Eccentricity would have to be at the top of the list. While we marvel at New York professional polish or LA’s laid-back cool, we Brits possess a certain nerdy quirkiness that manifests in chunky, hand-knitted jumpers, heritage fabrics, and off-beat accessories—we championed ‘ugly’ trends way before they hit the mainstream. Our muses include Alexa Chung, Vivienne Westwood, and Cara Delevingne—all wonderfully weird in their own ways yet also undeniably cool.
Joy Montgomery, assistant editor at Who What Wear UK.
Ms. Montgomery is describing key elements to British style and her quote is part of a longer article about where the Brits think Americans go wrong with their “style.” (Flip flops, hoodies, baseball caps.)
And apparently they secretly but politely laugh as us.
I was wearing boots long before they became popular. I used to buy Haymarket boots in London, regular riding ones. Now that everyone is wearing them, I have a quarrel with the shoemakers. I love things that work but today’s boots don’t work. They let the water in. A boot should be waterproof. I keep telling them. 
OverDressed for Life 