21 January, 2010
After three nights with only five hours of sleep apiece I feel somewhat like the son of the consul in Thomas Mann’s Buddenbrooks after too much punch: “Absolutely hor-ri-ble”. That doesn’t stop me from discussing the question: What does the publisher of “Brigitte” want to do apart from earning money? At the reception in the exhibition of F.C. Gundlach the photographer was barely mentioned. The focus of the evening was Brigitte’s ‘campaign’ to use non-professional models.
The issue is neither novel nor are there a lack of agencies procuring non-professional models. It doesn’t really matter, however. The core of the question remains: who defines fashion in this day and age – professionals or the street?
Of interest: the head of Diesel, Renzo Rosso, has parted with his Creative Director of 20 years Wilbert Das. The alignment of the brand is now in the hands of Bruno Collin. He was my colleague at the magazine Sportswear International 15 years ago and since then has been setting benchmarks with the magazine WAD. Hardly anyone had a better feel for capturing the attitude of streetwear in pictures.
The decision is, therefore, logical – design and journalism have a lot in common: if taken seriously both are concerned with the customer/reader. Their inspirations are also often similar. Joel S. Horwitz who won the 2009 “Designer for Tomorrow by Peek & Cloppenburg” and the Lucky Strike Junior Design Award thinks that it is a significant decision “With such collaborations you can keep up a labels momentum very well. The insights generated by a person with a different area of expertise are very useful. One shouldn’t forget that the consumer also has nothing to do with the business-end of fashion.”
Yesterday was the c.neeon show. The presentation of “Season: ss 08 – love you delicious” was unforgettable due its’ location in a Berlin skatepark. Just behind buyers and journalists, Berliners were, seemingly unimpressed by the event, scaling the walls of an old tower. This street vibe is what the world expects of Berlin.
Viewers got to see Gritty Glamour – people accustomed to c.neeons colorful prints were surprised by the surprisingly grayish colors. Let’s not forget: what is on show is not summer fashion but the collections for winter 2010/11. Personally I really like c.neeons flowing garments and a special treat was the little black dress to end the show. I hope that an actress wears it on the red carpet at the upcoming Berlinale in February.
After the show I met Panos Destanis, the fashion-blogger from Modabot. Beginning with a discussion of the nomination of Collins as Creative Director of Diesel, we moved on to “open source” developments in fashion. For instance, the fashion designer Pamoyo makes her designs available free of charge on her website.
This brought us to Otto von Busch. His project “Dale Sko Hack” enables workers to use their skills and handiwork to participate in the creation of the product. The basic blueprint is thereby uniquely influenced and becomes a one of a kind product. This earnt him an accolade from the European Fashion Awards FASH 2009 with the Special Award in Fashion Theory. Von Busch is convincened that “Design and Fashion need to be renewed by breaking up structures and re-aligning them without loosing their impact.”
Unfortunately the Fair Fashion Fair “The Key” held in an old, disused baking factory didn’t live up to this dictum. The scene is driven by idealism and likes to emphasize the need to be fashionable. The presentations are, however, sorely lacking this characteristic. The decorative furniture out of corrugated cardboard painted in grey and brown robs the fashion of its’ freshness.
An encounter with one of the pioneers of Fair Fashion, Bernd Hausmann, was fortunately refreshing. As is the direction that the Berlin label, true to their name, Slowmo is taking. While I am munching on a bio-sandwich the Creative Director of hessnatur, Miguel Adrover, has invited 40 fashion journalists to a sit-down meal. He is presenting the “Humanity in Fashion Award by hessnatur”. The prize aims to give young and up-coming designers a hand and lend impulses to sustainable fashion trends that are wearable for several seasons. Start is in February.
Speaking to various other visitors, including the fair fashion blogger Dr. Kirsten Brodde and Ulrike Okbay-Reichert, buyer for Ecorepublic, part of the largest mail-order company in the world (Otto), we agree that “The Key” is just the beginning. Fair organizers and exhibitors need more professionalism in the presentation.
Published/Released
Young Germany, January 201th, 2010, with the heading “On to little sleep“