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| image from the film daisies |
The people in Ottawa know how to take a dig. Think about it.
Across the country other Canadians think we have no taste, no style and no fun.
We’ve been coined the place that fun forgot and labeled the most unsexy city in
Canada. Most recently we were
blacklisted as one of the worst-dressed city in world. It appears that
we have been seared by not one scarlet letter, but by a triad of Bs - boring, bureaucratic
and bland.
We’ve got to face the facts. The odds are against us.
Population. Ottawa’s inhabitants consist mainly of civil
servants mindlessly punching in and out of offices that generally resemble pine
boxes with peep-holes.
Location. We are in the middle of two of the most energetic and
culturally diverse cities in Canada. Considering that we already battle against
ongoing identity issues (*however this might be a Canadian-thing, not just an
Ottawa-thing), we are clearly geographically positioned to have a superiority
complex as well.
Attitude. The most significant reason we are always under
attack for our lack of elegance, I believe, is our overpowering sense of
optimism. At first you may think, what is this crazy blogger talking about?
Optimism is a good thing, no? Well, not is you want to be stylish. Seems like
the happy-go-lucky people of Ottawa, always seem to think that life is just
coming up roses, while in fact, most are blind to what makes a city, and a
population, in vogue.
The cynical are stylish because they don’t give a damn. They are so disenchanted by society that the
rules seems hardly worth following anymore. Freed of simple-minded optimism,
the cynical are critical, complex, independent and rebellious – all the elements
of great style. Fashionable people fundamentally do not consider the moral and
social dogma that ties so many unstylish people up in knots. Thoughts such as ‘I
wonder if the print of my skirt is too much?’ ‘will <insert loquacious
co-worker’s name here> say something about
the height of my heel?’ ‘I hope my boss likes my tie’ would never cross the mind
of a cynic.
I think to be chic you must have no great
optimism in the natural state of things. You must forgo fact— such as this matches, this
doesn’t match, this is in season, this is out of season— and replace it with
notions, ideas and conceptualization about style. Natural beauty should become something
to take pruning shears to. If
architecture enables us to appreciate the landscape of a city, liberated from
practical concerns, fashion should do the same for the citizens.