The Future of Fashion?

The current exhibition "Technosensual: where fashion meets technology" at the Quartier 21 presents electronic textiles and wearable technologies created by international haute tech couture designers. The "Circuit Dress" by Nicky Assmann (NL), a wearable instrument based on the principles of circuit bending, plays with the current design trend in which technology is incorporated into fabrics as invisibly and flexibly as possible This dress completely reverses this trend. Twelve coils are incorporated into the dress, each of which is played by connecting them with one another through copper finger plates. In this way new sounds are created. Click here for a video.

Sunday Flowers #45

"The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good. Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom." - James Allen

Streetstyle #1: Boy With Suspenders

I love to read streetstyle blogs... At the "History of Fashion" show last week I had the opportunity to finally capture some outstanding outfits myself. This boy attracted my attention with his hair-do, his glasses and the suspenders.

The History of Fashion #3

These girls in their dresses from the 1950s were eagerly waiting for their performance on the catwalk.

The History of Fashion #2

This is what the Greek men have worn according to the fashion spectacle at the MuseumsQuartierWien. The garment may be authentic, but I think the hair-do is a rather stylistic inconsistency.

The History of Fashion #1

The yesterday mentioned event at the MuseumsQuartierWien was a fashion spectacle with almost 200 models showing the history of fashion, starting of course with Adam and Eve.

Event at the MQW

Last wednesday I attended an event at the MuseumsQuartierWien. It was a balmy summer evening, the entry was free, the audience was very large... Tomorrow I will tell you which kind of event it was. In the meantime I´m looking forward to your guesses.

"Bubbles"

Very close to the area I´m living in there is a lot of construction activity going on. Some days ago I discovered this new apartment building with interesting bubbles on the first floor - modern terraces. I like them for their futuristic look, but I´m wondering if they are not heating up too much in summer and I´m not sure if I would like to sit there, being exposed to the eyes of all the neighbours and passers-by.

Sunday Flowers #44

"Flowers have an expression of countenance as much as men or animals. Some seem to smile, some have a sad expression, some are pensive and diffident, others again are plain, honest and upright." - Henry Ward Beecher

Fashion Depot #3

The fashion depot of the Wien Museum comprises not only garments but also the corresponding accessoires, for example hand fans. They were not only beautiful accessoires but also used in a more or less secret, unspoken code of messages. These fan languages were a way to cope with the restricting social etiquette in the 18th and 19th century. Click here for a short vocabulary.

Fashion Depot #2

The textile restorer showed us exemplary garments of different periods. There were soooo many beautiful items!

Fashion Depot #1

This is not my wardrobe, but an insight in the fashion depot of the Wien Museum. Usually it is not open to the public but I recently was the lucky winner of a guided tour through the depot  - a very restricted place, we were told to  keep the address secret and to not photograph the outside of the building (Interestingly inside it was allowed to take photos). The depot comprises more than 22.000 items, the main focus is on women´s fashion of the 19th and 20th century.

Façade Detail #15

An atlas at the Caprara-Geymüller Palace in the city center. Constructed around 1698 by an Italian architect, this building is one of the oldest baroque palaces in Vienna.

The Danube Canal

The Danube Canal is a former arm of the river Danube, now regulated as a water channel. It is 17,3 km long and borders the city center. The paths on both sides of the Danube Canal are regularly used by joggers, cyclists and skaters. In this photo you can see the excursion boat MS Vindobona, the "Badeschiff", a floating swimming pool, and the Urania.

Closed on Sundays

My favourite square in the second district is not very spectacular, but to my mind it has a very Parisian atmosphere. Recently it was innervated by the opening of two restaurants (neither of them is French). Yesterday I went there to take a picture of people enjoying their dinner on the square but both restaurants were closed. So here you have only the chairs and benches of one of them...

Sunday Flowers #43

"Don't send me flowers when I'm dead. If you like me, send them while I'm alive." - Brian Clough

New Collections

It still feels like midsummer but the new collections have already arrived to the stores and the shop windows... Is it only me who doesn´t want to see what we will wear in some weeks?

Shades of Green

The well hidden outdoor area of a French bistro that I have already mentioned here, here and here is a perfect place for lunch on a hot summer day. I love the different shades of green of the tables and chairs.

Reflections #21

The United Nations Office at Vienna (UNOV) reflected in another office building. The UNOV was established on 1 January 1980 as the third United Nations Headquarters after New York and Geneva, it performs representation and liaison functions with permanent missions to the United Nations (Vienna), the host Government and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations in Vienna.

August Theme Day: Numbers

The multimedia installation "Pi" by Canadian artist Ken Lum in the Opernpassage, opened in December 2006, consists of a presentation of π with 478 decimal places as well as 16  display cases that convey a variety of statistical data in real time. This photo shows the the number of lovers in Vienna this very morning.

Have a Seat

Bright coloured seating-accomodations in front of an interior designer shop in the city center. What a pity that I have neither a balcony nor a terrace.

Sometimes Life is Sweet

What to do if you walk by your favourite frozen yogurt store and for once there is no line? You just have to enter and indulge yourself in a frozen dessert. Right?

Sunday Flowers #42

"With a few flowers in my garden, half a dozen pictures and some books, I live without envy." - Lope de Vega

Baroque Building

This beautiful baroque apartment building in the 7th district is one of many heritage-protected edifices in Vienna.

Art on The Staircase

The external staircase of the Albertina museum has been covered with the artwork "Hungarian Fields" (1919) by Hungarian painter and photographer László Moholy-Nagy (1895-1946). An interesting way to attract the attention of the passers-by. For the last year the staircase has been covered with some of Claude Monet´s waterlilies (Click here for a photo).

Antiquarian Shop - Books - Articles of Virtu

This shop in the city center sells second hand books, "new" books and articles of virtu - it´s a real treasure chest. I also love the three open windows and the flowers on the first floor.

An Evening on The Terrace

Yesterday I was invited by a friend of mine for a dinner on her terrace. It was a very nice evening even though we had to move the huge table under the roofing because it started to rain.There could be more evenings like this...

Humiliation

This strange thing on Graben is another example of art in public space: The installation "Humiliation" by the team of artists Clegg & Guttmann highlights public punishment - right into the eighteenth century, torture and executions were enacted in the public realm, open to everyone to see. On Graben a gibbet was to be found until the late seventeenth century. The installation combines the gibbet, the Spanish Coat and the Flute of Shame.

Sunday Flowers #41

"It is at the edge of a petal that love waits." -  William Carlos Williams 

Self Portrait With Muscles

Guild Sign

In the Middle Ages guild members used to mark their places of business with guild signs. Some of them still exist today, as this one which indicates a locksmith.

The Pink Bow

When I saw this mannequin with the pink bow on the head and the heart shaped "lipstick" I just had to pull out my camera...

Bright Colours

Here we have once again bright coloured tables and chairs - they catch my eyes every time I pass by (which I do rather often as this café is close to my office).

Painting in The Park

Some people (me) walk hastily through the Volksgarten, some others (this girl) take the time to paint...

Society

Since five years the Ringturm gets wrapped with an artwork during summertime. This year the work "Society" by Hungarian artist László Féher (*1953) turns the office building into an "art tower". Click here for a photo of last year´s artwork.

Sunday Flowers #40

"Flowers are beautiful hieroglyphics of nature, with which she indicates how much she loves us."- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Dancing Girl

One of many exhibits at the Augarten Porcelain Museum: "Dancing Girl" designed by Ida Schwetz-Lehmann in 1925.

Sunset in Augarten #2

Another photo of the sunset in Augarten some weeks ago.

Summer Hats

Some days ago I read in the paper that an increasing number of people wears hats. Well, I can´t confirm this and I will surely never wear a hat myself (the hairdo, you know), but here´s a selection of summer hats.
The family run millinery "Mühlbauer" was founded in 1903 and became a brand name for hand finished headwear of the highest quality in the late 1920s. Currently it´s run by the fourth generation. You can buy Mühlbauer hats not only in Vienna but also in Paris (Le Bon Marché), Milan (10 Corso Como), Berlin (KdW) London (Harrods) or Los Angeles (Fred Segal). Of course there´s also an online shop.

Façade Detail #14

Art Nouveau decorations by Hungarian sculptor Othmar Schimkowitz on a building in the 4th district.

Sale!

Sale has already started some weeks ago, but one can still find a lot of special offers. In this window the bright colours and the white "accessories" caught my eyes.

Even the Horses are hot

With the current temperatures of more than 30°C (86°F), even the horses of the "fiakers" (horse-drawn carriages) are hot and need a shower to cool down. You have to watch carefully to see that one of the coachmen is hosing the animals.

Sunday Flowers #39

"I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers." - Claude Monet

Riverboat

A riverboat at the landing place next to the Reichsbrücke. The tower in the background is the Donauturm, one of Vienna´s landmarks.

Patrol Boat & Donau City

When I recently returned home from Donauinsel, I discovered this boat anchored on the banks of the Danube. It seems to be the "Niederösterreich", a patrol boat, used as gunboat by the Austrian Armed Forces from 1970 until 2006. In the background you can see the Donau City area with the DC Tower still under construction. Click here if you want to see how this building looked like in June 2011.

Siesta in The City

Yesterday in the early afternoon the tourists had a special subject for their photos: a girl taking a nap/a quick sun-bath on the edge of the Leopold Fountain on Graben. Some male tourists even posed next to the girl, she didn´t notice anything.

New in Town

In this new ice cream store in the city center you can get some peculiar tastes such as beetroot, jasmine, ginger, caramel & salt or rose water. The ice cream is not produced with an usual ice cream machine but by using dry ice.  I don´t know if I´m curageous enough to ever try one of these flavours, but I definitely would like to lounge around in one of these deck chairs.

Under The Sea

Fashion, fishes and crabs - they go well together in the window of the department store Steffl.

Sunset on my Way Home

My usual view on returning home after my bicycle tour on Donauinsel. In the background you can see the hills of the Wienerwald (Vienna Woods), the skyscraper on the right is the Millennium Tower.

July Theme Day: Chimneys

This is not my best theme day photo, but I didn´t manage to get a closer look at chimneys... This is what I see when I´m sitting on my parents´  terrace.