Style in Athens: Guide to Greek Fashion
Today, I'm in Athens, Greece. This is where ancient gods come alive, food is a way of life and history is everywhere you look. But let's get to the important stuff: what's Greek fashion like?
Dress for the Sun
Athens is sunny. It's true when people say the light is different in different places around the world. And the sun In Athens is bright and it is frequent. I only saw one cloudy day when I was in Greece, and it lasted only a couple of hours.
Greece itself has a distinct look. There are a lot of white buildings, white streets, and gleaming stone statues. That's because Greece is literally full of marble. You will see it everywhere here. It's on the streets, the sidewalks, steps are made of marble.
It's very beautiful and it makes Greece look very bright. It also reflects a lot of sun, so the light is coming at you from every angle here.
So, the most important thing you can wear in Greece is sunblock. It’s not going to matter how on point your style is when you are so miserable you can hardly move. I saw a whole lot of pale-skinned people walking around Greece with burns that actually made me hurt. You know how it is when you see something painful happening to somebody else and you kind of almost feel it? Well, I saw some sunburns in Greece that just about brought a tear to my eye.
Before you get dressed every day in Greece, and on the morning of the day when you are traveling to Greece, I want you to put on sunblock. I don’t care what shade you are, if you’ve never burned in your life, this sun is like a whole different sun. So, sunblock. Bring a lot of it.
Another couple of great items to have: a hat and sunglasses. Yes, I am still going off about the sun in Greece and after you visit Athens, you’re going to be the same way. A hat is gong to do a whole lot to help you stay cool in Athens because FYI, it is also pretty hot here.
I thought I was going to literally fall out when I was at the top of the Acropolis, which is about as close to the sun as you can get in Athens. A hat will give you your own shade and you will be grateful for that, because it can be very hard to find shade anywhere in Athens. And sunglasses, that’s just a given. If everything is super bright, you’re going to struggle to see.
So what you actually want to do is get your accessories together first. Make sure you’ve got your sun protection and now, we can talk about the rest of you.
Shades of Athens Fashion
There is a color palette to Athens and really, all over Greece. Not only will you see a lot of white buildings, you’ll also see a whole lot of blue roofs. This is the Greece you see in pictures and this is truly what you will find in many places in Greece. Olive trees grow naturally here and they are sort of a dusky green, and there are natural red poppies that grow wild. So when you’re in Greece, you will see a lot of dusty green, bright red, rich blue and blinding, gleaming white.
You’ll see that a lot of people who live in Greece echo this same color pattern in their wardrobe. You will see a of people wearing blue and white here, the colors of the Greek flag, and this combo always seems to be in style and always works everywhere.
Whatever colors you like to wear, I do suggest wearing light colors. If you wear black, I promise that you're going to wish you hadn’t. A lot of people living in Greece wear white and pastels because the sun really is super brutal.
What Would Grecians Wear?
And because the weather here can be very hot, you’re going to want to consider that when you're making wardrobe choices. Depending on the time of year you go to Greece, it could be extremely hot. Greece turns into an over in the summer months and the heat here gets so bad that many businesses close during the middle of the day to get a break from it.
It's a popular custom in Greece to take a nap at midday because moving around and trying to live and do things is just going to drain your energy anyway, and laying down intentionally to take a nap is a much nicer experience than passing out from heatstroke.
I’m seriously not kidding. Greece in summer is going to be hot hot, so if you’re going to be visiting Athens or really anywhere in Greece from May to October, you need to think about that. Wear very lightweight fabrics and loose clothing. You want to think breezy, light, comfortable. You’ll want lightweight and breezy clothing even if you're here in spring and fall, but you might want to bring along a lightweight jacket if you’re in Greece during these seasons. You’re not going to need that in summer.
Dresses, skirts, tank tops, T-shirts, I do not recommend a lot of jeans. You probably won’t want to wear jeans a lot or even a lot of denim. You won’t see a whole lot of denim when you go to Greece because this is kind of a heavy fabric and it doesn’t breathe like other fabrics. I got a lot of use out of my khakis. I specifically got these to wear in Greece because they’re a nice, lightweight fabric and they provide more coverage than shorts.
How Much Skin is Too Much Skin?
Let’s talk about shorts. Shorts and halter tops and other clothing that could be considered to be revealing. I’m never going to tell you how you ought to dress to make yourself happy and it is hot in Athens. It’s a natural thing to wear clothing that leaves a lot of bare skin because the less crap you’re wearing, the less hot you’re going to be and that makes sense.
Here’s the thing, though. Greece is a surprisingly conservative country. It was surprising for me, at least, because when I think about Greece, I tend to think about ancient Greece. I think about this place that’s famous for debauchery and hedonism, for wine drinking and gluttony and a lot of sexual expression.
I mean, come on, we've all seen the statues these people left behind, right? Stories from mythology are full of affairs and this one canoodling with that one, so this is kind of how I tend to think about Greece.
Modern Greece is a super conservative place, okay? People here are extremely religious. This was also a big surprise to me, because Greece is famous for its pagan gods. Athens is the home of Athena herself. Greece is where Zeus ruled. Aphrodite and Ares and Artemis and Hades. That’s what I think of, but modern Greece is incredibly into Jesus. He is a big deal here. In fact, you can’t walk for more than five minutes in Athens without finding a church.
And there are dress codes for the churches. The dominant religion in Athens these days is Greek Orthodox, which is a great deal like the Roman Catholic Church...but the Roman Catholic Church is way too new for the Greeks. So we’re talking about a brand of Christianity that hasn’t really changed since around the year 100. That’s not me being cute. That’s real.
So if you are going to walk inside a church in Greece, you need to be somewhat covered up. The rule to follow is no bare knees and no bare shoulders. If you are going to be right outside of a church or very close to a church, you may also want to do your best to observe this practice.
No matter how hot it gets in Athens, you won’t see a whole lot of skin on the locals. It’s the tourists who bare a lot of skin. So make sure you have something a little bit longer in the legs if you’re going to a church, and carry a light shawl or something with you so that you can cover up your shoulders or any other part of you that might get you a cross-eyed look.
The Footwear You Wear Matters
You also want to put some thought into your footwear. Athens is positively full of marble. Entire streets are made out of marble here and no that’s not an exaggeration. There are marble sidewalks and marble steps, and not just around the monuments. This is like, regular streets.
And that makes the city incredibly beautiful, but it also makes everything darned slippery. This is marble that has been walked on by human feet for over 2,500 years. So it’s pretty well worn down and there are many, many slippery areas in Athens and many, many reasons why you don’t want to slip and fall down on a marble street.
So, you want to wear shoes that have a good non-slip tread. Something with traction on it, something with grip. Also, consider sticking to something with a closed toe. Because there is so much marble everywhere, and marble is one of the hardest stones there is, you definitely don’t want to stub a toe here.
Athens is a nice city, but there are a lot of rough areas where you’re not walking on a road or sidewalk because you’re walking on a broken, rocky path. If you plan to go to any of the top of the hills or visit any of the ruins, including the world-famous Parthenon, you want to have closed toe shoes that are going to assist you in that terrain.
Open-toed shoes are going to let in a lot of little rocks and debris and you’re going to have a bad time, so look for lightweight shoes that are breathable but still provide full coverage for your foot. There are a lot of mesh shoes that are nice and cool on your feet that will protect you from all the rocks and troubles you might find on your path when you’re in Athens.
Riviera Style
There is another type of terrain you may encounter in Athens, or really just outside of Athens: the beach. If you head south of the city toward the Mediterranean ocean, you're going to find the Athens Riviera, a stretch of beaches where you can enjoy some relaxation. So, you need to consider your beach style if that’s something that might be on your itinerary for your visit to Athens.
I came up with a beach look that was versatile, because I only spent a half-day at the beach. I wanted to hit up a free attraction that afternoon and I had to get from the center of the city of Athens out to the beach, so I couldn’t really walk around in beach clothes while I was riding the subway and stuff.
So, I came up with a simple solution. I started the day with my swimsuit on under a lightweight dress that was easy for me to get in and out of, because you want to consider that as well, and wore a pair of slip-on shoes. I carried a bag with me that had my beach towel and some underwear items, along with my beach shoes. And I just wore my beach hat and carried my beach bag with me as part of my outfit.
The only trouble was, I had this blue and white dress that I wanted to wear that afternoon for the free exhibit I was visiting. But my swimsuit and all my beach stuff is pink because I’m like that. And it’s all like, super pink.
Now, I don’t know about you but I definitely don’t have as much money as I would like to have to spend on clothes. Also, we’re working with some limited luggage space here. So I really couldn’t pack a whole bunch of different hats and bags to match every single thing I wanted to wear in Athens. I was only able to take three hats with me, one everyday walking around bag, a beach bag, and all the other stuff I needed for the trip.
You can actually literally see everything I packed for this trip if you watch my video about How to Pack for a Trip Like a Pro, which is actually full of little tricks and hacks that really do work. But no matter how great you pack, you just can’t pack a whole ton of accessories even when you want to.
So, I came up with a little trick. Hats and bags take up a lot of room in a suitcase. You know what hardly takes up any room? Little, colorful scarves. Now, these are fun and easy and highly affordable and best of all, they are easy to pack. So you take some of these beauties, you stick them in your luggage and now, you can instantly make thing match.
I used a blue one on my very pink beach hat to make it work with the outfit. I used a lot of these little scarves on my hats in Greece, so they would match whatever outfit I was wearing. My other two hats were very neutral in color, so it was easy to just add a scarf and make them work with whatever I had on that day. So, this is a fashion hack that I am loving and it really worked for me and it’s really great when you’re working with limited space.
Greek Fashion Overview
Pink is another color that works really well in Athens, by the way, but I’m going to make it work everywhere I go, so maybe I’m not a good judge. Either way, stick to lightweight fabrics and light colors. Wear sunblock and a hat. And whatever you wear, stick to what’s comfortable and what feels good.
You’re not going to have a good time if your clothing is tight or uncomfortable. We all want to look as great as we can and we all like to be stylish, but the most important thing is to feel good. And you’re actually going to look better when you feel good. When your clothing is off, you're going to be fidgety and anxious. You’re going to be constantly adjusting yourself and you’re going to be distracted. That’s no way to enjoy Athens. So wear what you like and what feels good at the end of the day.
If you want to explore more styles around the world, check out my video about fashion in London. You can find that on my London playlist and I’ll include a link to that in the description.
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