A slew of labels to keep an eye on throughout the week.
LIEBESKIND BERLIN
Liebeskind Berlin has made a name for itself as the go-to bag brand for sporty, easy-going gals in Germany’s capital and far beyond. For fall, the accessories brand is making a move into ready-to-wear.
“It’s the next step to branch out and get more Liebeskind into the world,” said chief designer Katharina Wulf, who was hand-picked for the job a year ago for her compatibility with the brand’s philosophy of cool, casual chic and individuality.
Wulf, who studied at Lette Verein Berlin and worked for the Max Mara Fashion Group and Wunderkind, is a natural bag lady. “I think about bags all the time,” she effused. “All day at work and in the evenings when I go to sleep — it’s really my passion.”
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Wulf is now sharing the love with a capsule collection of dresses, coats, pants, jackets and knitwear that will be presented at Premium, and in an off-site presentation during MBFW.
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Liebeskind’s expertise in leather will extend to the apparel. At the same time, the line will play a bit, presenting the same jacket cut in different fabrics, such as cotton or leather. Masculine textiles will pair with feminine casual cuts, and colors focus on neutrals like taupe, gray and stone, with pops of dark red, dark blue and black. Wulf said that’s “the Liebeskind feeling, the Liebeskind DNA.”
That also means the prices have to suit the casual Berlin girl’s Liebeskind wallet. Leather jackets will retail at 300 to 400 euros, or $387 to $516, and dresses run 200 to 300 euros, or $258 to 387. Liebeskind handbags generally retail for around 200 euros, or $260, with higher and lower pieces in the range.
Liebeskind was founded in 2003 by school friends Semih Simsek and brothers Johannes and Julian Rellecke, whose parents own a chain of shoe and accessories stores. They saw a hole in the market for midpriced, well-made bags with flair — so they started to make them. The brand now has about 1,500 clients in more than 22 nations — 500 in Germany and at least 150 in the U.S., with flagships in Munich, Cologne, Düsseldorf and Paris.
Last year, German fashion chain S. Oliver invested in Liebeskind, and helped launch an expansion plan for the brand. So far, scarves, a shoe collection, a men’s bag collection and premium subbrand LK Berlin have all made it from drawing board to showroom; men’s wear is also on the company’s to-do list.
The brand is also big on teamwork. Recent collaborations have included German soul singer Joy Denalane and Anna Sui. Bags bedecked with butterflies appeared in Sui’s New York Fashion Week runway show last September. The Liebeskind and the Joy bags each hit shelves early this year.
— Susan Stone
VON BARDONITZ
Cross Giulietta Masina in “La Strada” and Malcolm McDowell in “A Clockwork Orange” and you’ll come up with someone who looks a lot like Nicole Roscher. Bring a touch of Tim Burton’s aesthetic into the picture, and you’ll arrive at Von Bardonitz, one of Berlin’s most independent fashion labels.
Now in its fifth season, Von Bardonitz and its 26-year-old creator make a point of going their own way. After studying at a private fashion school in Berlin Köpenick, Roscher briefly switched to art “to free her mind” from all the rules and constrictions the institute’s industrially oriented curriculum had imposed. However, she decided fashion was “the best medium in which to express myself and to show who I am.” Though like her abstract paintings, Roscher’s apparel designs are marked by a clear delineation between colors and shapes, and a preference for minimalist forms and detail.
Last summer saw the designer in a bright phase, but it’s back to black for fall, punctuated by beige and olive tones.
And oversize shapes. “The forms are simple but dramatized through their size and the amount of fabric used,” she commented. Like the huge black wool beetle coat, its surface lightly rubberized and sporting enormous black leather pockets, or the megablack wool and leather cape of Amadeus proportions, not to mention sky- high papal hats. Yet at the same time, the Von Bardonitz mix includes gossamer lace pieces, like a pair of spider-web pants, again boldly accented in leather.
“I always have one or two very feminine things, but mostly the look is androgynous,” she said. “The blurring of gender is a big theme for me, and there are a lot of androgynous boys out there now.” Some of them will be appearing in her presentation at the MBFWB Studio this season, a unisex lineup on male and female models.
At retail, Von Bardonitz starts at about $90 for a basic top, with the core priced between $195 and $1,170 for a statement piece like the oversize cape. Made in Berlin, the collection is presently available in selected specialty shops in Berlin, Taiwan, Turkey, Holland, and online via Japan’s Olive Shop and lookk.com.
Looking ahead, Roscher said she wants to professionalize her business and establish “a reasonable distribution and do more advertising. But there are not that many investors out there, and most designers in Berlin have two jobs just so they can afford to do their own label.” To that end, Roscher models on the side.
She’s also back to freeing her mind, and has immersed herself in quantum physics for the last six months. “The general theme is about reality, and what it means to be a human being. It’s really interesting to see how we function and how our brains function, and also how we function with each other in the world.
“It’s very abstract and one can’t explain it,” she added. “But that’s what’s great about it. The things I like, you can’t always explain.”
— Melissa Drier
NEXT: Vonschwanenflügelpupke >>
VONSCHWANENFLÜGELPUPKE
The design duo behind Berlin’s Vonschwanenflügelpupke met as interns for Wolfgang Joop’s label Wunderkind. Eleonore von Schwanenflügel, now 34, who studied at AMD Hamburg, and Stephanie Pupke, now 32, who attended the Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin, quickly decided they would have their own label, and they would do it together. But not right away. Von Schwanenflügel spent four years as design assistant at Potsdam’s Wunderkind, while Pupke stayed five years as design coordinator.
These years of grounding experience, many in accessories and prints, led them to start their label with scarves — with a twist.
“Everyone’s printing flowers, butterflies and skulls,” said Pupke. “We realized beets and beans were very beautiful things to work on.”
The team also drew on their roots for inspiration, including von Schwanenflügel’s family’s organic farm in northern Germany. The label’s exquisite and detailed fine silk and cotton scarves and shawls with vibrantly printed produce and garden plans won them fans and a Premium Young Designers Award for Spring 2012. Von Schwanenflügel’s farming father, however, was not amused by blue carrots and pink beans. “He was a little confused about my view on the vegetables,” she laughed. Pupke chimed in, “He said, ‘Don’t you know better?’”
With a healthy start in accessories, the pair turned the page to ready-to-wear, showing a small collection of delicate solid separates at Capsule in Paris last October. Their fall collection, to be shown at Premium during MBFW Berlin, will mark a new chapter for the designers. The collection of about 30 pieces, inspired by books, will play with hard and soft contrasts, using wool, cashmere and cotton batiste in shades of blue, red, black, gray and white. One favorite for the designers is a stiff jersey, said Pupke. “It’s so stiff that you don’t realize it’s a jersey — that’s interesting for us.”
In dresses, heavier shapes will fall as protective layers over finely cut sheets of chiffon — covered pages, some printed with letters. “We love that shape — the apron story,” explained Pupke. “It must be our peasant upbringing.”
Edges are finished with rough book-binder stitches and, at times, edged in gold. Retro-tinged shapes that form and skim the body speak volumes, and are modernized by cuts and contrasts.
Designing for young women like themselves, the duo strives to keep prices affordable. At retail, the latest editions of day dresses start at 270 euros, or $350, and coats range from 300 to 500 euros, or $390 to $650. Vonschwanenflügelpupke will also regularly present four scarf collections a year. The scarves are currently available in eight shops around Germany and in several online boutiques, selling for about 159 euros, or around $200.
— S.S.
ACHTLAND
Despite its very Germanic sound, the new Berlin-based women’s wear collection Achtland bears an intriguing multicultural pedigree. It’s named for a mythical Celtic queen who, legend says, could not be satisfied by mortal men. She instead took up with a god — or a giant, depending on your favored version — thereby becoming immortal herself.
Then there’s Oliver Lühr, Achtland’s creative director. The 31-year-old Lubeck, Germany, native’s fashion biography includes a B.A. in Fashion Design — Women’s Wear from Central Saint Martins College in London, followed by stints at Philip Treacy, Chloé and Balenciaga. Most recently, he was senior fashion designer at Hiroko Koshino in Tokyo and London.
On the business side is 32-year-old managing director Thomas Bentz. Born in Minden, Germany, he also earned his academic stripes in London, and holds a master of science degree in management and another in political science. As a student, he worked in Jil Sander’s p.r. department, later for Bertelsmann and Axel Springer, and prior to moving to Berlin with Lühr last February, was employed at the London-based think tank Chatham House. There, he focused on Middle Eastern political and societal issues, primarily in Iran, he said.
The duo has been planning Achtland for the last five years and will present its debut collection at an afternoon tea at the Hotel de Rome. Drawn to the city’s luxury of space and its growing internationalism, Lühr said their objective is “to create a label that captures the spirit and feel of the ‘New Berlin’ with a personal focus on what we call ‘Neo-romanticism’ — the clash between the rediscovery of the old and the development of a novel urban elegance.”
That plays into the collection’s starting point — a formal Victorian men’s dress shirt, revamped in silk georgette plus some traditional cotton piqué. Using tucks that have been sewn but not pressed, Lühr has created a supple sculptural effect.
A feel for sculptural dimensions and strong architectural lines also relates to leather quilted in a cable pattern, comfortable as a duvet yet graphically pronounced. It stars in pieces large and small, such as a slim skirt and copious Chekiang lamb-lined coat in a semi-Fifties cocoon silhouette with a huge funnel collar.
The Achtland palette revolves around quiet noncolors, though there are some clear contrasts too, such as a midblue stripe worked across a simple athletic pullover, or the signature rounded leather belt with a magnet ring closure.
The collection is targeted at the premium designer segment, for a customer, they said, who is “not trend-driven, but knows what she likes and is confident in her taste.” Retail prices start at 200 euros, or $260, for a top to 2,500 euros, or $3,236, for a top-of-the-line jacket or evening dress. Production is domestic.
Lühr and Bentz also have another project on tap for next fall: Intellectual Leisure. The range of straight-forward yet witty men’s and women’s knits features a playful jacquard based on their friend Theodore Anastasato’s hieroglyphics — a cross between Pac-Man and racy Grecian vase motifs.
— M.D.
DIETRICH EMTER
Dietrich Emter is joining the row of young, independent fashion designers in Berlin armed with experience from a few established houses in Paris.
Since finishing his studies at Berlin’s Lette-Verein in 2004, the 33-year-old has worked under Nicolas Ghesquière at Balenciaga, first as an intern and then as studio assistant, before moving over to Chloé. A year later, a position as junior designer at Isabel Marant came up.
Now back in Berlin, Emter is 10 months into having founded his namesake label, where he is taking quite a literal approach to translating his solid shield of industry insight into his designs. The drapings in Emter’s first collection for spring already hinted at armored suits, and for next season, further inspired by the uniforms of dominant women like Joan of Arc or the amazons in “Blade Runner.”
“I like to play with typically male and female attributes,” he noted in his Prenzlauer Berg studio, which doubles as his apartment. “There are the fragile, soft fabrics versus some shieldlike elements and a touch of sci-fi. This is probably what I’d dress like if I was a woman.
“I want women to feel safe in my designs,” he continued. As such, he’s staying away from deep necks and there are no thigh-grazers.
Made in Poland, Portugal or Berlin, “depending on where the skills are,” key items include a silver Lurex, fur-hooded parka and a floor-length gown with a leather corset that’s been specially handcrafted by a saddler. Prices start at 150 euros, or around $196, for silk blouses, 300 euros, or $393, for skirts, while evening dresses start at 1,500 euros, or $1,967.
Meanwhile, outside the tent, Emter’s two red-carpet options for fall are likely to make appearances at the upcoming Berlin Film Festival. Shortly after presenting in the MBFWB studio section and at trade fair newcomer Show & Order, Emter’s fashion can be seen on the big screen in February. He designed the costumes for Berlinale film “Ibizaji,” directed by his boyfriend, Luc Feit.
— Jennifer Wiebking
SLY 010
Bernd Schürmann is no stranger to the world of fashion. The longstanding agent, who reps more than 20 designer and ready-to-wear collections including Balmain, Costume National, Iceberg, J.Mendel, Paule Ka, Roberta Furlanetto and Tara Jarmon in Germany and other European countries, was also product manager for Toni Gard early in his career.
Schürmann, who’s based in Berlin but also has showrooms in Düsseldorf, Munich and Paris, has now donned a creative director’s cap with Sly 010. Started for spring 2010 as a “little experiment” with a few pieces Schürmann thought “might be right for the market,” Sly 010 has since developed into a full daywear range including leather and fur outerwear, plus bags, belts and shoes. Men’s wear is in the planning stages.
The collection has been picked up by leading specialty stores in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, Russia, the Ukraine, Belgium, Israel and Italy, where it was the only German label to make it into the current assortment at Dolce & Gabbana’s multibrand store, Spiga 2.
Like its name, Sly 010 has a foxy attitude. “The look is a rebellious rock, mixed with more feminine, sophisticated pieces. It’s sexy but all about wearable daywear at realistic prices,” he explained.
At wholesale, that translates into about $387 to $469 for its best-selling stretch leather and suede pants, $912 to $1040 for fur vests, $469 to $521 for coats, $168 to $220 for silk blouses, and $130 to $195 for cashmere or cashmere-silk knits. (All dollar figures are converted from the euro at current exchange.)
Leathers and furs are produced in Turkey, dresses and coats in Portugal and silk blouses and jerseys in China.
In terms of target group, Sly 010 covers a broad spectrum of premium consumers.
“The arms are covered so 20-year-olds or 80-year-olds can wear it, and there are also high-low waist options with pants,” he noted. While not a plus-size brand, he said he pushes buyers to not only write sizes 34 and 36, but also 42 and 44 — the German equivalent of sizes 12 and 14. “There are a lot of fashion-oriented women out there who have trouble finding cool merchandise. It’s a real niche.”
Schurmann is setting up “Maison Sly” during Berlin Fashion Week in the grand, old apartment that serves as his showroom and atelier. “We’ll be presenting the collection on models here for three days in a more intimate, salonlike environment. I love the atmosphere of Berlin,” he said. “It’s a bit more relaxed as it’s the beginning of the season. And it’s a great place for first contacts and to discuss projects.”
Still, Schurmann expects the mood to be “very realistic” in January, and the collection has been edited accordingly. “There are no dreamy pieces that people have no real use for,” he said. There is, however, a new breed of sexy secretary dresses; a big range of flat and shaggy reversible lambskin jackets and vests; rich hues of blue, emerald and purple for silk blouses, sometimes beaded, and even highly colored suede pants and jackets.
He also noted a certain price sensitivity in the current economic climate, with a retail cutoff of around 1,000 euros ($1,300) for dresses, or $1,950 to $2,085 with beading, $2,600 for shearling coats, and around $2,345 for Sly’s top-selling leather and fur biker jackets. “We used to sell at higher price points, but we have to respect these new borders. It’s the new reality, but we do a real product. There’s still a lot of opportunity.”
—M.D.