When it comes to the the attention economy specific to Berlin, fashion is a key factor. People got their very own ways to create distinctiveness without exactly screaming for attention. In no other city have I seen its dwellers “inventing” themselves at less monetary costs and to more surprising effects. It’s a matter of re-contextualizing the most banal things in a fresh way. Just one example of a glimpse I caught lately, cycling my way through a western district of Berlin:
No matter what you wear, make it appear as the most normal thing, and the strangeness will stand out all the more. Put a typical mailman’s uniform on your weekend’s stroll through the neighborhood, visibly on no whatsoever mail delivery duty, and be sure to catch some glances in a city that is trained to ignore.
‘Where did she get that jacket?’ would I have asked myself, if my own urban journey hadn’t immediately taken me away, to the flow of further bizarre encounters. What exactly do I like about this city? At the sight of its notorious oddness, I have to keep wondering.
