For 8 years I have lived in Vienna’s 10th district. That’s not exactly a glamorous neighbourhood. It has always been marked by industrial buildings and its working class and migrant inhabitants. So up to now I never saw many extraordinarily or fashionably dressed people. Well actually up to Tuesday this week during my tramway ride to work, when I noticed a guy, who was dressed the same way many male high fashion bloggers are nowadays: Red sneakers, bomber jacket, sweat pants and white tennis socks.
But then I thought a little about this outfit and had a second and more detailed look at the guy in the tramway. And I realized, this is an original occupant of the 10th district in his natural habitat and he wouldn’t dress any differently if other it pieces were en vogue.
So what happened here? It’s not that the population is now more interested in matters of fashion. But fashion changed, so the majority of the population now appears to dress fashionably. Although probably they don’t even know. Personal style gained importance. Former fashion faux-pas turned into trends. The infamous quote by the Great Karl about wearing sweatpants in public is outdated. Ugly is the new sexy since trends are made in the streets instead of the great fashion houses.
Why are we attracted to this ugliness so much?
Because we’ve already seen everything. Fashion was all about aesthetics, about dressing formidable and flattering. But now more and more we want to look different. Especially different than all the others. We embrace our flaws and stand by them. In the end they make us who we are. And we want to transport this message, our personal message, in our daily looks.
The outfit
If you told me 2 years ago that I would leave the house wearing a hooded sweater under a trench coat together with white combat boots, I probably would have said “Yes. When I’m going to the drug store having the flu.” But that’s not the case here. I wore this outfit for a coffee date with dear Emma, a stylist colleague, who loved the look as much as I do – now. Sometimes you have to go for something a little out of character. Be brave with your styling and you will find, you might like some streetstyle trends more than you thought you would.
Plaided trench coat – Find. by amazon
Hooded sweater “Only the brave” – Diesel menswear
Vinyl pants – Bik Bok
White combat boots “LOVE” – Goldstyle
Bag “No” – Zara
