“I know the students that come from Charleston. I can pick them out of the bunch just based on what they’re wearing,” he said.
Charleston is heavily influenced by its proximity to the coast, where boating and spending time outdoors golfing or playing tennis are popular. It’s also a port city that has historically been more influenced by places like New York, Paris or London, Theerman said.
“They’ve always had access to the newest and up-and-coming ideas that are happening in fashion, both here and elsewhere,” she said.
Jay Wilson is the third generation to work at his family’s 75-year-old menswear shop in downtown Greenville, Rush Wilson Limited.
He said Greenville’s fashion is similar to Charleston’s, but it’s influenced by the nearby mountains and the slightly cooler climate. There’s a little more flannel, a little more tweed. In the fall and winter, you’re more likely to see big coats — even if they’re not strictly necessary.
“It’s just the look,” Wilson said. “People like the way that looks and feels. And in the fall, it makes you happy. It gives you a warm feeling.”
In Columbia, fashion is influenced by government workers who show up to the Statehouse in suits and the students who flock to the University of South Carolina from other parts of the country.
“Columbia is like the stepchild,” Pollard said. “It sort of has its own vibe.”
Fashion trends are often recycled. Aspects of this white cotton seersucker multicolor floral printed summer dress might not seem out of place in South Carolina today, but it was designed in the 1930s.
Like places across the world, South Carolina’s look is changing.
Theerman said the globalization of fashion has had a big impact on style. So has fast fashion, the phenomenon of cheap, quickly produced clothing that follows the latest trends.
“A lot of coastal South Carolinians and especially Charlestonians would pride themselves on kind of being a distinctive culture or subculture, but I don’t know that it’s true anymore,” Theerman said.
The exception, she said, is small, local, independent brands still designing unique clothing.
