A Step In A New Life - A Step Towards Yourself

The latest photos and post on the Blog of The Sartorialist is about THE STEP and THE STYLE.

Scott Schuman writes about a personal experience he made on the streets of NYC where he once photographed a girl at a Sale Opening Ceremony and asked exactly the same to take photo again but ONE YEAR LATER. He really didn't realize that it was the same girl because she simply changed so much (the result - photo of Kara - taken from the Sartorialist website).

Further on he starts to think what are major factors why people change their style when moving to a new city Besides better shops and being influenced by street style, he considers "not knowing anyone at the new home" as a huge factor. This means that people who knew you for a long time will think they knew who you are, how you have to dress and to behave. To satisfy their expections you just behave "soundso" (soundso is german and means in this context to behave like the think you should do). If you are away, you are anonymous and especially in a metropolis no one will care about your appearance. You can find new friends, new inspirations and, what is most important, yourself…which leads me to a song text called "Soundso" of the german rock band "Wir sind Helden". I have to post this text because it deals exactly with this subject.

Soundso - Wir Sind Helden

Sie wissen genau wer du bist

Du bist uns so einer

Sie sagen es so wie es ist

So gut kennt dich keiner

Und zwar bist du vom Wesen soundso

Soundso so irgendwie

Verstehen sie dich,

das macht sie froh

So einer ändert sich nie

[Chorus:] Aber nichts davon bestimmt dich,

weißt du Nichts davon verglimmt nicht mit der Zeit

Nur du bestimmt nicht,

weißt du Nichts davon ist wirklich

Nichts davon soundso

Und sowieso bleibt nichts davon soundso

Und sowieso ist nichts davon soundso

Glaub mir nichts davon bist du

Soundso warst du schon immer

Genauso, nur kleiner Im Alter wird sowas nur schlimmer

Genauso, nur alleiner

Wie gut wenn man geliebt wird,

wie man ist Soundso,

und so allein So wie du warst,

so wie du bist Bist das du,

musst du das sein?

[Chorus]

Dein Vater ist froh,

Weil er weiß, Du bist soundso!

Und Mutter ist froh, Weil sie weiß, Du bist soundso!

Dein Haustier ist froh, Weil es weiß, Du bist soundso!

Dein Lehrer ist froh, Weil er weiß, Du bist soundso!

Die Freunde sind froh, Alles klar, Du bist soundso!

Auf Arbeit alle froh, Alles klar, Du bist soundso!

Zuhause alle froh, Alles klar, Du bist soundso!

Du gehst k.o.,

Weil du weißt, Du bist soundso!

Wirklich nichts davon...

Soundso Und sowieso bleibt nichts davon soundso

Und sowieso ist nichts davon soundso Glaub mir nichts davon... bist du!

From my own experience I can say that facts are exactly like Scott Schumann wrote.

When I was living in Germany I always had the feeling of not fitting in this country/in this society/in this youth culture. I always was totally addicted to beautyful things from any area. This is not highly appreciated in Germany, where everything needs to be convenient, especially clothes. For example one episode of my last week-end:

My german friend was there to visit Rock En Seine and I wore a short dress with ballerinas. She said that it looks nice but she would never ever wear it or feel comfortable with a dress like that in Germany. Isn't that sad?

She has great legs and I nice body but is afraid to show because of the judgement of other people.

For me, living in Paris changed my style with regards of now having the pleasure to wear what I had kept in my closet for a long time. Here people will honor when you made an effort on your external appearance. Women will aks you which vanishing creme you use or for the name of your coiffeur. The best about all this is: You musn't feel guilty. While talking about german tabu subjects which would consider you being artificial and stupid, you in France you are simply a woman talking about her coiffeur. How cool is this? Here you can female, sexy and INTELLIGENT in one. This is what I love most about this change (beside 1000 other aspects of course) and which makes me probably never want to go back.

I also took two photos of mine (the first taken in Paris in March 2006 and the second taken during summer vacation in August 2007). This is the first time I realized: I had changed, not only emotionally but also externally!