wordsmithlind

In Berlin it seems as if you can dress like a clown and get away with it as long you consider it fashion.  The ridiculous, the outrageous, the recycled 80s cliché, these are just some of the rules.  Self-indulgence, narcissism, and arrogance—style and attitude are one in the same.  On this island in the heart of the former GDR, eccentrics, artists, and individuals are free to experiment in fashion, mind, and matter and are free to walk the streets without the normal hindrances society enforces through its looking glass.  Fashion statements here would be preposterous in other cities.  When walking down the streets in any of the numerous hip districts, hipsters mingle over a mid-day (and mid-week) cup of coffee at one of the literally thousands of sidewalk cafes oblivious to other hipsters walking past.  The woman with the shiny shoes, shiny dress, shiny belt, and oversized sunglasses sucks on her cigarette as her greasy-haired, side-parted, tatted and dressed in black boyfriend tells her a story.  Women’s fashion stands out more here than the men—the men stick mostly to the routine tight dark jeans, t-shirt, longish hair and aviator sunglasses (which are quickly being replaced by Risky Business-era Tom Cruise shades) whereas the women incorporate all sorts of accessories, earrings, funky belts, and various other reinterpretations of the used, reused, recycled, and cliché in this era of post-punk fashion and campy irony.

            No matter its discomforts, the 10-speed bicycle is the vehicle of choice, my mother’s old fanny-pack holds the moneyless wallet and cigarettes of the aspiring artist, a Casio watch on the wrist and big Nike shoes grace the feet of these eco-friendly, politically informed individuals aware of the irony but, hey, fashion is fashion.  With The Dark Knight sure to be all the rage here upon its release next month, I would swear that the year here is 1989, and like the current Batman, it is darker and more serious but just as over the top.      

photo by wordsmithlind

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