Fashion Forecast Failure

ready for the weather?

I stood in front of the mirror like it was a jury.

The weather app said sunshine all day — the kind of day where cyclists stream by in sunglasses and the café patios overflow with clinking glasses.

So, naturally, I chose the breezy dress, the one with cheerful flowers that practically screams: I am ready for gelato and a canal stroll.

Shoes? Sandals, of course. A light cardigan tossed in my bag just in case. I congratulated myself on outsmarting Amsterdam’s notorious weather mood swings.

Reader, I was a fool.

By the time I reached the end of the street, the clouds had gathered like mischievous schoolchildren. Five minutes later, rain — not a drizzle, not a polite mist, but sideways sheets of water that laughed at umbrellas and dared them to try. My sandals became small swimming pools, the floral dress clung like seaweed, and my carefully packed cardigan… well, it might as well have been a handkerchief.

As I squished along, shivering and soggy, I noticed a woman pedaling calmly past on her bike, hair dry beneath a rain poncho, boots made for puddles. She gave me a sympathetic nod — not unkind, but with that subtle Amsterdam flair of ah, another tourist who thought the app tells the truth.

Lesson learned: the real dress code here is layers. Always layers. And a poncho stuffed in the bag, no matter what the sky swears it will do.

Next time I face the mirror jury, I’ll remember: in Amsterdam, the only fashion certainty is that you will, at some point, look like a drowned cat. And honestly? The cats here seem to take it in stride.