Being a young creative, Berlin – often perceived as the poor but sexy capital of cool conscious people – should be a creative playground for emerging designers from all over the world to experiment and flourish. But even here, the changing dynamics of the fashion industry have taken their toll. Having unique ideas and impeccable sewing skills is no longer the only thing on the young designers’ minds. Entering a fast-changing market where retailers are forced to go for low costs and flexibility in quality to stay profitable, it is required to think about ethical manufacturing and innovative solutions to steer the industry in a more sustainable direction in the future.
INDIE caught up with four of Berlin’s emerging fashion designers from different cultural backgrounds to talk about their inspiration, what occupies their minds at the moment, their thoughts on the industry – and how to thrive with this speed. Whether it is embracing new innovative fashion technologies and sustainable textiles, drawing inspiration from capitalism or just managing to keep calm and keep on learning and creating in a city that is still a great source of inspiration and progressive thinking.
Where are you from, and how does your cultural background play a role in the way you design?
Although I’m from Bratislava, I feel more European than just Slovak, since I’ve been moving around from the age of 20. I have to admit that my designs are still very eclectic as I’m discovering my aesthetic, so it’s hard for me still to identify what elements came from which culture I was exposed to so far in my life.
How is Berlin as a backdrop for your work and creative process?
When I moved to Berlin after studying Politics & Sustainable Development at university, I was unable to find a job and had almost no friends or contacts here for months. I took up sewing as a form of meditation to remedy the stress about my unstable future, and being unemployed I finally had the time on my hands to immerse myself fully into learning the craft. When it comes to the creative process it probably goes without saying that Berlin is such an inspiring place. The biggest inspiration from Berlin came in the form of being exposed to the variety of people who decided to follow less conventional career paths. It gave me motivation and strength to believe that I can make designs and upcycled clothes for a living. I’m grateful that Berlin has shown me that combining my two passions – sustainability and fashion – is possible!
What sparked your interest in fashion?
I guess the very early interest was sparked by my mother, who likes to follow fashion trends and from a very young age took me shopping for clothes not only as necessity but more as a fun pastime. My mother, my aunt, and my grandmother all sew and my great-grandmother even used to run her own tailoring shop. During the Soviet times in Slovakia making your own clothes was the only way to stand out from the crowd and I think this mindset was passed on to me by the women in my family. What sparked my interest in ethical fashion was definitely my Sustainable Development MA studies, which I finished by writing my dissertation on the sustainability of fashion in Slovakia.
What occupies your mind at the moment and how does it feed into your work?
I believe fashion should have an agenda. What I’m trying to push is the necessity of moving the fashion industry from a linear system to a circular one. Furthermore, by making unique pieces I’m also trying to stress the importance of self-expression in fashion as opposed to following a crowd. Though at the moment my mind is very business oriented as I’m dealing with all the behind-the-scenes stuff that goes into opening one’s own online shop. Maybe that’s why I’m making all these office combos.
What concerns you about the fashion industry?
Firstly THE SPEED! The industry needs to slow down and incorporate more sustainable ways of operating – economically, socially and environmentally. Secondly, lack of diversity. I’m a privileged white girl but totally bewildered by how white all the shows, editorials, lookbooks, etc. are. I just don’t see any reason why the industry couldn’t be more inclusive – it’s totally weird and we need to move beyond this. And thirdly, the beauty standard. Although there are more and more designers, magazines and voices, who go against the stereotypes, the most influential ones are still promoting impossible body standards and that’s STILL pissing me off.
Where do you see your label fitting into the fashion industry?
I consider my label ethical, however, it doesn’t really fit in there. I was really amazed by the creativity in the new technologies employed in making the garments which various labels exhibited at the Ethical Fashion Show during last seasons’s Berlin Fashion Week. Unfortunately, eco-fashion is still predominantly very safe when it comes to creativity of the designs. I’d like to position myself in the middle – showing that eco-fashion can look imaginative and adventurous, but also that cool fashion can be ethical.
What advice would you give to other young designers?
If your goal is to support yourself financially with your designing, learn about the business side of things and use all the help and support you can get. Be honest, run a transparent operation, be responsible and find your own coping mechanisms, which you can employ in times of where your source of inspiration, motivation, and self-esteem might be running low. Just keep going, keep moving and keep learning.
Where are you from how does your cultural background play a role in the way you design?
I am half German, half Vietnamese and was born in East Germany. I’d say both is reflected in my work: a breeze of Vietnamese elegance flirts with straight-forward German functionality.
What sparked your interest in fashion?
Ever since I was a small child I have been analysing individual characters, their styles and how they express their emotions – be they real, fictional and/or supernatural. I started to play around with these appearances and expressions, combining the known with the unknown, putting them in unusual contexts, using atypical materials.
How is Berlin a backdrop for your work and creative process?
Berlin and its diversity are a great source of inspiration for me, all the different social codes and clichés: The chicks & chavs with trousers tucked into their socks, the cool and overly busy office crowds, the party revellers dressed head-to-toe in black, the nowadays ever-so-rare “Ur-Berliner”. There’s so many other creative types here, it’s what makes Berlin a great place to get inspired, it’s the perfect creative breeding ground.
What occupies your mind at the moment and how does it feed into your work?
Social Media, artificial intelligence, data analytics: the improved virtual copies of our real-life selves. Our relentless desire for self-optimization and its portrayal on social media effects how we behave and how we perceive everything around us – what we get to see in the first place even. With this idea in mind of “How to become a better person”, I set out to combine seemingly disparate elements in my collection: Combining patterns and objects of professional office wear with elements of niche and underground materials that are usually associated with leisure and expressing your suppressed desires.
What concerns you about the fashion industry?
How fast everything has become, how disposable trends and ideas are and the cheap and polluting production they entail.
Where are you from, and how does your cultural background play a role in the way you design?
I’m from Potsdam but German culture never really played a role in my designs. Once I had this weird encounter in Tel Aviv where this pharmacy cashier asked me where I was from and got really confused when I told her I was from Germany as I was wearing an oversized Kimono and silver Dr. Martens Boots. I thought it was kind of funny as people usually have such a clear image of the Germans with their Lederhosen or Dirndl.
How is Berlin a backdrop for your work and creative process?
My first designs were definitely very influenced by the techno party vibes in Berlin, although now I’m rather distancing myself from this all black everything raver cult.
What sparked your interest in fashion?
Since I was a teenager I had an interest in fashion. When I was about the age of 19 I started to teach myself to sew my own garments as I was bored by the usual high street offers. I guess fashion is just a very explicit way of expressing myself.
What occupies your mind at the moment and how does it feed into your work?
These days I am wondering a lot about the perception of the sexiness of men through their clothes. I feel like there should be more ways for men to feel sexy without having to wear an uncomfortable suit or looking like a druggy rockstar.
What are the biggest game changers in fashion atm?
I can’t really name a fashion label that gives me the feeling of being a so-called “game changer”. Maybe I’m also not really aware of the ”game“. In spite of this, I would still like to highlight the remarkable approach of innovative textile producers like Ananas Anam creating vegan leather alternatives and Piñatex which is a sustainable textile made from Pineapple Leaves.
What concerns you about the fashion industry?
I am really concerned about the way we treat our natural resources. Having a look at the cotton production in Uzbekistan it is shocking to see that we killed the Aral Sea due to watering the cotton plants.
What would you like to achieve in 2018 and how do you see your work evolving in the future?
My goal is to cast a network of people that can benefit from each other’s talent. Designwise I aim to improve the fit of my garments as I would like to achieve an enhanced comfort!
What advice would you give to other young designers?
To get in touch with their own designs, and by this I mean wearing their own garments, getting a better understanding of the comfort of the clothes and becoming confident with their own look. I don’t see the point in making alienating garments that people perceive as unwearable – unless we’re talking about conceptual art.
Where are you from, and how does your cultural background play a role in the way you design?
Even though I was born in a small town in Bavaria, I wasn’t really raised in a way that would be typical for the area. I didn’t speak with a dialect and my parents weren’t religious at all – they never quite adapted to that more conservative lifestyle around there. For this reason, my cultural background doesn’t really influence my work, it comes from other places. Mostly when I start doing a collection or project I have a thought in my head that sparks the idea. For instance, with the Money Suit, I designed it in summer but the idea came last winter when I was with my friend in her kitchen and we were a bit drunk and talking about how it would be great to be rich and just wear a suit out of money that could warm you.
What sparked your interest in fashion?
When I was in middle school I would always draw these cheesy princess dresses when the classes were boring. One day someone said to me “oh you should become a fashion designer” and I thought, okay maybe I will. And my interest never declined. Moving to Berlin I discovered the more independent and avant-garde fashion scene which really drew me in.
What occupies your mind at the moment and how does it feed into your work?
Right now the project I am working on is connected to my childhood and the way I used to love dressing up. Something that always fascinates me about fashion and clothing itself is how dressing in a certain way can change the way, not only how other people see you but also how it can bring out another spark of one’s personality. At the same time I am always working on improving my sewing skills with each project – so it’s always a mixture of how clothes can improve other people but also how I can improve my skills as a designer and expand my knowledge of the craft itself.
What concerns you about the fashion industry?
There is so much stuff being produced and the clothing industry is one of the biggest threats to the environment. With every T-shirt from H&M there’s a person somewhere with a sewing machine and knowing how much effort making clothing takes, it is just terrible to see how major retailers are selling the stuff for almost nothing, but still making a major profit out of it. My biggest concern is the fast fashion that I think has gone too far now. I get how people can’t afford buying designer clothes and therefore go to H&M, but there has to be a shift sometime otherwise we’re doomed. I don’t have the money to buy super expensive organic and sustainable fabrics when I design my prototypes for school, but if I should ever go into producing I would definitely think about it. Nowadays you can’t launch a brand or label without being sustainable – it has to be a basis, which I think is really good.
What would you like to achieve in 2018 and how do you see your work evolving in the future?
I want to refine my skills and get better at sewing and pattern making. I want to challenge myself with everything I do but never lose the fun and lightness of the process – even in these times!
Photography NATALIE FRANÇOIS
