what is a popular way to dress for teenagers? :p my niece is coming with me to spain on thursday,and dhe is worried about"looking cool"!!!!

Not sure what you mean with "Looking Cool" . Do you mean "Looking Hip-Hop", "Looking Hip", or dressing "lightly" for hot days?

I have this discussion with my Spanish significant other from time to time and she thinks (as do many in her/our generation here in Spain) that teenagers have never dressed worse in history! Many say Spanish teenagers have lost all sense of "SENSE" with regards to the clothes they choose to wear. Teenagers, these days, are dressing the same (or worse) as most of the teenagers in the USA what with their droopy pants (girls and boys), tattered bell-bottom jeans (tattered part dragging the ground), tennis shoes, ragged, shirts, not to mention the piercings, tattoos, track suits, and the like.

This "look" doesn't bother me because, well, I'm used to it and *I* think they're just dressing comfortably. SHE assesses that one can dress comfortably while still dressing nicely. Hmmm.. I've personally yet to find that to be true.

During these hot summer months you won't find many girls wearing the shorts, T-shirt, and tennis shoes combination.

If you "expand" this "Packing" forum category to show topics from the last 100 days you'll see many similar threads including, "Madrid - Warm next week - what to wear?", "Madrid - What to Wear mid-May", "What to wear if you are a 13 year old boy?", & "what to wear?"

Good luck! Saludos, MadridMan

If she's into retail therapy and what self respecting female isn't, than I'd check out the Chinese section around la latina, tons of cheap stylish clothes. Only caveat is the Spanish are short and thin, so sizing may be a problem.

I have always found shopping in Spain for clothing difficult and expensive. I personally stick to shoes and PURSES .. Oh my god I love spanish purses.... And actually most of my spanish friends give me lists of clothing items to bring them from the US ... I have often thought I should start selling levi's from a blanket in the metro - I could retire a wealthy woman :-) We have a long standing joke amongst my friends in Madrid about all the brown in Spanish clothes.. sometimes while sitting at a restaurant we say the first person to see 5 spanish women walk by wearing NO brown clothing at all doesnt have to pay for their meal .... its pretty hard to win that one!

viva_españa,
Tell your young friend to visit Zara's website,
www.zara.es here she will see the latest Summer Spanish fashion trends.

Mango is another popular store, http://www.mango.es/s/ for more casual clothing click on the jeans link, there you will find jeans and t-shirts.
Stradivarius is also popular for young people, but their website leaves much to be desired, http://www.e-stradivarius.com/

I agree with what Tim Hortons Man wrote,
"Only caveat is the Spanish are short and thin, so sizing may be a problem."
To enjoy any clothing shopping in Spain I hope that she is rather tiny! I am a size 9 in the US and consider myself healthy and average. In Stradivarius I wore a 40, the largest they had at the time!!! Although now I hear that sizes are starting to get bigger in Spain.

My mother, a size 4 and a tiny barely 5' Asturiana still has clothes sent to her from her Spanish relatives! They consider Mother to be hefty! So perhaps soon they will have something for those of us in the size 9 to 14 category.

Yes, they special stores for "normal" sized people now.... There is one called Punto Roma. (web: http://www.puntroma.com/ )They have nice things, relatively reasonably priced....but not as trendy as the stores for people built like sticks. I bought a couple tops there last xmas, and and outfit last summer. My Spanish BIL tells me tho that it's for "señoras" so I don't need to shop there. (ha ha ha)

Fantastic, SalaChic! They say their sizes run from size 10 to 24! Finally, clothes for señoras like me! Thanks so much for this link. That was the only thing that I really missed in my shopping expeditions, the clothes.

Definitely check out Zara, and, interestingly enough, it's "cool" in Spain to wear t=shirts and clothes with English writing, so stuff from american stores like american eagle, abercrombie and fitch, aeropostale, etc. would fit in with spanish clothes. "peasant" shirts, skirts, and cardigans are popular too, as are belt buckles and hats have made a big comeback. shirts with location names (countries, states, cities, etc.) are very popular, as are t-shirts with funny sayings and slogans(Target actually has a good selection of these).