Who wears "short shorts"???

Been in Paris a week so far and have not seen local young gals wearing short shorts on the street.

Who wears short shorts? Tourists and other people who didn't adequately listen to their mothers.

It's been a fad in Rome for a few years but it's been black short shorts with black sheer tights and heels. And it's definitely the 20somethings in bar districts. I don't think I've seen it much during the day outside of college age tourists drinking wine from the street vendors in Trestevre. Never saw it in Paris. Not sure about Florence as I haven't been there in a few years but it wouldn't surprise me since it feels like an American college town in some areas. Don't ever recall it in small towns though.

Only if you have the legs and rest to go with it and you are trying to draw a lot of attention.

No, it's not. You will get some attention, though.

If you plan to go inside a church, you may be refused entry.

Neither common nor acceptable. Anyone who dresses that way will embarrass themselves and those who travel with them.

Rather than "Who wears short-shorts in Rome, Paris or Venice?", the question is "WHY would you?". You will be in sophisticated cities on another continent so why would you want to look like a small town, silly young woman from a foreign land?

Common-absolutely not.
Accetable-no one is going to deny you service in a store but they should be saved for Ibeza and St. Tropez. You did say short-shorts, not bermudas--which are just kind of hoaky.

OTOH you can go to the beach, wear a string, take off your top and blend right in.

Oh, I don't know that it always has to be early 20's.

On the beaches in Italy you will see the frequent view of middle aged fat guys wearing micro miniature budgie smugglers - makes short shorts look positively frumpy.

Not anywhere else though...

On The Other Hand - long time readers here will remember the visions of Pensacola Ed running through airports - was it CDG? - , wearing sneakers and a speedo with a fistfull of euros and leaving wailing women and children in his wake...

... and I can promise you, knowing the man as I do, that 20 is fairly far back in the rear view mirror...

Thanks, Nigel. That always gives me a chuckle.

Nigel, we appreciate your attempt to give amusement here ("...wearing a speedo ...").

Hello Barb : one of the cities in Europe in which wearing short shorts is not acceptable is Ljubljana in Slovenia. In that city, citizens of that country do not wear blue jeans (or black jeans) that have a small hole at the knee, in the central part of the city. That would be very bad (and disgusting) behavior. (Edit) And a young woman (age 20+) wearing short shorts would be bad. In a city in Spain, if a young woman (walking with her male companion) is wearing short shorts, a Spanish man might run to her, and slap her butt with his hand.

It's warm here in Paris today. I did see a few short shorts around Notre Dame at mid-day. The thin younger girls (mid-teens to early 20s) didn't get a second look but the middle aged woman, a little plump wearing black short shorts with black nylons and high heels on the bridge between the two islands got a double look!?!

I really appreciate all of your comments. It is interesting how the "little" things are different from one culture to the next!

Barb

Wait a minute.. we are talking about 20 yr olds.. and sorry old folks. in Paris the young girls DO wear them... however.. they do not wear them with bare legs ..yes, even in heat they wear them with leggings or stocking under.. its a certain look. They do not walk around looking like Daisy Dukes.. more like they got dressed in the dark,, lol .. its a popular trend now for last 4-5 years at least. The more colorful the hosiery the cooler the look.

In Rome however I would consider them useless.. first off its not a case of "may not be allowed in churches or Vatican,," its a case of WILL NOT be allowed in churches or Vatican in any shorts that do not go right to the knees.. as in covers the knees.. they are way stricter in Italy then in France. Plus the heat in Rome is pretty intense.. usually worse then Paris.. so a sun dress or light skirt would be cooler.

I can't believe that nobody has answered this question simply with "We wear short shorts!". Am I the only one here who knows that song?

"If you dare go bare.. go Nair" song? lol

I find it more amusing that if the question would have just revolved around "shorts", the answers would have been very different ("wear what's comfortable for you, don't worry about it") I can only assume then that there are levels of acceptability for clothing, the argument then is what level is it.

As an early 50's slightly overweight white guy...short shorts are definitely not appropriate except for the beach, as much for my own benefit as those that would need to look at me.

For others...can't think of many male ages that they would work, women, yes, a wider age range with leggings and more of a formal/stylish look, only bare legs for the youngest, and even then only for casual wandering around, not for churches or a nicer restaurant. But then I shy away from any shorts for men except in a beach town, even shorts on women most of the time I would not advise.

Ian, you just had to say it huh?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve04-BcEP94

Also I think it depends on "short". If "short" means not Bermuda, more like a mid thigh length, I don't think you will get glares. But it isn't common as the others have pointed out.

But if it is the very short/very tight/up the crack/butt cheeks hanging out shorts that seems to be the style now (hopefully not for much longer), I bet that would get a lot more negative attention.

I know every time I see that sort of thing I give it negative attention.

Pat is right. Parisian young women wear short denim shorts with black tights. You will see this often, and perhaps in other hip European cities as well. I'd wear them too if I was 40 years younger!

I was at Herrenchiemsee on a very hot day in August a few years ago, and I saw a lot of people wearing shorts. Knowing how opposed Kent is to shorts, I took some pictures just to document that Germans do wear shorts on hot days. I observed that shorts seemed to be more common on the men than on women, with most of their shorts ending just above the knees. However, one of these pictures shows a young woman (not a girl) in a pair of shorts that end about 2/3 of the way up from her knees (kind of the length of basketball players shorts in the 60s). And, Frank, she did have "the legs and the rest to go with it".

But then, this wasn't in a city. However, the day before I saw some men in Munich also in shorts.

Lee, never mind the 60's, for John Stockton, this was a way of life in the NBA!

Heck, I remember the original song by The Royal Teens in 1957. (my sixth grade friends and I loved it!)

My early 20s relatives who were born and raised in Europe all do the short-shorts with tights thing in both big European cities and small towns - they pretty much have short shorts for all four seasons and in all different kinds of fabric and denim. At the beach, they do go bare legged with the short shorts when walking around, but they don't go bare legged when walking around in big cities or small towns. If said 20+ yo wants to wear short shorts with bare legs in the city, she should be aware that there are definitely some Italian and French men who make it a hobby to aggressively hit on cute women with nice bods (even if she's wearing a potato sack), so wearing short shorts when bare-legged and not in the context of being at the beach just brings out the creep factor even more in those prone to cat-calling, leering or following & trying to touch cute women who do it. Hey, I lived and worked in Italy when I was in my late teens/early 20s and was far from being a "lard-ass" (as Keith puts it). Had a few run-ins with some persistently annoying Romeos in the middle of the day for wearing something as seemingly benign as a sundress. And while the vast majority of men there are very respectful, there's always going to be that small percentage that are truly creepsters who feel it's within their rights to be crude. Not saying this 20+ yo needs to dress like a nun while she's over there, but she should not be shocked if she gets some unwanted attention from a few guys. It is like the modern-day equivalent of men from Victorian times who thought a woman showing off her ankles was "loose" and so they'd comment on it.

And unwanted feels in crowded places like the metro at rush hour.

I remember the song - hence the Quotation " " marks!! I admit, I was trying to be clever.

Barb

Just for fun, do a Google Images search for shorts in the 3 cities you list. Be sure that for Venice, you include Italy or you will get Venice, CA -- a totally different vibe.

I saw lots of examples for Paris, both with bare legs and with tights or leggings, but many, many fewer for the Italian cities. Just sayin'.

If I were that age and insisted on wearing shorts, I wouldn't take shorts from here. I'd wait to see what is on the street and buy some in Paris (or Rome or Venice). How cool would that be, to come home with shorts from Paris?!

Teen girls in German cities are all wearing short-shorts and have been doing so for several years. This is not a new fashion.

Any man that touches you deserves a withering look, a slap on the hand, as well as some loud attention to their inappropriateness so everyone around them will know what a creepy pervert they are.

It is over 100 degrees here in Sevilla. And there are a lot of short shorts, mostly on the young......

Just try and see what happens. As long as you don´t distract passing traffic there is no serious problem...... :)

Asking for fashion advice on this forum? If you are trying to get your daughter to dress more modestly you came to the right place.

What about shorter skirts? I bought a cute, tennis skort--it's longer and dressier than a traditional tennis skort. It's short but not super short; it goes about half way down my thigh. I'm middle aged in pretty good shape. Acceptable in the warmer climes of Europe or not?

ellen, much depends on the legs!

I am in Prague at the moment and there are quite a few young ladies wearing short shorts,not lots but certainly several around.

I was just in Amsterdam and there were women wearing less than shorts.