Sunday, September 23, 2007

Stockholm's Moderna Museet Offers a Fashion Lesson

As I recently mentioned I’m just not a fashionable person. This point was really hammered home yesterday. DCP and I went with our friends who are in town to Moderna Museet. The Modern Museum. Basically a bunch of modern art in various forms on display. It became painfully obvious that I just don’t wear enough black clothing to fit in with the modern art crowd. While the art was somewhat interesting, and somewhat confusing, the people were absolutely amazing.

I saw the young couple who considered themselves art experts quietly discussing a piece that consisted of blue paint smeared across a canvas. The guy even tilted his head as if he were contemplating the meaning of life. Absolutely glorious. I didn’t really know those people existed.

I saw the artists-to-be all dressed in black eschewing colorful clothing so as to become one with their art. Maybe. I don’t really know. They walked around eyeing the artwork of their heroes thinking that someday their rubbish heap will be displayed in the museum. They also made critical comments as if they knew what they were talking about. I’m sure some of them did, but some of them just gave off the aura of being full of it.

I saw tourists examining everything because they were tourists and that what tourists are supposed to do. They looked at the paintings, maybe read the title, and then moved on. It was as if they felt the need to check out some museums in Stockholm but would rather be outside in the beautiful weather but they were in the museum so damn it they were going to look at the art!

I even saw the stereotypical Swedish woman. Three young blonde mothers with their children out for a nice day of culture. All dressed in black of course because as we’ve had hammered into our heads by the fashion trendsetters and all of the newspapers, black is the fall color this year. Of course every fall and winter I’ve been here black has been THE color but that’s neither here nor there.

My lack of fashion was hammered home even more later in the evening as we went to an Irish pub in the middle of Stockholm. Great little place with really cheap beer. Surprisingly cheap actually which made for a much cheaper evening than usual. Anyway, while it was a pretty laid back place later in the evening a group of women came in clearly dressed for a night on the town. This was followed by a smaller group of guys also dressed for a night on the town. It’s amazing how much time these people must spend preening themselves. They looked like they had just stolen the clothes off the mannequins at H&M. I on the other hand, did not.

Despite my lack of taste it was a pretty entertaining day. The museum was fun and if nothing else offered wonderful people watching, and the bar had the perfect atmosphere to just hang out and catch up. I suppose that’s really what counts, and plus it gave me another opportunity to rant about the Swedes and their nose for fashion.

2 comments:

  1. Just popping up to say hi! I'm a fellow American living in Stockholm - except I'm only here temporarily for work. Going through your entries, I shared a lot of the same reactions as you did to being here. It's amusing to read. :)

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  2. Glad to hear it! I'd love to hear some of your reactions to Sweden. Hope you're not here in Sweden just during the winter for work!

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