This could be a short article. The answer is Carhartt. Carhartt, Carharrt, Carhartt. Alaskan men think women look sexy in Carhartt pants. Trust me on this. I can't emphasize this enough. Men look sexy in Carhartt pants, overalls, jackets, you name it. It's just the way it is.
Brown duck, double knee, riveted Carhartts. With pockets for your tools. Not fancy teal one-layer Carhartts. Heavy duty lined and padded Carhartts in the winter, with zippers up the side of the legs. Oooo baby! Or padded coveralls, all brown duck. Carhartt jackets, long in the winter, short in the summer.
I suppose we could branch out from just Carhartts. Levis are acceptable, but won't repel bear claws like Carhartts will. They also won't stand up in the corner by themselves the way Carhartts will, especially after your man has been wearing the same pair for a couple of weeks. Still, you need to know what NOT to wear as much as what to wear (Carhartts, did you get that?).
For one thing, real Alaskans don't wear Tourist Gear. That is, stuff that has "I (Heart) Alaska" all over it. That has ALASKA written on it right across the boobs (with little bears in between the letters). No T-shirts with "Alaska MOOSE" on them. No Alaska hats, socks, key chains, and no moose nugget earrings. Definitely no jackets with "I Survived the Alaska Highway" on them.
One day, while checking out the Mall (the Transfer Station, aka the dump station) I found a very nice, practically new, dark green sweatshirt with the words A L A S K A printed right across the chest. There were little diamonds between the letters. I was rather repelled by the tourist nature of the design, but the color was great and it looked nice and clean and warm and so I thought, why not? I brought it home and wore it to work the next day.
FIVE TIMES that day people asked me, "So, how long have you been up here?" Until then, everyone just assumed I'd lived here forever. I almost outed myself just by wearing that stupid sweatshirt!
I took that sweatshirt right back to the Mall and left it there for someone newer to find. Or maybe I should have just worn it inside out.
Your new boss from St. Louis might not like the fact that everyone in the office looks like they just came from a logging camp, but he's going to have to get used to it. That's just Alaska.
Fancy restaurants? Dream on! If they don't let you in with mosquitoes stuck in your hair, they won't have any customers!
All winter I wear Carhartt pants (especially the lined ones!), logger boots, (or Bunny Boots) layers of shirts, and either a Carhartt jacket or a parka. And a hat. You gotta remember to wear a hat.
In the summer it's tennis shoes, jeans or Carhartts, T-shirts or Hawaiian shirts, (or other thrift store finds), and a baseball hat. The hats keep my head warm in the winter and the mosquitoes out of my hair in the summer. When it is really hot I wear a sleeveless dress and sandals, but I keep a plaid shirt and tennis shoes around in case I need to go where the mosquitoes will eat my feet and arms.
I know native-born Alaskans who live in town who wear "city" clothes. But they always wear a hat, anyway. Even if you don't wear it all the time, you are going to need a hat.
If you are a city teenager, you dress like a teenager except your belly sticks out over your hip huggers.
People who work in some offices have their rubber boots in their trucks. Most Alaskans drive 4 x 4 trucks. We don't drive SUVs just to look cooler than the other soccer moms. We NEED 4WD. We haul bales of straw for the dog houses (and so many other things!!), we have to go up muddy, icy slopes just to pick someone up, or visit someone, or, some of us, to go home! So you slog out to your vehicle in rubber boots or bunny boots and when you get to work you change into your stupid high heels or flats or wing tips. Just so your boss, who just got transferred here from Omaha, won't freak out that you are walking around the office in your socks.
I'm not going to go into the various sorts of long underwear and all that. You can figure that out for yourself. We are talking about the outside layers, what people see, not your undies.
You may want to move up here and continue to live in a city, you may think you can pretend that you are still in Lima, Ohio, or Pleasant Hill, California, but the fact is you are NOT, and the first time you open your door with a bare hand at 45 below zero you will realize this. Which reminds me, you gotta have gloves in the winter to keep your hands warm, mittens for snowmachining, and work gloves for heaving stuff into the pickup in the summer--also known as Construction Season.
Mother Nature is in charge in Alaska and don't you forget it! Is there a moose or bear in your front yard? Get used to it, you are living in THEIR territory, not the other way around. The best outer defense against the rough nature of the Alaskan environment is....................................Carhartts.
But then, you knew I was going to say that, didn't you?
