion often go hand-in-hand in order to create masterpieces. Walking from street to street and being able to see these wonderful displays was such a fun experience.

Of course, being a tourist means taking a trip to one of the countless tourist shops situated in any city. Surprisingly, Madrid’s tourist shops included very fun and unique clothing to be bought. Clothing inspired by the famous Spanish Flamenco dance could be purchased. Alongside were numerous beautifully painted fans at every shop. Seeing these stores proved that tourist trap apparel does not need to be tacky and can be fashionable.

Overall, Madrid contains amazing and unique fashion. Seeing how Madrid differs from St Andrews was a refreshing experience that I hope to do the same in another city.

Trends A Tourist Notices: Madrid