VIENNA IS PUFFED UP!

Spexy Lady has been a bit of a jet-setter lately, hopping across the Big Pond recently to visit the palaces and castles of Vienna, Austria. Hint: Europe is always better in the winter if you want to avoid those pesky tourist lines winding around the art capitals of the world. And airfares are a bargain...my 5-star hotel was half price!

After being thoroughly palaced out, Baroqued to death, and dizzy from an abundance of art from the Renaissance and rebellious Expressionist eras (think Gustav Klimt and Egon Schele), my favorite site was street fashion!

Smart thinking, all I brought was black to fade into the parade of black, black and more black on the fashionable plazas and city streets.

However....It was as if everyone in Vienna got the memo..."Wear ONLY puffer coats and jackets. All other varieties of outerwear will be looked at suspiciously."

I did not get the memo. I brought a LONG wool coat...one of about only 2 people I saw wearing anything below the knee. I wore my short Patagonia fleece with 4 other layers and still froze trying to fit in. NOT!

There were chic hip-length puffer jackets cinched at the waist and narrow through the body (if that's possible with this Michelin Man inspired trend). There were the longer, mid-thigh puffer coats that were boxy, and usually seen on the more matronly ladies. There were pea-coat inspired puffer jackets, certainly zipped up, ski inspired puffer jackets as if everyone had just
landed from the slopes of Tyrol. And of course, these puffers were black.

The best looks were sported by Vienna's German-speaking college coeds (University of Vienna has only 73,000 students!). Skinny jeans tucked into black knee-length Italian leather boots (few had spike or tall heels!), Uggs, suede fringed boots, or rugged thick-soled boots, anchored the fullness of the puffer jackets.

Even the guys kept warm under these black cushy coats, and of course, worn with jeans a knit beanie and wool scarf.

What was I thinking! I left my ski jacket at home! I did bring home the puffer look though...I packed on an extra puffy 10 pounds trying to find the perfect apple strudle. (Warm please with a capuccino.)

I'm planning my next adventure as we speak...and am on a strict less-than-spextacular diet, dammit!