This is what my siblings and I would lovingly call a Rudow Hairstyle. It has to be somewhere between purple and blue and should be accompanied by a vibrantly blue eyeshadow. And possibly really long red nails.
Rudow is the part of Berlin where our mother grew up. It's not really a wealthy part of town but as far as I could see there was no abject poverty, either. My grandparents lived on a street that was pragmatically called 'Strasse 229' - Street 229 - located in a 'settlement'. That sounds very much like the far west but it wasn't Oklahoma, it was south of Berlin.
These settlements were parts of town where a group of people was allowed to construct houses. I can't remember the exact time, but it must have been before the first World War because my grandmother grew up there. Every settler had to help build all the houses and none of them knew which one was to be their own. That way everyone would give their best for every house and not just for the one they would live in.
My grandmother lived there all her life, grandfather moved in with her family after their marriage.
As I said, Rudow was not a wealthy part of town but I loved going there as a child and young adult. My grandparents and their friends and neighbors had grown old together, visiting, chatting, gossiping and developing their very own fashion style. The latter never really outgrew the sixties and permed 'high' hair stayed in fashion until the 21st century. But it changed in one significant manner: Purple hair became acceptable. I don't know how but it must have been in the late nineties, if you ask me.
Now that our grandparents have died, we rarely go to Rudow anymore. But we are always delighted to see someone with a Rudow Hairstyle.
