What Happened at Berlin Fashion Week?

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Wow! So Berlin Fashion Week FW16 has come and gone, and I think the biggest take away from the week has been that the so-called little sister of Milan, Paris, London, and New York has really grown up and has legitimized her status of being a true fashion capital. Designers crossed uncharted territory, embracing the diversified street-style and the underground grunge vibe Berlin has to offer and interpreted those ingredients (if you will) into delicious concoctions of ladylike chic, haute hippie, 90’s biker babes, and maximalist madams - just to name a few. What were my personal highlights?

First off, I adored what Marina Hoermanseder sent down the runway. The native Viennese is always so consistent in terms of elegant juxtaposition. For example, we saw constricting, robotic, metal like corsets, followed by wispy, sheer flowing fabrics. It is avant  garde and sublimely unconventional, yet still very wearable. Her progressive cuts and attention to detail is what distinguishes her collections from the rest and it was yet again this season- a treat to watch. The belt strap skirt was again synched to perfection, and to sum up, I would say it was very Dior 1950’s summering at the Riviera x Ex Machina.

Hopping on the band wagon of pastel and the highly anticipated color of the year (And the Oscar goes to… Rose Quartz! - you've truly earned it) we’ve got Dimitri,  Malaikaraiss, and Kilian Kerner.

Here we go.

Malaikaraiss: playful, childish, and lady like. The inspiration drew upon little girls borrowing from their older sister’s closet, so oversize everything was in full force. I loved how it was elegant with again references to the New Look blazer, but didn't take itself too seriously with graphic prints and layered slip dresses. I also felt very 1920’s due to the low waistline.

In a predominantly black collection, Dimitri treated us with splashes of Rose Quartz in the evening dresses and jackets, giving the harsh, edgy masculine collection a balance of purity and femininity. Overall, the 90’s grunge biker babe was revived with all the leather glory and fringe.There was a fun play on texture with tulle, faux sheep skins and fur, and smooth leathers and I loved the fresh interpretations from such a mundane color scheme. Black in all shades.

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Kilian Kerner (a name I find strangely very fun to say) was inspired by Anna Wintour and Twitter. While I was at first a bit (or extremely) terrified to see Anna Wintour clones strut down the runway along with her signature bob and shades - the clothing was very poised and professional. Unleash your inner #GirlBoss. The warm colors gave a retrospective vibe of the 70s, while again - the 1920s were referenced, due to graceful driving coats, gloves, and Poiret worthy prints. If we have any Downton Abbey fans out there - Lady Edith would be ALL over this collection.

Esther Perbandt on the other hand went full on sci-fi and referenced… STARWARS!!!! There were Jedis, stormtoopers, and can I just point out that Darth has finally found his go-to brand. It was great that there were no literal references to the franchise, but the black and white palette, capes, and futuristic tailoring gave it away. The androgynous silhouette and tough, graphic novel superhero look stood out from other more feminine collections. Also, I was a big fan of the models who ranged from all ages and shapes and were real people (beautiful and interesting folks) dressed in structured fluidity. You know what I mean.

Finally, there was Dorothee Schumacher who is actually one of my favorite designers coming from Berlin. She reinvented the haute couture hippie and referred to those Moroccan summers hosted by Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berge in the early ’70s, but instead of basing her collection on Loulou de la Falaise and Betty Catroux - this was for the girl who passed on the drugs, sex and rock and roll, and was instead more interested in reading One Thousand and One Nights under the shade provided by an olive tree.

Berlin - it’s been a pleasure. Next week its off to the Paris couture shows. Well not me - I’ll be happily watching from the comfort of my dorm room, simultaneously studying contribution margins and EBIT analysis (Kudos to student life!!) but will of course be sharing my take on the collection - coffee in hand. Till then kids.

Painting by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1914) called "The Garden Cafe" [/av_textblock][/av_one_half][av_social_share title='Share this entry' style='' buttons='' share_facebook='' share_twitter='' share_pinterest='' share_gplus='' share_reddit='' share_linkedin='' share_tumblr='' share_vk='' share_mail=''][/av_social_share][av_comments_list]

Reinhard Plank- Chapeau!

A few weeks ago, I had the honor of covering the Premium trade show event in Berlin- one of the most renowned in the world- which boasts brands such as Victoria Beckham, M Missoni, and Liebeskind. The location is MASSIVE and it seems inevitable to get lost in the midst of thousands of brands displaying their collections for next season. It is overwhelming when confronted with an ocean of new F/W collections and one needs to concentrate to spot designs, which are truly new, defying edge fashion, and that was exactly what I thought when I first saw the row of hats designed by Reinhard Plank.

When I first spotted them, I had to stop (and set down my 25 lookbooks) and just soak in these creations.

Is this an art piece provided by the trade show to visually delight its guests? Are these hats actually for sale? Why has no one thought of this before? Would I wear these? Am I cool enough to wear these? Do they— “Oh! Hello!!”

I was mid thought when the designer plopped one (the first of several) of the artwork hats onto my head and molded it like a sculpture to fit my look, and if I do say so myself, it looked fantastic: the watercolored pigments complimented my complexion while the (I repeat- moldable) shape can be adjusted for every preferred style. The hats were different from what I have ever seen before and it is so refreshing when you see something fresh and a trend in the making.

Headwear is becoming an essential to our daily lives (not just for February) and ladies and gents- we are returning back to the age of the hat- and we crave more than only the fedora, baseball, and bowler hat!

Reinhard Plank offers us hats which are works of art in their own right and you can determine how “fashion forward” you want to be with the many styles including the minimalistic “Il Classico”, abstract “Artista” and the ultra feminine “Donna P”.

Combined with wearing jeans and a simple white tee, why not make a statement?

Soon, street style photos will be filled with Reinhard Plank’s hats— Tommy Ton I warned you! :)

Find out more at: www.reinhardplank.it

*Bottom images retrieved from reinhardplank.it

To the Heart of Fashion

Berlin Monday 19 January 2015We're riding the U2 line somewhere underground in former West Berlin at like AM 9:20 cruising in the direction of Potsdamer Platz where we get off the train and orientating ourselves walk down Ebertstrasse in the direction of the Brandenburg Gate, opposite which has been set up only yesterday the gleaming marquee that will house this year's Mercedes Benz fashion week. In my capacity as photographer I wore a black coat, orange beanie and trousers the colour of which I can’t remember (probably brown or grey take your pick) which was fine as I was only the photographer and was to take shots of the more fashionable specimens on display.Nervously, though not without excitement, Nina disappears into the tent to watch the first two shows of the day and I head off to Starbucks after waiting around the fringes of the tent snapping though mostly just observing various cool young things arrive either by foot or by taxi walk up the white wooden walkway into the tent trying not to slip in front of everyone which would be tremendously embarrassing which one girl actually did though I obviously didn't take a photo of that as it takes great courage to stick your camera in a random person's face and obliquely take their picture.Starbucks was nice, same old.When I walked back across to the tent an hour later there were three girls shivering in their underwear with their heads in animal masks. Surely this was going too far, even fashion must have its limits somewhere oh but then I realised it was only PETA demonstrating against the use of fur. They were positioned so that people taking photos of them would find it impossible not to exclude from the frame the gleaming MBFW tent in the near distance behind them.Everyone outside seemed to be smoking when I crossed the street and lingered around the tent. It struck me that they were trying to ward off hunger. Ha, just like the starving child in countries were cigarettes cost less than food. Albeit smoking to get that chemical hunger-displacing rush for different purposes. Or maybe it was only the smokers that came to stand outside giving the false impression that a greater percentage of fashion people smoke than actually do.Ok, I say fashion people. I'll need to explain my terminology a little bit here. What became clear to me as the week wore on is that there are categories that define the clothes people wear. As everyone wears clothes, everyone must fit in a category. Categories are as such: Fashionable. These are the ladies and gentlemen at the apex of fashion, they dress themselves in the latest in designed produce and all seem intent on goading each other on towards the next fashionable thing, the process of which keeps fashion alive and evolving. The second, category, where I would place myself (80 per cent of the time), belongs to the stylish. Stylish people are those who settle for, well, just looking stylish. It is not a necessity for them to be always reaching further for new and artistic ways to clothe themselves. Stylish people can be quite happy with a nice Ralph Lauren shirt and a pair of comfortable jeans thank you very much. Then we have the not so stylish who maybe need a little advice and direction, or though equally, may not have the capacity or desire to spend money on 'stylish' clothes.I spotted Nina making her way towards me all excited about what she had seen inside and I was eager to hear about it and we got into a Mercedes-Benz sponsored shuttle bus which took us to another part of the city where a related event ‘Premier’ was taking place this week which was basically an exhibition of all of next winter's (so 2015/16) seasonal clothing that was being shown to store owners who could decide if they wanted to stock any of the clothes in their stores for people to buy next winter kind of in a way similar to picking stocks as the store owners need to predict what will likely sell well and thus decide how much of which items on display to order.  So, yes, as you are likely wondering, I have seen the fashion future... And it looked fiiiiine.No, but seriously, there were so many brands unknown to me at the convention that trying to remember the names of any of them makes my head spin. However, one brand that stood out for me were a sneaker company 'Some Are Thieves'. As I was taking photographs of the shoes I overheard the designer telling Nina about the inspiration behind the design on the shoes, that it was modelled on the patterns made when the universe began and that he wanted that the be the design as such a pattern predates any other known image in like all of time. I could totally chill with this guy! I didn't know designers could be so down to earth! The next pieces we looked at were hats that were made with specially malleable material. The designer, a quiet, intense guy, actually snuck up on Nina and plopped a rather wide brimmed hat onto her head, and began manipulating the shape of its rim with his hands, twirling it, folding it back in on itself. He didn't really say much, but he kept modelling these hats of different shapes and sizes on Nina with a keen artistic eye.It was at this point that I began to decipher a little bit the questions I have about the meaning of fashion. This piece was clearly artistic, clearly invoking a foregone age when hats were a daily necessity, though the designer had put that fashionable, in many ways unique and original stamp on his creation that I suppose is what pushes fashion on into unseen territories. What can one do with the idea of - the concept of - a hat to make it fresh and new and exciting; what does the artist see and seek to change, to add to and evolve the piece?It seems to me that on reflection I was reaching the heart of the matter - I was looking in at the concept of fashion - I was imagining what other possibilities there are for which we can clothe our bodies - I could feel the energy behind artistic creation and realised for the first time that our bodies can be canvasses which we dress according to our tastes, to our individual style or mood - as if by arranging other people's artwork and designs on ourselves we were creating a novel artwork, that artwork being curated and displayed as we go about our daily business. And then it struck me - this is what the fashion people do. This is how they live. They do just this. They wear designer clothes and they walk around like artworks because they are, in a way artworks; they are on display.It was from this enlightened state – from this new angle – that I was the following day able to view the fashion people outside the MBFW tent smoking or not smoking as individual works of personal expression.by Luke Gaillet

Umasan

The beauty of fashion, is that it a snapshot of our time, and is an immediate reaction to the society we live in; this reaction is what I think distinguishes a brand to an iconic brand. Umasan, the vegan fashion label from Berlin, has caught the pulse of our time, and is beating to it’s pure, “one with nature” heart. Umasan has the potential to be iconic and perhaps even change the dynamics of the fashion industry, through it’s inspiring philosophy (there is a reason Umasan was chosen to be the first brand discussed at the melange…). The brand emphasizes “redefining collective values and to increase individual values” and most importantly, to just take a deep breath and just slow down. Personally slowing down in the fashion industry seems more ironic than Anna Wintour in a snapback, but in order to find meaning and appreciate, one needs to invest time. Umasan seems to emphasize style (not trends) and proves great fashion can be timeless and does (should?) not have an expiration date. The brand is inspired by traditional yoga methods and nature- accentuating tranquility and the pure life- unifying body, mind, and spirit. Unlike many brands that focus on maintaining profits and selling the latest “it” item, Umasan lives a deeper purpose and actually wearing the clothing feels like you are wrapped in the poetry of our generation.The name Umasan stems from Japanese roots: Uma translates to “mother of life” and San emphasizes unity and respect. Japanese influences are also obvious through sophisticated design, due to it’s head designer Anja Umann having worked in Tokyo with Master Designer Yohji Yamamoto. Such unique, Eastern cutting-methods are translated to the Western consumer, but this “look” is still new to the European market and is forecasted to become dominant in the next decade- as the line dividing West and East becomes more and more blurred. (Interested in being a funky trendsetter and say you had “it” first? Grab an Umasan asymmetrical coat ASAP!)Not only are the clothing tailor-made to perfectly fit the Human Anatomy, but they are made with the highest quality of ecological plant fibers, which are healthy for our own skin *awkward fist pump*. The fibers include bamboo, beech tree, seaweed, and eucalyptus. Some of these fibers are used in skin cream, so imagine how refreshing it is to wear something with a positive outcome on your body… Also, the materials serve as a natural sun protectant, where Umasan is really responding to climate change and increasing, harmful UV rays. Does it get better?Yes. In terms of production, resources are sustainably extracted around Europe and are locally made in Germany to ensure high standards in ecological and human production processes. Animal products are completely banned, highlighting that the company does not just “talk the talk” when striving to reduce the carbon footprint.Umasan delivers on innovation, highest quality textile, couture tailoring, and sustainability for the planet and our own bodies. Having only established in 2010, the brand is only starting to emerge on the international market, but if executed properly will have a tremendous effect on the minds of consumers and other fashion businesses. Done are the days of greenwashing- we demand the real deal where we as consumer can feel proud about what hangs in our closets. I wish them all the best and am very curious to see what they have in store in their (very bright) future.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_QupD_QzSEThe collection is mainly unisex and is to be worn for comfort and achieve that “feel good feeling” (not just physically but mentally knowing you are doing something good for yourself and the planet). The colors are predominantly black, white, dark greens and occasional blues which gives a minimalistic vibe with a classic harmonious edge. It is ideally worn in a street style context and one is sure to stand out (in a fabulous way) when walking down the street, grabbing a coffee, reading a good book… but I feel like you just have to wear Umasan in a busy public place- people will notice you and you can get the conversation started about sustainable fashion and the slowing down philosophy.So what to wear when you have 5 minutes until a lecture and you’re still in your pajamas? Get up, splash some water on your face, put your hair in a bun, slip on an asymmetrical blouse with a unisex skirt, put on some white Converse and I guarantee you will be the best dressed, coolest, hippest, fashion forward, avant-garde chic your town has seen.