Oh, Austin. I spent this past weekend hanging out in the US Capital of Weird with my pals, Untapped Austin contributors Pat and Jackie. It was the best! My last visit was too quick to do much more than scream excitedly at my friends and sample some barbecue before leaving again, but this venture was a little less hurried. This was more appropriate, as Austin doesn’t seem to know the meaning of the word “hurry.” I spent an enlightening afternoon biking down South Congress, visiting all the curio shops and marveling at the kitschy designs of all the storefronts and themed restaurants. The amount of attention paid to design and the effort devoted to branding each establishment was cool to see, as well as the cohesion of an entire chunk of the city looking so deliberately “crafted.” I like visual continuity.
I spied this human through the window of a coffee shop (the Hideout, I think) as we were taking a caffeine break on the way to check out the Capitol building. There were definitely a lot of people wearing bright colors (a Texas thing?), but this poofy-haired dude went for a more muted palette. Not that the earthy color choices could do much to downplay the ostentatiousness of the outfit—he looked like a member of a belly-dancing marching band. Then again, it’s Austin… maybe he was. I’m not sure if you can tell from the scan, but I used metallic gold ink on the braiding for his jacket and the jangly coin belt.
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