autumn fashion in Vienna, 1935: beautiful, but . . .

Since we are on the cusp of autumn in the northern hemisphere, I thought I'd share with you a little fashion inspiration from 1935, specifically the September 1935 issue of the Vienna-based fashion magazine, Die Moderne Welt.  1930s Vienna was a very dark to place to be if you were a Jew.  Hitler's Anschluss of Austria would not occur until 1938, but by 1935, antisemitic attacks on Jews were on the rise in Vienna.  I love Vienna and I love 1930s fashion, but it's hard not to look at these pretty images through a glass darkened by the suffering of so many.  I find it difficult to enjoy looking at fashion magazines today for some of the same reasons.

And yet. . . fashion can be so beautiful.  And I do love it.  So let's try to forget all the bad stuff for a minute and look at some pretty pictures!

Fall hats.  I particularly like the two in the center.

Shopping outfits!  My favorite here is the plaid suit on the bottom.  The maker is not stated, but the outfit with the cape is by Piguet.  The "stone green" (Steingrünes) suit with cherries on it is by Nina Ricci.  (Just a side note: sometimes the German words for colors in these old fashion magazines are evocative and beautiful, a la Steingrünes.  At other times, they are straight up racist.)

Walking costumes.  I think these all are very smart, and particularly like the decorative buttons and collar on the top suit.  However, each is made with a different animal pelt, from seal to "broadtail" (fetal lamb) to nutria (cute giant rats, rather like capybara).

Let's get out of disturbing fur territory and into--morning outfits!  These are all so great, but I particularly like the top two with the geometric pockets.  They look so modern.

  

Afternoon dresses.  My god, aren't these dreamy?  It's hard to pick a favorite, but mine is probably the one on the bottom right with the scalloping and sleeve details.  It's made of dark blue wool georgette with white and red silk insets and is by Hubert.  The top dresses are an iridescent silk dress with soutache trim by Bernard, and a blue low-neck dress with brown satin trim by Piguet.  On the bottom left is a dark brown Marocain (crepe) tea dress with pink satin waistcoat by Bernard.

Gowns for the theater.  The purple dress on the left is by Piguet.  Interesting, romantic Renaissance-style bodice on the top right dress, and I like the slightly bohemian feel of the center dress, which is made of black velvet trimmed in satin; it is by Helene Hubert.

Dresses for dancing.  The far left gown and black gown trimmed in purple are both by Piguet.  I am curious why Piguet is so heavily represented here, and not other more famous designers of the day.

Fashions for girls.  I can't help it; I love the dress on the far left and would love to wear the adult version.  With the leather bag, which you know is beautiful.  (Why did kids get the best bags?)

And a page of that ultimate fashion accessory, the adorable puppy or kitten.

xo

K

Weihnachten / Christmas 1936

Christmas is almost here!  So it's the perfect time to travel through time and space to 1930s Vienna and Berlin via the December 1936 issue of Die Moderne Welt magazine.  I'm sharing some of the highlights from the issue here, but you can view the whole thing and other issues online at the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek.  (And apologies in advance for my amateur German translations.)

The lovely mosaic-style cover art (which looks very modern and current to me, for some reason), and a charming Christmas themed illustration inside.

New hairstyles for long hair, featuring Ginger Rogers!  And an ad for cigarettes and cigars made in Austria.  Great stocking stuffers?

The ski school begins, what do we bring?  I'd say we bring everything here, because it is all amazing.  I especially love that olive blouse and skirt on the left, and the brown coat with rounded collar.  The herringbone and striped skating outfits on the right are totally fun, and how great is the tweedy-plaid skating outfit on the right?  I love the culottes (Hosenrock in German or "pants skirt")!  I know I would have been wearing those Hosenröcke everywhere, not just to ice skate.  Actually, probably not at all to ice skate.  I do like to cross country ski though, and would totally wear that skiing outfit on the left, with its plaid scarf, gloves and socks.  

More outfits for winter sports, and some for elegant afternoons.  (I need to have more elegant afternoons.)

Evening dresses, blouses, and all kinds of little things.  I really love that outfit on the right:  the brown skirt with the terracotta side-tie vest.  And please send me all of the gloves, thank you.

Wool--the big fashion.  These sweaters--the top two especially--are amazing.  Can you see the crazy collar on the top one?

Christmas gift ideas--"Every year again--and always something new"--for her, him, and the kids.  My eyes were immediately drawn to the men's side, and those checked slippers with their Scottie dog case.  And that incredible travel bag at the top!  But then I took a closer look at the women's gifts.  #2 shows a coral bracelet (nice enough) and a flat clock in colored glass with leather tab that you can button into a buttonhole (nifty!).  #4 is a mirror with a set of lips inlaid to help you get the contours of your lipstick correct (weird, but fascinating).  And I think #5 is the best.  It shows a lighter that also a clock, and a leather belt decorated with a map print, and with a big leather buckle.  I would love to have that belt!  

xo

K

a week in vienna

In Schloss Belvedere.

So after reading that love letter I wrote to Munich, you're probably thinking that I ended up loving Munich even more than the place I was most excited to visit...Vienna.

clockwise, from upper left: Café Prückel; the Prater; an ivy-covered wall in one of Vienna's many hidden courtyards; Stephansdom cathedral; in the Hofburg Quarter.

Well, you would be wrong.  I loved Vienna even more.  I was blown away by Vienna.  I'm not even sure I can put my thoughts about Vienna into words.  While I could easily list the things I loved about Munich that made me love it and want to live there, Vienna is somehow more difficult to grasp.  It's a little dirtier than Munich, feels more urbane and multicultural (I think I heard Slavic languages spoken as much as German), and is slightly less...orderly.  The drivers were crazier, and I saw fewer bike riders.  (I'm pretty sure those two things are connected.)

Vienna, as the seat of the Habsburg Empire, was once a major world power.  It has a very rich cultural history.  Some famous Viennese?  Franz Schubert, Johann Strauss, Gustav Klimt, Sigmund Freud, Gustav Mahler, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Egon Schiele, Hedy Lamarr, Fritz Lang.  (Oh, yes...and Christoph Waltz, of course.)  I had (and still have) no shortage of books to read about this city (I'll include my reading list at the end of this post).  And though the Austro-Hungary empire is no more, Vienna is still thriving.  It has a complicated past, which I think makes it all the more fascinating.

If you can't find something in Vienna to to pique your interest, I think you may be comatose.

We stayed in an apartment next to the Belvedere, which houses two palaces full of art, and is famous for its collection of Klimt paintings.  Though I loved seeing the Klimts and other art in the museum, I particularly enjoyed the grounds of the Belvedere.  Looking at that last photo, you might think I took these photos on different days, but no.  The day we visited it started out gray and drizzly, which made the shrubs and just-changing leaves of the trees look even prettier.  By the afternoon, the clouds had mostly dispersed and I was able to take that blue sky photo of the Lower Belvedere.

The grounds are open to the public, so Andy was able get up and run through the Belvedere every morning.

Otto Wagner's Karlsplatz Pavilions, and the golden-domed Secession Building, which houses Gustav Klimt's Beethoven Frieze.

Vienna is stuffed full of museums--art, design, and historic--and we saw just a tiny fraction of what is available.  We walked through the Imperial apartments at the Hofburg and giggled at the somewhat Vegas-y, Ripley's Museum-ish quality of the exhibits at the Sisi Museum, the section of the Hofburg dedicated to the fascinating Empress Elisabeth of Vienna.  I loved getting to see so much of Gustav Klimt's work everywhere (well, maybe not the ubiquitous cheesy Klimt souvenirs), particularly the Beethoven Frieze in the Secession Building.  And the city boasts many examples of Jugendstil/Art Nouveau design, including Otto Wagner's Karlsplatz Pavilions.

But my favorite museum of the entire trip was the MAK (Museum for Applied Arts).  The permanent collection rooms have each been redesigned by contemporary artists.  (Jenny Holzer's take on the Biedermeier Room is pretty nifty.)  But my favorite part of the museum was the extensive collection of  Wiener Werkstätte items (the MAK owns the Wiener Werkstätte estate).  It was one of the best museum experiences of my life.  The MAK also has a stylish cafe with Ottakringer beer on tap and delicious Kürbiscremesuppe (cream of pumpkin soup).

Speaking of food...we ate well.  Very well.  Yes, we had giant Wienerschnitzel...the above are photos from Vienna institution, Figlmüller, where you can also order a delicious potato salad made with the ubiquitous pumpkin seed oil.  We ate Tafelspitz (boiled beef), and we had the giant pork knuckle at the Schweizerhaus biergarten in the Prater.  We had fried Emmental with cranberry sauce.  

But our favorite?  The Bitzinger Würstelstand near the Opera.  Our order varied only slightly with each visit.  The first time we had a can of Stiegl, but on subsequent stops we switched to their special draft Opernbräu, added pickles and hot peppers, or a side of frites.  But one thing did not change: we always ordered the Käsekrainer, a cheese-filled sausage that is apparently a favorite with late night drinkers.  You can have it served to you stuffed inside a big ole sausage bun, but we preferred to share it this way, with a piece of brown bread on the side (and adorable tiny forks!).  I can't say I'm always the biggest fan of street eating.  I feel like I'm always chasing down a stray napkin and trying not to drop food all over my clothes.  But I loved eating at the Bitzinger stand.  There are heat lamps for when it's chilly.  And in the evening you can watch the opera crowds.  (I love the idea of fancy opera-goers having a beer and sausage just before or after the show.  So one night we did just that, and got SRO tickets for Der Rosenkavelier, and afterwards stopped at Bitzinger.)  It was also here that an older Austrian gent struck up a conversation with me, and I had my first (and only) conversation with a German speaker that went beyond "Danke" and "Bitte."

l-r, clockwise: Café Prückel; Café Demel; Café Hawelka.

Vienna is famous for its cafe culture, and we sampled a few of them.  The Vanillecremeschnitte (vanilla cream and custard cake) at fancy bakery/confectionary Demel was amazing, but my favorite cafe was probably the more bohemian Hawelka.  Or maybe it was the light and airy Prückel with its 1950s-era decor. I can't decide.

One thing you notice when walking around Vienna is the large array of old signs and storefronts, much of it mid century neon (in some amazing fonts).  Sadly, these signs are disappearing, whether due to new stores taking over the space, or the current owner's inability to pay for the expensive servicing of neon signs.  Luckily, Vienna has a Sign Saint (that's not his actual title; just what I call him) in Achim Gauger of Vienna City Typeface.  I found Achim's Instagram account, where he uses his photography skills to document these signs, when I was looking up information about Vienna before our visit.  We met up with Achim, who gave us an incredible three hour tour of Vienna's first district; they were the most informative and interesting hours of our time in Vienna.  Achim knows more about Vienna (where he's lived for 15 years) than I do about the much smaller city where I have lived for the same length of time.  If you're interested in Vienna, old signs, interesting fonts/typefaces, or just beautiful photography, you should check out Achim's Instagram feed.

Achim taught us to look all around us when walking around Vienna.  And to take every interesting-looking little alleyway or side street.  Vienna was not built on a grid, and trying to use a map to navigate your way around it is an exercise in frustration.  Yet it's very concentrated and easily walkable.  Just start wandering...you eventually end up where you want to be.  Or someplace even more interesting.

Vienna is surrounded by vineyards, and the city and suburbs have many Heurigen, or small taverns run by the families who own the vineyards.  We took a short trip (just a U-Bahn ride to the end of the line) to Grinzing, where we saw the striking Karl Marx Hof housing project, got a peek at the beautiful vineyards, and sat and enjoyed Sturm (young wine, kind of like cider), Grüner Veltliner, and food in a the lovely, cozy setting of the Bach-Hengl Heuriger.

clockwise from upper left:  Prater Hauptallee; a Prater ride we did not take; Wiener Stadtpark (Vienna City Park); beers at the Prater's Schweizerhaus; the Wienfluss in the Stadtpark.

Like Munich, Vienna has some lovely green spaces, the largest of which is the Prater.  We strolled along the chestnut-lined Hauptallee, watched dogs play, saw the Ferris wheel that Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles rode in The Third Man, and drink beer in the biergarten.

I admit I'm more than a bit melancholy when I think of Vienna.  I feel like I made only the tiniest of dents in what I wanted to see of this city.  Now, understand...I wouldn't change a thing about the pace or manner in which I did see it.  I would far rather take my time absorbing a place, rather than trying to cram it all in in a mad rush.  I just wish I had another week to spend in Vienna.  Or three.  

I'll be counting the days until I return again.

More photos of my trip are here, on my Flickr.  For those planning a trip to Vienna, I found this blog, written by Vienna native Barbara, to be an invaluable resource:  Vienna Unwrapped.

xo

K

P.S.--For those who are interested, these are the books I read before, during, and after my trip to Vienna, with special thanks to my friend Nancy Hirschbein who recommended the great reads about Klimt's painting and the Wittgenstein family.

*The Third Man, by Graham Greene

*The Piano Teacher, by Elfriede Jelinek

*Fin-de-Siècle Vienna: Politics and Culture, by Carl E. Schorske

*A Nervous Splendour: Vienna 1888-1889, by Frederic Morton

*The Empty Mirror, by J. Sydney Jones

*Waiting for Sunrise, by William Boyd

*Thunder at Twilight: Vienna 1913/1914, by Frederic Morton

*The Lady in Gold: The Extraordinary Tale of Gustav Klimt's Masterpiece, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, by Anne-Marie O'Connor

*The House of Wittgenstein: A Family at War, by Alexander Waugh

*The Radetzky March, by Joseph Roth

*The Kraus Project: Essays by Karl Kraus, by Jonathan Franzen

autumn fashions in Austria, 1935

I have new internet obsession, and its mouthful of a name (at least for us non-German speakers) is the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, or Austrian National Library.  The website for the library has a fabulous virtual reading room where you can peruse hundreds of years of Austrian newspapers and magazines, ranging from journals of firefighting and law, to travel and women's magazines.  One of my favorite discoveries is Moderne Welt (The Modern World) magazine, a treasure trove of vintage 1920s-1930s fashion (and fashion illustration).  Just to give you a taste, below is the cover and autumn fashions from the September 1935 issue (you can see the full issue online here).

Autumn hats.  (I have tried without success to decipher the signature of the illustrator for these interior illustrations.  If anybody knows what it says, please tell me!)

Autumn fashions for shopping and...walking the dog!  (I'm told Austrians really love dogs.)  Not only do I love the fashions here, but the script headers and little illustrations with them (particularly that terrier) are so charming.  Oh, and I'll take the plaid Shopping suit and the top Promenade outfit.  Danke!  (That cute green suit on the left with cherries on the front of the jacket is by Nina Ricci.)

And outfits for morning and afternoon.  I love the geometric details on the far left Vormittag dress, and the scalloping on the righthand Nachmittag dress (which is by Robert Piguet).

Gowns for the Theater, und für Tanz (dance!).  The far left gown is by Piguet, as are the purple and purple and gray Tanz dresses on the right.

And as an adorable bonus--autumn outfits für die Kinder!

xo
K