Following fashion in Tunisia

There is no real 'fashion' here.  Most of the young will wear western type clothing usually brought back to Tunis from relatives in France.  Jeans are the norm for young women and men of all ages.  Young women who are shopping for husbands can be quite seductive with their clothing but once married they will wear more modest clothing.  We have countless fripes (flea markets) where you can pick up designer clothes for a few dinar.  Most popular shoes are what we call shlakers which are backless shoes/thongs/mules that we can slip off at the door before we enter the house.  Women will discard jibba (caftan) and hijab in their house if no man from outside the family is around and when we (females) get together we will wear lots of make-up, sky high heels etc.  Weddings are the exception where it is all out for the women and the normal uniform of jeans for the men.

The only thing I have had an issue with is wearing my sneakers!  My sister in law asked me if I was going exercising when I wore them with my jeans...hahaha.  It was very funny but I learned quickly!

I absolutely do not follow Tunisian “ fashion” as it’s laughable. Clothing is stupid expensive. Stuff from Zara is ok, but that’s it, just ok. Buying Levi’s is like buying gold . Some have the nerve to charge 250 dinar per pair .  I’d go naked before I would be caught dead in traditional attire. 😂.  It’s easier and less stressful for me to have things sent from America. Then I get the quality and style I want and am used to!

I am currently shopping my *ss off before my moving date in a few weeks. I just really dislike the clothing they sell in smaller shops in smaller villages (I will be moving to Kelibia and unfortunately no Zara or european shops here). I will definitely be going on shopping trips to Tunis once there though. The clothing they sell in Kelibia is very "made in China" with a lot of color, bling bling and awful fabrics. I do love going to the fripe once in awhile. Women here do wear much less conservative clothes than in the rest of Tunisia. My mother in law explained to me a few "social rules":

-in the morning you wear modest clothes
-in the afternoon you wear beach attire (i'm speaking about summer here of course)
-in the evening and night you wear whatever you like, very short and open and sexy (but i haven't seen a lot of women wear high heels). It also depends on how far you have to walk in that outfit and if you are accompanied by men or are walking alone/with other women.

In winter it's just way too cold so people wear whatever they can to be warm, women do in general like to be stylish but in my opinion wear fashion that's really not "in fashion" or very outdated already. They love classic feminine styles and bright lipstick.
I am not planning to change the way I dress, but I do adapt a bit to the "rules" as I dont want to come off as an "easy european girl". I will be ordering online and letting my visiting family carry all those asos, topshop etc packages everytime they come visit HAHA!