There’s something about Vienna and her clothing that does not appeal. It takes a while to figure it out, but eventually the word slides its way into the brain, never to lose her awful grip:
d r a b
Marriam-Webster defines drab as
1. any of various cloths of a dull brown or gray color;
2. a: a light olive brown
b: a dull, lifeless, or faded appearance or quality.
That’s about it. When talking drab, it’s not good to get too meaningful, too objective, too close.
Go to any meeting. Anything at all, and look at the assembled peers. You will see various cloths of a dull brown or grey colour. Sometimes lightened up with a little black.
Depression
When I look at the fully dressed Viennese I feel unhappy, unenlightened, servile, and especially drab of mind. Add a touch of winter chill, and depression consumes my enthusiasm.
But it needn’t be so! There is no rule, no requirement to be unhappy. Why suffer winter, and with sunglasses on? Let’s open our eyes, let the light in and add some colour and light and brilliance and happiness to our day! Spread the light, share the word.
Here is my idea. With a nod to our project, I call it the “Burn Vienna” idea, not as for Atlanta in Gone with the Wind but more as in using the drabosity to fuel our spirits.
Spring, she has Sprung
In Spring, one day in a park noted for her colour — I especially like the bright green field in the shadow of the ominous Flakturm at Augarten for this — we set up many tents or pavilions. In each tent, we install a handful of dramatic, wild and uncontrollable clothing artists, complete with wood-fired sewing machines, volatile cloths and ideas to turn your old drab suit into a new aurora borealis on legs.
There is an entrance and an exit to our festival. At the entrance there is a camera crew, taking the awful record of humdrum as Vienna’s mildest mice walk in. The crew works in black & white, as there is little need for burning up valuable pixels at this point. Or perhaps a dash of sepia tone, with candles for lighting and At the exit, another camera crew work in full colour, Super-HD, sunshine, interviewing the lucky escapees from our makeover camp.
It is open day. You are invited to come with your drabest dullest direst druthers. Walk in through gloom, and enter a paradise of excitement. Buskers, sewers, scissors, needles & threads, spruikers, buttons & and clowns, all compete for your attention. You do your deal, you choose your team, you hand over your drabness. Then you wait, enjoying the many entertainments we provide (!) while your selected team of seam-artists render your goulish apparel into a new explosion of emotion.
Needs
We need many teams of artists. Each team needs a lot of bits & bobs to sew, it is their selection and their art what they want to do. Each team gets a tent.
We also need facilitators or masters of ceremony. We need people wandering around on the inside with one purpose: to match lovers of light with sewers of serendipity. No child leaves un-remade, no suit fails to blind.
Yes, and we obviously need a location, tents, camera crews, lots of visitors with lots of drabs, and hopefully sunshine!
Why not?
Making a comment about the message sent by Vienna’s sense of style is well overdue, but it is also a big comment. This is a big effort. We would need the coordination of many people, the enthusiasm of many, and indeed we need the agreement that this is a comment worth making.
Boring Referencess:
- Flakturm picture sponsored proudly by some Austrian federal site.
- Drab camera crew photo by Chalmers Butterfield
- Other images found on wikipedia. Follow the link.
