Post-Fashion Week Musings from Berlin: Part 2

schmidttakahashi FW11/12 (image courtesy of Mueller & Zenone PR)

Freelance writer and translator Emilie Florenkowsky provides Ecco*Eco readers with a three part review of last week's premiere green fashion event in Berlin, the Green Showroom.

The Dutch/Portuguese label Elementum is geared toward zero waste by employing the minimum cuts to extract the maximum number of garments from tubular cloth. This harkens back to Issey Miyake's A-Poc (acronym for a piece of cloth) concept label from 1999 (above image) and its computer-programmed manufacture of continuous fabric tubes containing finished garments. Needing only to be snipped out according to the wearer's desired length, Miyake's foresight completely removes factory labor from the production equation. 

I was thrilled to see a few designers challenging consumer behavior by conjuring up solutions for reuse and upcycling. Both Sakina M'sa Paris and Berlin's schmidttakahashi are cohorts and followers of re-worked vintage guru Andrea Crews, whose projects and performances with recycling fashion have earned her cult status. The former's "Blue Line" pays homage to the working class with their take on practical-chic. Here, Sakina M'sa designer displays a cocktail dress and blazer derived from typical, royal blue workers' uniforms, which she collects from various institutions and unions in Paris, cleans and stitches into huge quilt-like panels. 

This patchwork yields unique pieces ranging from winter coats to tote bags – each combining highly tailored looks with an element of history and utilitarianism and, of course, durability.

The highlight of my visit to the Green Showroom was meeting design duo schmidttakahashi - a living metaphor for patchwork. Hailing from Tajikistan and Japan, Eugenie Schmidt and Mariko Takahashi met in Berlin, a mix-and-match city in its own right and a place instilled with a spirit of resourcefulness and DIY – perhaps a remnant of the not-too-distant GDR era. Against this backdrop, schmidttakahashi launched their "Reanimation" line in 2010. These totes illustrate their circular system of 'working with what you've got'.

Consumers are invited to take an active part in tracing the life cycle of clothes. A donation box is placed at like-minded boutiques internationally and a code is then allocated to each donated article of clothing, allowing the material to be tracked to its new 'reanimated' designs. These pieces are meant to be re-donated and re-made again and again. In the process a performative act transpires, encouraging us all to consider the life span of the objects surrounding us. The concept is a bit of a novelty and not yet foolproof, but food for thought, nonetheless. Plus, the spring/summer collection is characterized by a lovely application of macramé in the joining of materials. I think they have succeeded in raising the aesthetic bar and defying connotations surrounding 'used garments'. Alongside the search for 'greener' materials, I welcome more concepts for coming to terms with our waste and working with what we have.

Anyone interested in continuing to turn a profit in the fashion industry will also have to explore groundbreaking solutions and revelations. UK nonprofit Forum for the Future presents a fascinating report, outlining scenarios of the fashion world in 2025, when utter resource shortages met with explosions in costs and populations will require designers to create accordingly. I wonder what role future fashion weeks will play in such a landscape …

Stay tuned for part three of Emilie's review.

Freelance writer and translator Emilie Florenkowsky has lived in Berlin since 2005. Check out her online journal of art, science and all points in between, META magazine. 

Berlin Fashion Week A/W 2011 Report

ELEMENTUM by Daniela Pais A/W 2011-12

I am now settled in again here in snow-coated Sofia, but thoughts about Berlin Fashion Week are still swirling around after last week's excursion to review local and international fashion talent in Berlin's thriving art/fashion capital.

Humboldt University adjacent to Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Berlin

Berliners definitely love fashion, despite their beloved city's industrial gray palette and bone-chilling temperatures. There was not a single cab driver who did not have something to say about the sartorial goings on, and I adored that the organizers of the Lavera Showfloor Berlin runway events opened several of their shows to the public. This was such a great way to energize a city's populus in the depths of January.

Magdalena Shaffrin (image via EcoFashionTalk)

THEKEY.TO showfloor from above (photo: Abigail Doan)

My principal focus while in Berlin was to attend the GREENshowroom at Hotel Adlon and THEKEY.TO's  ethical and sustainable fashion showcase. I was also fortunate to also catch Isabell de Hillerin's runway show in an amazingly renovated transformer station, as well as having appointments with several movers and shakers on the local scene.

ELEMENTUM permutations by Daniela Pais via Vogue Italia

I concluded a few key things during a three day span that seemed way too short to absorb the energy and creative spirit that was surely just revealing itself to me:

• People love fashion, and we should not assume that they do not want to be a part of or participate in current initiatives. If we really want to create a 'conspiracy' in (sustainable) fashion, then we should continue to find revolutionary ways to democratize fashion and future fashion week events.

• There are indeed new markets for creating pieces that do more, while also looking genuinely chic and original. The European-made label, ELEMENTUM by Daniela Pais, is proof perhaps that six pieces can indeed by cleverly transformed into totally wearable ensembles. One simply needs to take the time to play with and accessorize one's wardrobe. Garment construction that aims for zero waste can also be extremely sexy and performative, see video below.

• In addition to recycling garments and textile waste materials, we have now entered an era where every single scrap counts. Designers can create the most remarkable and innovative designs out of seemingly useless bits and pieces that fall to the studio floor. This requires supreme technical artistry, though, not just a desire to be 'thrifty' or 'crafty'. The phenomenon of studio materials being factored in from start to finish is upon us. See my previous post on KM/A studio in Vienna.

• As the conversation about storytelling in clothing and the development of personal style continues, sustainable fashion designers are increasingly thinking and working as modern day anthropologists who now consider every aspect of how their design is used, interpreted by the wearer, and then continually updated to fit with each person's lifestyle. As street style blogs also continue to proliferate (though perhaps they have reached their peak?), we are more than ever considering what impressions we make and what narrative journey we embark on as we walk out the door. Knowing and working with your personal style is as vital to (sustainable) fashion as knowing what options there are for environmentally-friendly and socially-responsible designs.

• And perhaps this is obvious, but there is never a substitute for quality. Several of the designers at this past week's event have been working for years to create an ideal design equation that combines impeccable tailoring, innovative pattern cutting, attention to detail, the highest quality sustainable fabrics available, as well as a mission that addresses sustainable living and design. Collections by Camilla Norrback, Magdalena Shaffrin, Rianne de Witte, Isabell de Hillerin, and Reet Aus will never go out of style, and we should continue to support these refined fashion efforts and unique creative explorations. Fashion will reach the people if the story is a shared experience.

(ELEMENTUM video courtesy of Daniela Pais)