On our recent trip to Rio, we were very surprised by some of the… um… “unique” fashion trends, and not so surprised by others.
Thongs
Everything you’ve heard is true. Brazilian women love to wear their thong bikinis on the beach! Every single woman aged 15 on up to 90 on the beach was wearing a thong bikini, or a very small bikini that had been “tucked in” to resemble a thong. They seemed to be pretty shameless about it as well, which was shocking at first but seemed quite normal after a few days. They would bend over, run around with the kids, and even play a game of beach paddleball in their thongs.
Interestingly, the Brazilian women were quite modest when not on the beach. Even when walking along the boardwalk, the ladies were fully covered… unlike Cancun or parts of the US, where you’ll see women walking along in bikini tops. Not so in Rio. When you’re not on the sand, you cover up.
Everything you’ve heard about Brazilian butts is also true. We did not see a single Brazilian woman there who didn’t have a fabulous butt. Didn’t matter if they were skinny or fat, young or old… amazing butts, all of them.
About 2/3 of the men were wearing speedo’s, but luckily Jorge didn’t feel too left out because there were a good amount wearing trunks as well.
American men will never be secure enough to hug another man wearing a speedo.
Workout Gear
We mostly stayed in the Copacabana and Ipanema districts of Rio, where you’ll find tons of locals biking, playing soccer, playing paddleball, walking and running. They even have gym stations on the beach so guys can do pull-ups!
By Day 2, Jorge had noticed that many of the women were wearing the same workout outfit that seemed a bit odd to us. We saw at least 20 women wearing this trend every day: leggings with knee-high athletic socks. For posterity’s sake, we documented some of these women so you can see it’s actually true:
After seeing it so much, this trend actually began to look attractive. Luckily we left Rio before I had a chance to buy my long athletic socks.
What interesting fashion statements have you seen in other cultures?
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Thanks for the info, loved the review.
The thongs are ridiculous. I get tired of seeing mostly naked women at the beach. And many do have great behinds, but they don’t all have beautiful bodies nor are they all thin and/or attractive. I guess that’s good in a way. It shows confidence, right?
As for the workout clothes. I know!! You’ll NEVER seen a Brazilian woman wearing loose fitting bottoms to work out in. And usually the tight bottoms have a crazy, bright floral. And don’t get me started on the 80s socks!!
True, but I did notice that even the less attractive females weren’t too hard to look at because they all had decent tans. A nice tan can work miracles, apparently.
Most of the leggings we saw were black, but on our last day there I remember suddenly there were all these women in psychadelic leggings! Whaaat?
Glad to know they’re rocking the 80s socks in Brasilia, too 🙂
OK .. so I’m waiting to see a photo of a fat lady in a thong???!!!! 🙂
HaHaHa me too
You are absolutely right. American men will never be secure enough to hug another man wearing a Speedo. that was a huge laugh!
This is really interesting. Unfortunately I don’t have any other cultures or customs to share with you or I would.
That is sooo funny! You’re soo right the way you put it! It’s funny how when that’s all we see around us, we want to do the same to “fit in” GESH. I’m suprised that trend hasn’t hit the US yet!
LOL – that’s plain silly. the athletic sock thingy… just silly.
the thong/butt thing – they must do a lot of walking/running/biking in that city/country?
For some terrible reason I now have the “Thong Song” in my head!! Dammit!!
I could never grace the beach in Rio now because my booty will never look like the Brazilians!!
Damn Kristi, now I have the Thong Song in my head too!
What a fun honeymoon! I would love to visit Rio one day, although you won’t catch me dead in a thong in any shape or form. My rear just doesn’t have what it takes.
What is their fabulous arse secret????
Leggings with knee-high white socks??? I thought thongs in public were bad, but that’s just appalling! I always used to think it was funny when I was living in Scotland because you could tell where people were from based on their color of socks. White = American. Black = British.
“American men will never be secure enough to hug another man wearing a speedo.” – Pahahahahahahahahahahaha!