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DISTANZ
Press
DISTANZ Verlag Berlin
“german fashion design (1946 – 2012)”
The Fascinating History of German Fashion—From the 1940s to the Present.
The mid-1980s were when people first started to talk about “German Designers”;
fashion shows with international appeal were held at Düsseldorf’s trade fair center,
and the press was thrilled. Most labels of the era no longer exist—Joop now does
Wunderkind, the Igedo fair is called CPD, and instead of traveling to the Munich
Fashion Week you go to the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Berlin. But the scene’s
confidence has grown—designers have worked with great energy to take the history
of fashion made in Germany, which had begun around the turn of the century in studios around Berlin’s Hausvogteiplatz and reached a glamorous first zenith in the work
of the postwar designers Heinz Oestergaard and Uli Richter, to new heights. The
most successful entrepreneur was Jil Sander, whose puristic style and conception of
the modern woman made her a celebrated designer all over the world.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the city became a magnet for young talent; working in
back-alley studios, these designers generated new forms of expression, fusing art,
music, and subculture with fashion and presenting their creations in clubs and galleries. Trade shows such as Bread & Butter and Premium have come to attract international audiences; labels such as Lala Berlin, Kaviar Gauche, and Firma exemplify the
bright new future of “German Fashion Design.”
In economic terms, German fashion has long become a success story. The annual
sales volume of the textile and clothing industry has reached around 20 billion Euros,
with exports ranging above 40 percent. Labels such as Hugo Boss have stores all
over the world. How did this all come about? When was which fair first launched,
what is the story behind Willy Bogner and the James Bond movies, who is Megha
Mittal, the Indian woman who saved Escada from bankruptcy, and what is next in
Berlin? A coffee-table book with essays about what is going on behind the scenes in
German fashion—developments, trends, and opportunities.
With essays by Wolfgang Altmann, Nadine Barth, Ronald Becker, Natasha
­Binar, Cathy Boom, Melissa Drier, Inga Griese, Ingeborg Harms, Jan Joswig,
­Alfons Kaiser, Eva Karcher, Barbara Kraus, Kathrin Kruse, Marcus Luft, Jürgen
Müller, Tillman Prüfer, Anke Schipp, Stefanie Schütte, Klaus Stockhausen und
Grit Thönissen. Interviews with Christiane Arp, Peter Bäldle, F.C. Gundlach,
­Anders-Sundt Jensen and Karl Lagerfeld.
Editor
Nadine Barth
Language
German / English
Format
24 x 30 cm
Feature
320 pages
approx. 200 color images,
hardcover
ISBN
978-3-942405-26-3
Price 44.00 €
Designers represented in the book include
Bogner, Boss, Escada, Firma, Frank Leder, Heinz Oestergaard, Iris von Arnim,
Jil Sander, Joop!, Kaviar Gauche, Kilian Kerner, Kostas Murkudis, Michalsky,
Rena Lange, Schumacher, Strenesse, Uli Richter, Wunderkind
Press
DISTANZ Verlag GmbH
Nicole Rankers
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