Rising East Online

Different Frocks for Different Docks

Louise Tierney

It’s 11.30pm in a crowded nightclub on Canary Wharf. Drinks are flowing, people are dancing, and the beat of the music is beginning to blur. A couple of hundred miles away, the scene is similar. In the bars, cafes and clubs around the Albert Dock in Liverpool, aftershave and perfume mingle as people relax after a long, working week.

But there are different styles of relaxation, and styles vary according to place. As a partygoer in both these ex-ports – I come from Liverpool but I am a student at the Docklands Campus of the University of East London, I have noticed that there are different frocks for different dock-lands.

Out on the town, Liverpool’s young women sport vibrant oranges, pinks and reds. On fabrics and on bare shoulders there are generous sprinklings of glitter – a riot of flash on top of skyscraper-high heels. Londoners go for a more beatnik style, with Victorian-style blouses, funky shirt-dresses and (even after all these years) footless tights. The London effect is laid back and carefree rather than in-yer-face.

The outfits that people wear often determine how they feel and act. Or is it that they choose outfits which reflect how they feel and want to be seen to feel? In any case, Liverpool girls tend to wear revealing clothes which attract attention. They are then obliged to live up to their get-up by acting up all cocky and confident. By contrast, London girls on a Friday night do not seem so flashy, either in dress or attitude. Perhaps they are more quietly confident: we are who we are.

Swinging between London and Liverpool, as I do, I have learnt to wear both styles. The important thing is to dress to have fun.

Louise Tierney is studying Journalism

Return to top

---

© 2004·06