This Gay “hipster Grandpa” Is A Worldfamous Fashion Icon With One Simple Message
At the age of 80, Günter Krappenhoft makes a big impact. He never expected to become famous. Eight years ago, he didn't even have a smartphone. But now she has 176,000 followers on Instagram and posts long positive posts about authenticity as well as finding the perfect match. She encourages her followers to "be yourself" and her German Wikipedia page simply describes her as a "style icon".
Gunther plays an elderly outsider on the streets of Berlin, where he stands out as a colorful bird of paradise against the city's anti-fashion black techno uniform. He wants to show young people that even in old age you can love life, live happily and be cool.
She does not believe that clothes are only necessary for special occasions. "The outlook on life also changed with age. "I used to wear elegant clothes only for special occasions, fine and expensive china for a special evening or very expensive perfume, now I use all these every day", she tells her followers on Instagram.
His book Just Be You ( sei einfach Du ) talks about the value of individuality. "You have to have the courage to be true to yourself," she told LGBTQ Nation, "regardless of how you dress or what you like. I always say: be yourself, everyone already exists. You are real," says his. smile
For Gunther, clothes have always been part of this expression, but it was a chance encounter that made him the style icon he is today.
It all started when he was waiting for the subway at Cottbusser Tor, one of the most interesting places in the lively Kreuzberg district of Berlin. A passing photographer took a photo, and it appeared on news feeds around the world, in taxis and in advertisements from New York to Tokyo. He became known as "Berlin's oldest hipster" or hipster grandpa.
Her natural style immediately caught the attention of Japanese fashion house United Arrows, who staged her first runway appearance. "I wasn't always interested in fashion, but my personality, emotions, mood were always in my clothes."
Günther's life was created under the influence of these happy accidents. A boy from the North German countryside never expected the life he lives now, and it took him a while to get there. He originally wanted to go to New York as a cook at the legendary American Hamburg line, but was told he would have to wait in West Berlin until his next job. This stop in a city still divided by the Berlin Wall blew my mind. He never left. "The festivities continued all day and night, twenty-four hours a day, especially on the strange stage."
Gunther was not very busy at the time. Despite the wild fun, she calmed down for a while. Gay hipster grandpa married a woman at 29, they had kids. He denied his sexuality and wanted a normal family life and fatherhood. "But then I met a man who changed my life," she says. Although he has no regrets, “it was a very painful process. It wasn't always like today." It was illegal to be gay in Germany at the time, a Nazi-era law that lasted until 1994.
But Günther was not alone: he stayed in touch with his family and even started a support group for men in unique situations called Schwule Väter (gay fathers). It turned out to be nothing special. "We helped other people to accept their sexuality and live as gay people while still living with and caring for their families." After the divorce, he also remained a single father for some time and raised his daughter alone, although he added that he still communicates a lot with his ex-wife.
After a heterosexual marriage and a gay single father, his third life began when he was driving from Berlin to meet friends when two young women stopped him and asked: "Do you want to come to Berghain with us?" His decision to leave his friends and join them at the world famous nightclub also changed his life.
Gunther describes the day as almost a religious experience. "I was there for 8 hours and I danced like it wasn't morning and I've never been so free and happy as in those 8 hours, locked in this crowd in the dark. It was like an epiphany."
Since then, he can often be seen in many of Berlin's most exclusive nightclubs dancing while most of his peers sleep. "The club is my audience," he says.
From chefs and husbands to dads, models, clubbers and gay writers. Has Gunther planned any hobbies or other changes in his life? He refuses to answer. "Every day I live a new life and I don't think about the future - that's smart at my age."
