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An Ode to Public Transportation Seat Covers: How Are They Ugly and Beautiful at the Same Time?
Let's unpack this
By Emily Engle - February 28, 2019
CityLab recently put out a call for people's favorite public transportation seat covers, and the results couldn't be more, um, colorful? We all know the feeling of turning the corner entering one of those large tour busses, speculating which pattern will damage your eyesight for the duration of your trip. Or the feeling of visiting a new city and wondering if the public transit system will feature plastic or fabric seats. If glistening plastic seats pull up, you breathe a sigh of relief. If worn out fabric ones do, you sigh knowing you'd rather stand than risk it even though the patterns are pretty fun sometimes. Either way, we all love to hate public transportation seating covers, and for pretty good reason too.
Yeah, most of these are hideous and dated, but at the same time, how can you really hate these musty, grimy, gum-stained beauties? Sure, light-up disco floors and repurposed Blockbuster signs also bring about a strange sense of nostalgia, but where else can you experience this wave of emotion on a daily basis other than public transportation seating overs? Maybe they're only beautiful in ironic terms, but that's still beauty in our eyes.
See some of the fun submissions below and make sure to include your own in the original thread or our comments section. We'd love to hate to love what your city has to offer:
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Emily Engle
Emily is a freelance writer based in NYC with an interest in all things design, specifically the design process. When she's not writing about design, Emily can either be found taking care of her 31 houseplants, going on "nature" walks in her neighborhood or studying Japanese. Before going freelance, Emily was an Editor at Core77.
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An Ode to Public Transportation Seat Covers: How Are They Ugly and Beautiful at the Same Time?
A few years ago I applied to a company that does train interiors. I see why I didn't get an interview, my taste is way too refined!
Why are cheap fabrics always ugly? Does it cost more to make good looking machine made fabric? What the market will bare.
The ugliness distracts from the dirt. Lol