Well, I'm in awe of this.

'The City' in England is the City of London, 'The Square Mile'. They set the pace for 'City' dressing in England and always have. You see echos of the City of London elsewhere in England - but only echos.

I was always a West-End person - very different to being a 'City' person. The West-End has softer industries, a more relaxed dress code, more blurring of that line between work & play, a very different mentality... More 'American' maybe in the way that FNB discusses work and idleness?
City boys mean business. It's ALL about the bottom line.
Westenders just pop into the office, but-let's-not-get-all-bent-out-of-shape-about-earning-a-living, eh?
Well... That's the impression one aims to give.
"Vulgar" is a word you hear in the West-End about the City.
... And City boys don't regard the West-End at all.

And then Eastenders are different again, and the North of London is very different to the South too...

Probably it's all to do with the fact that London is a series of villages which slowly merged into one entity.
It evolved organically unlike New York which always had a plan (is that fair?).
Very tribal, London.
Maybe an NYC insider can tell me that their city is just the same. Already on the forum the split between Broadway & Madison has been mentioned.

I could annoy most of England by saying that London IS England. Or at least it was up to... whenever. London set the pace for most things. Even now the exceptions to this rule are easier to name than otherwise.
England is full of regional variations, but to 'make it' always used to mean coming to London and leaving behind anything too provincial beyond what you could use to make yourself stand out in the crowd - Witness the 'professional Northerners' you come across in London: Very keen to stress their roots & integrity, but not so keen to work for lower wages back home in Manchester. The smart boys come to London and play any card they have to hand to get on. And most do very well...

FNB is bang on the money discussing the 'City' suit.
The West-End suit is different again - Brown shoes!
I'll do a caricature of the Westender as time allows just to add to the debate.

I love all this!

t.

Last edited by Terry Lean (2007-03-04 10:58:15)

True.

I guess I just see The City of London as very work orientated, whereas the West End has more of a 'Work/Life balance' thing going on.