Post-Fashion Week Musings from Berlin: Schmidttakahashi Collections

Schmidttakahashi SS 2011 collection (above images)

Schmidttakahashi FW 2011/12 collection (image here to below)

Schmidttakahashi was one of writer Emilie Florenkowsky's favorite picks from the Green Showroom at Berlin Fashion Week. You can read more about Emilie's thoughts on this Berlin-based design duo in her previous post for Ecco*Eco. All photos courtesy of Mueller & Zenone PR.

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. 

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. 

Post-Fashion Week Musings from Berlin: Part 1

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. (above image: Asandri turban-esque headwear and "travel-inspired" prints, made in Europe)

Last week marked the fifth year of Berlin Fashion Week and the third year of a strong eco presence among the festivities. I visited the Green Showroom, which has become the salon of all things grüne Mode (green fashion) in the German capital. Less in search of eco fashion than of eco fashion business, my visit was about observing how sustainability is finding a home within the industry in Europe. The scene at the swank Hotel Adlon Kempinski – third-time home of the Green Showroom – was more establishment than avant-garde. I took this as a herald for the near future – more brands adopting better practices, catering to a new client base and perpetuating business as usual. New materials and production guidelines are achieving ever more mainstream appeal. 

Here are some vignettes from the Green Showroom:

Studio Ecocentric's collection "Für Immer" (forever) interprets classics from the 30s to the 70s, creating wardrobe staples from materials like plant-dyed wild silk, produced in northern India by fellow-Berlin textile agency Lebenskleidung.

Salmon leather, a re-purposed by-product of the fishing industry, adds an edge to the timeless shoe designs of Hamburg's Alina Schuerfeld. 

Dutch label Jux frees hemp from any leftover hippie connotations and utilizes soy and seagrass fibers for trendy basics like sweater sets and tunics. This perforated seagrass fabric feels as light and supple as it looks. 

Mass producer of costume trinkets, BlackBead Jewellery is exploring alternatives to plastics in their range of petroleum-free, compostable baubles. "Liquid wood" bangles are molded from the pulp of post-consumer paper waste. 

All positive signs of eco fashion's potential for becoming business as usual. But it is actually those doing business as un-usual that will affect real change at the consciousness-changing level. The influence of early "better fashion" luminaries was evident at the trade fair. Katharine Hamnett's ethical slogan t-shirts from the '80s are referenced in "Collection of Hope", the charity label created by students of ESMOD Berlin International University of Fashion.

Jux also tries their hand at message making by paying tribute to their producers…or to their own fair trade practices, depending on one's outlook. 

Stay tuned for part two of Emilie's review tomorrow.

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.