Downtown San Francisco: making tourists feel ugly since 1848

Last week I went to a conference in Downtown San Francisco. Being the ever-practical traveler that I am (I do not iron on trips), I packed a pair of sneakers, jeans, and some t-shirts. Foolish me.

From the moment I stepped off the BART, I realized I was being severely outdressed by every single girl there. Seriously, this was some sort of Twilight Zone occurrence. I went from:
"Haha, what, is everyone here beautiful?" to
"Oh wait, everyone here IS beautiful!" to
"No seriously, wtf is going on here. Everyone is beautiful." in a matter of seconds.

This was bad.

My hotel was freaking two blocks from a five-story Saks and here I was in jeans with what I thought was a rather unnoticeable bleach spot on the butt. Let me tell you, it was noticed. It was like a giant neon sign that read "TOURIST."

The girls in Downtown SF are perfect. They are all young, attractive, scathingly fashionable, and they never take their heels off. I think this must be some sort of evolutionary development because as you can see in the photo above, a 24% grade + a 4" heel cannot be pulled off by mere humans.

That description makes me sound jealous. OK so I wanted every single one of those breezy summer dresses they wore, but more than anything I was excited to be surrounded by so many people with distinct personal styles. I think sometimes people who care about fashion trends are miscategorized as sheepish followers--that they all go to that one store to buy that one item that they saw that one famous person wear. But walk one block in Downtown SF and you will see 50 totally stylish girls with 50 totally different styles. It's inspiring, and I can't wait to go back (this time with maybe a pair of kitten heels).

(Photo credits: wikimedia.org and zappos.com - Max Studio Riley Heels)