ColumnThe capital city’s own mayor puts it best: “Berlin is poor, but sexy.”

In Scott Roxborough’s How Berlin Became the Coolest City on the Planet, he writes that the 3.45 million-person city is everything Germany is not: spontaneous, open, cosmopolitan and exciting. While Roxborough’s summary dismissal of Deutschland might be ungenerous, his synopsis of its capital is unerring. The metropolis defies easy definition – dynamic and polymorphous, Berlin is in perennial state of becoming.

Pop-up restaurants, shops and galleries are the norm; sprawling former warehouses cum all-night dance clubs featuring pulsating electronic beats are open every day of the week; the city streets are a menagerie of graffiti and street art; and internet start-ups are in such abundance that Berlin has been dubbed Europe’s “Silicon Allee.” Young internationals from the creative sector flock here for the cheap rent in the East, allowing them to set-up studios and storefronts at a low cost in a globally-relevant urban center. From an all-vegan supermarket to a remarkable, Finnish-style sauna that literally floats on the Spree Canal bisecting the city, Berlin is a place where radical, even seemingly preposterous ideas have room to germinate, take root and flourish.

Mayor Klaus Wowereit – who, incidentally, happens to be gay, but whose sexual preference is a complete non-issue in this tolerant locale – provided the city with its unofficial motto when he described Berlin as “poor…but sexy.” And it is so. While the country of Germany’s staid, export-driven economy is propping up the euro zone from collapse, Berlin’s unemployment level exceeds 10-percent. It’s not a place for industry, but rather a cultural capital. Its very financial malaise is what makes it a tenable global destination for artists who might have a slim pocketbook, but whose straits energize their creativity – this is where the sexiness comes into play.

Berlin isn’t for everybody. Of all the European cities, it certainly doesn’t place first as one of the most beautiful. Far from the posh digs of Paris, Rome or London, Germany’s capital isn’t a center of high-end fashion or epicurean eats, which is precisely what makes it so attractive. It’s Berlin’s tenuousness and frayed edges that make it sparkle. After The Wall fell, there was a mass exodus from the former Socialist enclave; derelict, care-worn buildings were abandoned and young, downwardly mobile people sought out the empty shell as a playground of their own imagining.

In two intervening decades, Berlin continues to discover its own vicissitudes, to be carved out by ex-pats and Germans alike. Poor and sexy sure, but also touched with no small dose of both madness and magic. It’s a city of those who are willing to stand on ground that’s not quite solid, but that is rich with the ferment of do-it-yourself derring-do.

Berlin-based Abigail Wick is a contributor to The New York Times and National Public Radio. ‘From an Ex-Pat…with Love’ is her weekly EcoSalon column about cultural dislocation, romantic relationships and lifestyle choices – filtered through the lens of an American woman living and working abroad in Europe.

Berlin Image, Roland Anton Laub; Author Image, Alina Rudya

ColumnStaving off depression during a dark Berlin winter sometimes means a communal sauna and a cold beer.

In the popular American imagination, Western Europe is still a bastion for in-the-buff recreation. The mere mention of the Mediterranean, for many of us, calls to mind glorified, sun soaked stretches of impossibly beautiful coastline crawling with tan-line-free bodies. Yes, Europeans exhibit a comparatively relaxed approach to sexuality, but for a current generation, nudism is on the downswing – a past time relegated to the territory of grandfathers influenced by hippie zeitgeist now past.

While the growing disinclination to disrobe in public holds true in many countries across the pond, the phenomenon hasn’t fallen out of favor in East Germany – especially not in Berlin. In this former Soviet stronghold, plenty of culturally-enshrined opportunities exist to enjoy oneself sans cumbersome clothing and, oddly enough, this is perhaps best evidenced during winter.

Here, the sauna – in import of the historic Finnish variety – reigns. Typically co-ed, these clothing non-optional environments help stave off the depression that attends not only the grisly German winters, but also dearth of daylight at such a northerly latitude. At the season’s height, daybreak doesn’t come until late morning, and the sun again sets before the end of the work day. With winter comes a world of bone chilling cold and a smothering cloak of darkness seeming without end. The antidote? Frequent trips to one’s neighborhood sauna, where a multi-hour visit costs mere euros – about the same price as a decent bottle of red wine.

In the U.S., saunas are usually a costly luxury and in same-sex company; in Germany, it’s not only a quotidian luxury that comes at little expense, but also one that proffers a mild, mixed gender thrill. Far from the terrain of socially inappropriate lechers, sauna culture is so commonplace that families come with their children, groups of university students gather and hang out, and even business people (although typically groups of men) converge to talk shop and sweat it out together.

And, of course, the body’s fluids must be replenished after subjection to such extreme heat. While an uptight doctor might classify a post-sauna beer as ill advised, rest assured the Germans aren’t wary of its indulgence and, in fact, consider it a tidy closure to the evening. In a land where the average life expectancy is long; the men, brave and strong; and all of the women beautiful – well, they might just be on to something. The sauna isn’t just a recipe for enduring the long slog of winter, but also the crux of enjoying a good life and aging well.

Berlin-based Abigail Wick is a contributor to The New York Times and National Public Radio. ‘From an Ex-Pat…with Love’ is her weekly EcoSalon column about cultural dislocation, romantic relationships and lifestyle choices – filtered through the lens of an American woman living and working abroad in Europe.

Bio Image: Alina Rudya, Article Image: thomaswanhoff

ColumnJane Austen’s tomes on relationships are revisited with 21st century reading glasses.

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in good fortune must be in want of a wife.”

These words mark the opening passage of British author Jane Austen’s 1813 novel, Pride & Prejudice. Although the conclusions she draws about love and intimacy are starkly insufficient for contemporary audiences, Austen continues to be fiercely relevant because of her lightning-hot investigative process and sharp social commentary. With a forked tongue pointed directly at the landed English gentry, it’s not so much her what, but rather the derring-do of her how.

For post-modern women, Austen’s world view – with its codified rules and wax seal of matrimony – isn’t so much suspect, but simply quaint. We welcome and also balk at today’s ever changing guard, asking what will become of us in an era defined by what sociologists herald as the End of Masculinity. Boys and girls both are bereft of a compass for navigating the variegated topography of gender, pair bonding, and progeny.

In our era, plurality reigns – rendering outcomes open-ended and unhinged, rather than foregone.

For Jane Austen, the terrain of dating and desire was not simple. Austen, for instance, spurned a suitor once marriage became the relationship’s only inevitability; consequently, she spent the rest of her life alone, but transformed her solitude into a gift – harnessing her time to author Sense & Sensibility, Mansfield Park and Emma. The socially-sanctioned options at her disposal were few, but she certainly gave the finger.

For many women, it’s the sheer abundance of choices that threatens to paralyze momentum; porous lives with few boundaries have their own attendant shortcomings. The introductory statement to a current-day Pride & Prejudice would require radical revision, not least because the very concept of a “universal truth” is an untenable antiquation. Instead of staking out a man of means in want of a wife, I might re-write the text to read as follows:

“That you are wholly and utterly alone is unavoidable; that everything is causal and that we’re all in this together is also inescapable; the rub, whether it be between boys and girls or whatever relationship between two humans, is to harmonize your ultimately abject triviality with your responsibility to change the world, in ways big and small, on a daily basis.”

Berlin-based Abigail Wick is a New York Times and NPR contributor. From an Ex-Pat…with Love is her weekly EcoSalon column about cultural dislocation, romantic relationships and lifestyle choices – filtered through the lens of an American woman living and working abroad.

Image by Kameron Elisabeth

ColumnNatalie Chanin’s bi-weekly column, Material Witness, offers a seasoned designer’s perspective on the fashion industry, textile history and what happens when love for community trumps all.

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to travel to Berlin and speak at the Hello Etsy conference. Every speaker was incredible and the amount of information and energy that was present during each presentation was astounding. I think that it will take me weeks to process the incredible passion that fueled those days (and nights) in Berlin. It is almost impossible, at present, to string together a cohesive thought as the ideas are still swirling in my mind; however, I keep coming back, over and over again to Charty Durant’s talk and the images she used to illustrate her ideas.

Charty is a former fashion editor of the Sunday Times, The Observer, and British Vogue and a lecturer at the London College of Fashion. Early in her talk, she reminded us that “Our love of adornment and artistry is uniquely human. Other animals don’t do it– you don’t see tigers walking around wearing earrings. It is as natural and necessary to us as breathing. It really is. How can this joyful human expression be driving our destruction?”

She goes on to talk about two photographs that were taken around the turn of the last century: “I love this picture. This is by Henri Lartigue, the great master who documented the last century. It is a picture of his family members. So, this was the beginning of the 19th century. And you can see here that women are wearing corsets, full gowns, very, very complicated stuff. It was the Victorian era.”

“But, you know twenty years later, they looked like this.”

Charty goes on to explain that in this twenty-year span, women went from the extreme constrictions of Victorian purity to “no underwear, suntans, and short hair.” She correctly states, “That is an extraordinary expression of how fast society went in a
twenty year period.”

Around the turn of this new century, I find the promise of such a leap heartening as I think about the throngs of samples now being presented globally in the name of seasonal fashion. The funny thing about seasons now is that there are so many of
them! We went from the four seasons we all know: spring, summer, winter and fall to additional fashion seasons with names like Holiday 1, Holiday 2, Cruise 1, Cruise 2, Pre-Fall, Spring 1, Spring 2, etc.

How encouraging to think that something that was so ingrained – the Victorian-era vision of the perfect woman – melted away in twenty short years into women’s freedom of living a more undressed life. The thought of that sweeping change gives me
incredible hope that the rapidly growing fashion industry will evolve one day soon, too.

Charty also pointed out that our fashion has changed so little in the last twenty years. It feels to me that we are caught up in a Victorian-like cycle of ever-developing seasons (with ever growing closets) that could possibly evolve any moment into a more humane, beautiful and forward-thinking fashion perspective. During her presentation, Charty talked about the joy of longing as she saved her money to purchase a beautiful chandelier from an antique store. She explained that she was not able to afford the piece but went back to the store over and over again to admire its beauty. The shop keeper saw her longing and agreed to sell it to her over time. During the months that she put away funds to buy it, she built a story, a relationship, a conversation with that product and she still loves that piece today. So it could be with fashion as well: we could long and want and save to get that piece that we will be proud to wear in 20 years.

I see our society moving towards a period of undressing. Charty’s comparison between the austere Victorian woman and the freedom of the modern woman is relevant in today’s world. I am beginning to witness such an undressing, a peeling away of cheap layers and transitional garments coupled with a return to the idea that quality clothing can last a lifetime. This undressing also includes the principles of sustainability and slow design. I see the undressing as a sexy and beautiful act, one that truly represents who we are as women today.

My grandmother had two dresses as she was growing up: one for every day of the week and one for Sunday. I am not suggesting that this is practical in our modern lives. My love for clothes could never survive such austerity in my closet. I prefer the thought of longing, saving, receiving and then savoring. As part of her Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin recently sent out this Bertrand Russell quote: “He forgets that to be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness.”

Charty said at the beginning of her speech, “I spent 25 years in the fashion industry. I love fashion. I love creativity. I love the beauty and the passion of the industry. The thing I love most about fashion is that it’s a haven for eccentrics and mavericks – and long remained so.” I feel the same way.

Someone recently told me that they wanted to be buried in an Alabama Chanin garment. And, I can’t tell you how proud that makes me – but I hope that she will also wear the piece while she is alive. Wear it a lot. Because the true beauty of our garments lies in the fact that they grow more beautiful with each wearing.

Natalie Chanin is owner and designer of the American couture line Alabama Chanin and author of three books including Alabama Stitch Book  (2008), Alabama Studio Style (2010) and the upcoming Alabama Studio Sewing + Design which comes out spring 2012. Look for her bi-weekly column, Material Witness here and follow her on Facebook and her own blog at Alabama Chanin.

Top Image: Pennyspitter

ExclusiveAn interview backstage at Berlin Fashion Week with Swedish sustainable designer, Mika Modiggård.

The industry’s biggest names converged in Germany’s capital last weekend for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Berlin. Historically, haute centers like New York, Paris, and Milan have defined global garment trends, and these cities’ gridiron prominence make it difficult for emerging designers to make inroads in high-concept couture. Berlin, still gritty over 20 years after the Wall dividing East and West fell, is a different story altogether, and has become a prime platform for new, less-established designers to showcase their collections on an international stage. Swedish-born, Berlin-based fashion designer Mika Modiggård is one such artist.

With astounding industry momentum and only 23 years under her belt, Modiggård is a rising star in Europe; this year, the Swedish Fashion Council ranked her as one of the best up-and-coming designers at Stockholm Fashion Week, and she presented her business and designs to the Crown Princess of Sweden. On Thursday, Modiggård kicked off the catwalk for the Lavera Showfloor in the Kosmos building on Karl-Marx Allee, a monumental socialist boulevard that divides the Mitte and Friedrichshain boroughs of Berlin. She debuted her collection, Rollercoaster, for over 1,000 attendees, featuring sustainably-produced clothing crafted from upcycled vintage-leather and ethically-sourced silks.

Sweeping change has defined 2011 for Modiggård, a theme that manifests in her latest designs: Her life has been a professional and personal roller coaster this year. Post-runway show, EcoSalon sat down backstage with the designer to talk about her career and latest collection.

Mika Modiggård

Modiggård explained that she has been hand-producing and selling clothing since she was 15 years old, when she began experimenting with a sewing machine and creating projects with scrap and secondhand shop garments she deconstructed for auto-didactic purposes: “My education wasn’t formal, but rather one of reverse engineering,” Modiggård said. Growing up in downtown Stockholm, she would frequent used-clothing stores, picking up items that she would disassemble at home, in the process learning how to recreate the shapes and patterns herself. After “one hundred so-so projects,” she received an internship and, summoning all her young-adult courage, asked if she might sell some of her own designs in the shop.

Out of bits of leftover cloth, she stitched together quirky little wallets with a set sales price of only 10 euros. Later that year, she and her father went out for a quick bite to eat at, of all places, a European McDonald’s. At the eatery, a fashionable young woman stood in line in front of Modiggård; to pay for her meal, the young woman pulled money out of one of the billfolds that Modiggård had sewn. At that moment, the designer said, “I knew that I could make it, and that this is what I was going to do.”

Four years ago, Modiggård relocated to Berlin, a cultural destination for indie artists from around the world, who are attracted by the city’s cheap rent for apartments and studio space. She set up shop in the city’s Neukölln borough, a district with one of Berlin’s highest immigrant populations and began fusing her existing eco-fashion sensibility with a harder-edged style. The result? Rollercoaster, a collection that bespeaks the designers current state of mind.

“The past year has been a figurative roller coaster ride. My designs burst into the public eye, garnering me attention I could never have foreseen. The limelight has been overwhelming, but more so an inspiration to push my work into riskier territory.” With the challenge to up the ante creatively, Modiggård retained her loyalty to Scandinavian minimalism but began fusing this design tradition with influences from Berlin’s burgeoning hip-hop scene and also street fashion, which tends to be hard, dark and with little whimsy.

With Modiggård’s gravitation toward experimentation has also come a deepening of her commitment to ethical production of her garments. Her company motto - Fashion, but not at any price – translates her ecologically-minded philosophy toward her craft, one in which environmental and labor conditions are just as important as developing her unique brand of clothing that gives you extreme street cred.

Go ahead, live sinfully by eating freshly baked, dark brown bread packed with vital nutrients.

In a post-Atkins America, many consumers still consider carbohydrates a dirty word and have an uncomfortable (at best) relationship with multi-grain cereals. For others, gluten-intolerance is a hard-hitting reality that requires real lifestyle shifts, as in the wonders of brown rice and quinoa. But, for many of us, the gluten-free everything fad is but another nutritionist trend. Bread-hate is a boon for the processed-foods industry, which harnesses whatever food-fear happens to be en vogue to churn out, and turn a pretty profit on, a dizzying array of packaged edibles.

Americans are seemingly petrified of eating real food and, at the same time, boast some of the highest levels of cardiac disease and obesity in the world. It goes without saying that something’s amiss in our gastronomic culture. As a whole, we are a nation for whom “first-world food scares,” and new-nutrition, trump sensual, traditional wisdom for nourishing our bodies.

There is a disarmingly easy way out: Go on and live in sin, consuming fresh-baked, dark-brown breads daily. All you have to lose are extra pounds, but eating that brown goodness will help you gain vital nutrients you’d be hard-pressed to find elsewhere.

This leads us to the dazzling variety of whole-grain, fresh-daily loaves in bakeries across Berlin, where I’m taking a spring live-work sabbatical. How do the Germans do it? Their rich, vast selections of bread are uniformly dense, weighty, and moist, with a crunchy crust and perfect crumb. This decadent Deutschland staple stimulates my palate, and the unrefined cereal grain, which preserves the plant’s bran and germ, is packed with nutrients.

Conversely, the white-flour milling process strips away everything but the wheat plant’s endosperm. Hello, simple starch! When you eat them, the body quickly metabolizes the resulting carbs into glucose, producing a sudden jolt of energy, followed by a craving for more and storage of unused glucose as fat. No wonder Americans are leery of the carbohydrates prevalent in our industrial diet, these breads leave us feeling tired, hungry, and overweight.

Until as recently as 100 years ago, traditional European diets relied on these unrefined grains, which kept intact the bran and germ. Bran is the hard, outer-layer of the wheat grain and it is replete with B-vitamins, as well as fibers that slow down the rate at which the body metabolizes food. The germ is the wheat seed’s innermost part, is protein-rich, and also contains Omega-3 and 6 essential fatty acids.

In Germany, breads are a traditional, celebrated aspect of their food culture and are taken seriously. In addition to using whole-grain flours, the method includes a slow-baking process in a steam-heated oven with a resulting bread that is nuttier, darker in color, and a splendid combination of firm and moist with a crackling crust. In a word, heaven.

In Berlin, a jaunt to my neighborhood “Backerei” leads me to delicious pumpkin seed-topped or hazelnut-laden breads. Just the sheer array of whole-grain baked goods within one block of my apartment inspires my appetite, but can be somewhat intimidating, given the succulent sensory overload and funny German names. Never fear, next time you’re visiting this cultural capital of the Western world, have heart that you can confidently order the choicest loaves in the bakery—just be sure to have the below complex-carb compendium in tow. Go forth, Americans, into the great, wide world of dark-brown breads!

Pumpernickel
Germany’s most-famous bread, pumpernickel is made with 100-percent rye. It’s rich, deep-mahogany in color, and its intensity makes it only for eaters who are brave of heart.

Landbrot
A traditional German staple, this mostly wheat (with a pinch of rye) bread evokes a rural nostalgia for the European countryside. Landbrot can be literally translated as farm bread.

Sonnenblumenbrot
Topped with browned sunflower seeds, sonnenblumenbrot brings a new meaning to toasted-nut bliss.

Vollkornbrot
A whole-grain and rye blend, these everyday loaves are not uncommon on the tables of a typical German family.

Dreikornbrot
Because this dough includes oats, rye, and wheat, Germans call it three-seed bread.

Fünfkornbrot
A multi-grain combo of wheat, rye, barley, oat and maize gives this loaf the name five-seed bread.

Brezel
An easy English-language cognate, pretzels are a beloved German snack. These fresh-baked delights are everywhere you go, and what distinguishes them is their chewy, bagel-like texture and salty, dark exterior. One bite, and I am moved to speak the truth: “Dear Berlin, I love you.”

Image: jaybergerson, cloudsoup, yisris

With A/W 2011 fashion events currently underway here in Europe, many journalists and reporters are all already rather burnt out from a schedule that just does not quit. Perhaps this is why traveling to some of the other shows provides insight and a tempo that allows one to enjoy the host city at a pace that seems a bit more natural and sustainable. My recent trip to Berlin for a spectrum of sustainable fashion happenings was a great opportunity to learn about both local and international fashion talent, as well as the dynamic agenda of Berlin’s edgy and inviting green scene.

Berliners definitely love fashion despite their beloved city’s industrial gray palette and bone-chilling temperatures. During my excursions out and about the town, not a single cab driver held back from commenting on the sartorial goings on. Posters everywhere also featured Mercedes Benz Fashion Week ads side by side with eco fashion billing. Even cooler? The organizers of Lavera Showfloor Berlin’s runway events opened up many of their evening shows to the public. This in my opinion is a great way to energize a city’s populus in the depths of winter as well as helping to spread the message of sustainable fashion goodness.

THE KEY.TO showroom floor (photo: Abigail Doan)

My agenda while in Berlin was to attend the GREENshowroom at Hotel Adlon and THEKEY.TO‘s ethical and sustainable fashion showcase. Both events are now regular fixtures during Berlin Fashion Week, although with a focus that differs somewhat in my opinion. The GREENshowroom puts more of an eco-luxe spin on their designer presentations, due in part to the posh setting in suites at the Hotel Adlon, just around the corner from the historic Brandenburg Gate. THE KEY.TO’s venue is a more of a raw space with a grassroots ‘conspiracy vibe’ pumping through the open hall. Both were well curated and offered a mix of old and new names, with attendees who seemed more informed than ever about the current state of eco fashion and the resourceful methods that designers are now experimenting with.

Isabell de Hillerin‘s A/W 2011 runway presentation (photo: Abigail Doan)

Isabell de Hillerin runway finale (photo: Abigail Doan)

I was fortunate to also catch local designer Isabell de Hillerin‘s evening runway presentation – staged in a renovated transformer station that was lit up like a mise-en-scène film set. Everywhere I ventured, the message seemed clear: art, fashion, and sustainable enterprises make for great dialogue provided that you can actually take the time to get to know the folks around you. Berlin is not really a scene for air-kissing fashion experts, and this is rather refreshing given the work that still has to get done on the sustainable fashion frontier.

Magdalena Shaffrin collection

Here are a few key things that I concluded 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:

1) 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.

ELEMENTUM Collection by Daniela Pais

2) 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 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 wearable and trend defying.

KM/A design exhibited at THEKEY.TO showcase (photo: Abigail Doan)

3) 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. KM/A studio in Vienna demonstrates this with their hand-crafting of exquisite frocks and overcoats hand crafted out of 60s parachute textile scraps as well as recycled wool military blankets.

KM/A recycled military blanket coats

Additionally, Estonian designer Reet Aus has created a new platform, called Trash to Trend, where manufacturers and shops can submit information on their industrial leftovers and unsold garments. Sustainable fashion designers can then access this information and use desired raw material for their own collections.

Reet Aus recycled textiles collection at THEKEY.TO’s runway show

4) 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 websites 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.

5) 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 and lasting experience.

Main image courtesy of Elementum by Daniela Pais; Reet Aus runway image courtesy of THEKEY.TO and the designer

Designer Juliane Camposano in a Rosel shrug

Sustainably-designed knitwear isn’t something new, but really fashion-forward knits are.

Rosel designer Juliane Camposano is one of those trendsetting knitwear lines to watch.

Camposano grew up in Northern Germany, on the North Sea, where knits were commonplace garb. She says an additional influence to create came from her Aunt Rosel, a fashion designer and illustrator for a Berlin fashion house in the 30s.

What really interested me about Camposano (besides the fact that she makes a boogie suit) was that she wanted to design a line that didn’t irritate her skin, creating options for people wanting warmth without the itch.

I caught up with Camposano recently. Here’s what she had to say:

How has your quest for skin-sensitive knitwear helped you evolve as a designer?

It has defined me and still does in many ways. Since there are very limited eco-friendly fibers currently on the market I have to work around what’s available which affects how I design the pieces for a collection. The choice of yarn determines the fit of the design. And I also constantly search for the newest and latest eco yarns out there which has turned into the quest to find the latest in yarn technology available. This R&D is something I never thought would influence how and what I design but has become an integral part.

What do you mean by the “creative exploration” influence of your Aunt Rosel?

My great aunt Rosel was an incredibly progressive woman for her generation, a mother of four with a career as a fashion illustrator and designer in pre-war Berlin. The war forced her to relocate to the North Sea shore with her family. I remember spending endless summer days at her house. On Sundays, stores in Germany are closed – time is spent in family circles. Rosel was an amazing hostess, always impeccable in manners and style with large sunglasses and hats, just like Jackie O. Her style was completely effortless. I would spend hours exploring her closet finding gowns, boas, Chanel suits, the most amazing hats and bags. Her incredible ease of style inspires me to this day in my quest to create effortless, comfortable fashion.

60s and 70s lifestyles and values were pretty far ranging. You say you were inspired by them. How? And how does it translate in your designs?

In the 60s and 70s movements, people expressed values that mattered to them: global peace, the sexual revolution, the first green wave. This hippie movement inspired many worldwide to be part of a cause and purpose. In a way we’re reliving history with multiple wars going on and the big green/eco movement inspiring everyone to change their values and lifestyle. That is what inspires me, to be part of this movement, to be able to make a difference with what I do. My designs are inspired by shapes from that era but with a modern twist of sustainable luxury.

In Germany, prostitution is legal and provides work for an estimated 400,000 people. But like many industries, it has been hit hard by the economic downturn.

In an effort to attract more business, one Berlin brothel is offering an ‘eco-discount’ to any client that arrives by bike or by public transport. Just show a bus ticket or bike padlock key, and the client receives a five euro discount.

It appears to be working.

According to brothel owner Thomas Goetz, the ‘discount’ has brought in up to five new customers daily. Goetz sees it as a win-win situation, for his business and also the environment. After all, encouraging people to use public transport or bicycle instead of drive, not only reduces carbon emissions but helps ease traffic congestion and frees up parking.

The “˜eco-discount’ is also a hit with local residents who are staunch supporters of the Green Party.

Image: Henrique Vicente