Berlin's babushkas

12:01 PM

By Beatrice Jeschek

Blogger Milla got this scarf from her mom as a wedding gift.
"That she thrifted it on a trip to the Soviets in the 70s
and wore it all the way trough my childhood only makes
it more special."

Beatrice Jeschek seeks out the notorious pick-and-mix attitude on Berlin's streets, and finds herself among mental acrobatics between babushkas and designer vision's for street style.

The Russian grandma style from next door is hitting the world's street style with a huge revival. Flower prints, weird color combinations – that's the spirit of 2011, at least in Berlin. Babushka scarves are everywhere, behind every street corner in the hip area Prenzlauer Berg (which is, by the way, still the most prestigious place to get drunk with your girlfriends while showing off a bit of a style sense).

These colorful relics from old Russia, scarves made of 100% wool with traditional Russian flower prints, are combined with basically anything one can come up with. A hand made version, “presenting pride and glory from Russia”, comes from a shawl manufactory at the ancient town of Pavlovsky Posad (nearby Moscow) and costs about 50 euros. Originals are nice (huge, new ones at amazon.com) but one can get similar and less pricy ones at dorothyperkins.com. Also, silk is a pretty material option here instead of wool as it adds a bit of class. The principle is the same.

It is the art scent and this stubborn way of resisting combinable colors and samples which makes Berlin’s style unique in the world. The trashier, the better – as long as one can still see that there is a beautiful person underneath this “weirdo” style.

The babushka scarf in combination with bright dresses or dull winter clothes (black, brown, grey, beige) is just one experiment among many. Scoring high on the style barometer is guaranteed, although this trend is not technically a trend as it has been on for quite a while, but just needed some time to adjust to the mainstream taste (that moment when it comes out of the everyday person’s closet).

Fact is, the German capital sinks its teeth into the pick-and-mix attitude which also has been going on forever but seems to reach a peak just around this year’s Berlin fashion week. At that time of the year Berlin seems to insist on its extraordinary get-the-striped-blouse-with-that-flowery-scarf-style. Berlin’s street style motto: “We’re here, we’re queer, deal with us” – in the straightest fashion sense, of course. Actually, it is much more of a quest to find clothes which sort of go beyond what is “in” right now and to combine them with experimental colors and prints – and to still make it look adorable.

The ongoing fashion week in Berlin will set a new vision, that’s for sure. The street style, however, will remain the exact same – stubborn, with a will of its own, and path breaking for a lot of young designers getting inspired of what Berlin shows, not on stage, but as colorful accessories under its grey sky.

This article was written for planetmona.com.

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