『えいごで読む物語』シリーズでは、ランカル英会話に所属するメイトの日常や思い出をえいごでお届けします。

今回のテーマは「ファッション」
あなたは長年使っているお気に入りの洋服やアクセサリーはありますか？

アメリカ出身のGrewが、自身の好きなスケータースタイルの魅力を紹介してくれました！
ファッションにまつわる単語もチェックしてみてくださいね:)

こちらのコラムは参考となる絵や単語を多く掲載しています。
エクステンシブ・リーディング（多読）用の文章としてもおすすめなので、ぜひリーディング練習にも活用ください。

詳しい練習方法は以下を参考にしてくださいね♪

Intro

 I’ve been thinking recently about my choices in clothing and my style in general. Being your average adult from the US I have a lot of collared shirts for work and some decent pants as well as a fair amount of jeans and shorts for my days off. 

 I think I wear it well, but whenever I look through my closet I always find things that I don’t wear as often anymore. Most of which comes from my younger days in school and just after graduating. My style was the definition of skater punk. 

 Now, what is skater style? To put it simply, it’s comfortable clothes that won’t bother you while you skate. For me, it was loose fitted jeans, sometimes a bit baggy(oversized), a t-shirt, and some well known brand of skate shoes (usually Vans). 

Skater style

 I wasn’t really a skater when I was younger, but I did cruise around my university on my fish board (a skateboard that looks like a fish) and all of my friends were skaters.

Back when this was still my style of choice the main reasons for dressing like this was that it looked cool to us and it was pretty functional. The loose fitting pants and baggy t-shirts made it easy to move and skate.

Sneakers

 The shoes, Vans specifically, had really thick soles with a lot of grip but it was also really common to wear converse which were my preferred shoes. The shoes were probably the most important part of the style and if you didn’t have the right shoes you weren’t a real skater. 

The thick soles protected your feet as you pushed the board and they had really good grip so you wouldn’t slip as easily.  But, function and fashion don’t always match.  So another key part of skate style was showing that it was used. 

 We wore these clothes into the ground. I can’t remember how many times I’d put on shoes and realize there was a hole in the bottom big enough to fit a few fingers through. 

One of my friends had his shoes almost completely covered in duct tape. This wasn’t because we didn’t have money for shoes. My mom constantly asked if I wanted new shoes. The answer was always no. 

Bragging new holes

 For the style, the fact that people could see that it wasn’t new, that we actually used our clothes was part of the appeal. 

We bragged about new holes or tears in our pants and laughed about our feet getting wet when it rained because there was a massive hole in the bottom of our shoes. I still look back on those days with fondness.

 But, why mention this now? Well, the style hasn’t gone away and with skating’s entry into the olympics in Tokyo it’s becoming more popular than ever. Wearing a pair of loose fitting dickies, some black ankle socks, a band t-shirt, vans, and a beanie(a knitted cap) even in the summer.

A few of my friends back in the states never changed their style. The reason my closet is still filled with this type of clothing is because it’s comfortable and honestly I think it’s still cool.

 How can you wear this style today? Even if you’re not a skater it’s a great style to go for. It’s comfortable and easy to put on and you don’t look half bad.  As I said before, shoes are the most important part. 

Just try them out!

You can never go wrong with Vans or Converse. There are new brands that sell skate shoes so try them out if you want!. I’ll always recommend classic colors for this, black and white, but you be you.

  So, now I leave it to you. Did you think of a fun or interesting word that you like?  Do you need to take more time to think about it? Are there just too many words that are so cool that you can’t decide? Taking some time to really think about words can help us understand our own language and other languages more. 

When it comes to shorts anything is fine as long as it’s cut to the knee and has a wide fit to make movement easy. Some people wear chino shorts, but I’ve never liked it. So if you want something longer I recommend Dickies or just some jeans, brown for the dickies and black or dark blue jeans, preferably with a comfortable fit. 

Restrictions?

My friends wore skinny jeans, but I liked regular fit. So, whatever fits you best. At the end you’ve got your shirt. It’s simple, a graphic t-shirt. A band shirt, one with a cool design, anything works as long as it’s loose(slightly oversized) and comfortable.  You can also wear a loose fitted flannel over it if you don’t want to just wear the t-shirt.  The only restriction is that it’s gotta be a crew neck, no v-necks and other fancy things.  

For colder weather it’s perfectly acceptable to bust out a hoodie. We use the same idea as before, graphic hoodies are the best, but just a logo or solid color is good as well.

You can top all of this off with a baseball cap or beanie, some sunglasses, and a wallet chain. There aren’t any set rules for accessories, but as far as hats are concerned baseball caps and beanies are the classic, but bucket hats are quite popular now.  

Conclusion

That’s all there is to it. Skater style is meant to be simple and easy. Something you can wear anywhere and be comfortable to move around in. All I can say now is keep it simple, make it comfortable, and skate on.

 

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今回はグルーのお気に入りのファッションを紹介しました。

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