Berlin 2011 (and changing fast...)

Firstly, let me apologise for the lack of posts lately!! Hopefully this one will make up for it and show you one of the reasons I've been busy lately.

(Me looking colour-coordinated with my surroundings. Tights from H&M, sailor jacket from Topshop, snood from H&M, vintage shorts, boots from a market.)

Recently I was lucky enough to get the chance to go to Berlin with my art class for a few days. Of all the places I've ever been to abroad, I've never been in a city so brimming with creativity and movement before. Berlin has a tragic and largely negative history, especially in the 20th century, due to the Nazis, the World Wars and then the ensuing divide between West Berlin and Soviet-controlled East Berlin. Up until around 20 years ago the city was still in a fragmented state both mentally and in regards to the buildings itself, and as such a large proportion of the architecture there is relatively recent. I found it fascinating and moving how a city could be on the one hand so progressive in its architecture, and yet so determined to not forget the tragedy of its past and those who suffered there (there are many monuments, in particular relating to World War 2).

('The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe' - Peter Eisenman and Buro Happold)

(my friend in the amazing Jewish Museum, which serves as a architectural, interactive memorial by Daniel Libeskind)

But enough of the heavy stuff. Berlin is the most inspirational city I've ever been to! On every street there's some form of artwork, be it architecture or street art (Berlin is completely filled with some of the most talented graffiti art I've seen), so you're constantly surrounded by a sort of creative 'buzz'. There's a strong feeling of movement and evolution, which is partly why I consider myself so lucky to have visited there now - the city is still fairly young and in 20 years will have completely transformed itself.

(The Reichstag, with its dome built by Norman Foster. You can go up inside and see across the whole of Berlin!)

(Tomàs Saraceno's exhibition. He builds amazing bubble/spiderweb- like things that are huge in scale. You can even go inside some of them and it feels like you're floating.)

(Graffiti art on the streets of Berlin)

One last set of photos I wanted to share is from a flea market I went to while there. It was incredible! There was so much to buy and so many old and antique items cluttered all together in the most haphazard way. It was so beautiful too, like being in a sweet shop except huge and made up of random old things.

It's strange that when I started this blog I wanted to make it very much a fashion-orientated blog. And even though I still see it as such, it's kinda evolved to being more focused on art, though I guess the two are interlinked (well for me that's something I feel strongly as they're both things I'm so passionate about). And this post has got me wondering how things can change, and how what you choose to wear (and therefore, in my opinion, who you are) is shaped by your environment and the things you experience. Or at least that's what I feel has shaped my sense of 'fashion'.