{"id":2116,"date":"2013-10-09T13:44:43","date_gmt":"2013-10-09T13:44:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theduanewells.com\/?p=2116"},"modified":"2018-07-29T04:11:27","modified_gmt":"2018-07-29T04:11:27","slug":"the-contemporary-style-of-berlin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theduanewells.com\/staging3\/the-contemporary-style-of-berlin\/","title":{"rendered":"The Contemporary Style of Berlin"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"STOKX-Pant-Flo\"<\/a>
Pants by STOKX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Selbstverst\u00e4ndlich. It may seem a difficult word on its face but its translation couldn\u2019t be simpler. It is a German word meaning \u201cnatural\u201d or \u201cself-evident\u201d and it perfectly captures the zeitgeist of contemporary Berlin style. Spend any time in Berlin and you\u2019ll immediately note that Berliners have a dress code all their own. It is a sense of style rooted not in excess or glitz and ostentation, but instead in a playful sense of practicality. In keeping with the city\u2019s infamous tagline, \u201cPoor but sexy\u201d, which may or may not continue to be true depending upon which economic reports you read, Berlin is one of the few cities where you would be well-advised to dress down before going out. \u00a0Berliners, you see, don\u2019t care much for trendy logos and blatant displays of wealth. In fact, such affectations will almost assuredly guarantee that the ill-advised tourist will be denied entry to some of the city\u2019s hippest watering holes and nightspots. And yet, there is still a definitive Berlin style. Cool, unassuming, well-tailored, clean and undogmatic are just a few of the benchmarks of the style of Berlin. To American sensibilities, the look may seem a bit unfinished or uncharacteristically casual, to wit I simply say, when in Berlin do as the Berliners do. Here we introduce you to three designers whose designs epitomize the style of Berlin. Individually, each has a voice that rings out loud and clear in the chorus of designers whose work captures the stylish spirit that sets Berliners apart. Collectively, they represent a trio of perspectives that reflect the past, present and future of Berlin style.<\/p>\n

\"Melinda-Stokes-STOKX\"<\/a>
Melinda Stokes of STOKX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Melinda Stokes \u2013STOKX<\/b> The quality that separates the work of Aussie-born, Berlin-based designer Melinda Stokes from that of her fellow compatriots in the world of design lies in her approach to it. For the disarmingly self-possessed Stokes, fashion is not as much about color or trend as it is about solving problems in the most stylish of ways. In fact, in some not particularly insignificant measure, Stokes\u2019 uncluttered approach to design, in and of itself, speaks volumes about the style of Berliners. \u201cThe thing that I\u2019ve always loved about Berlin is that the people here are really individuals,\u201d the designer says plainly. \u201cThere is a clarity about a lot of Berlin design. It\u2019s very much based on the individual and that means that Berliners are not as trend-oriented. They\u2019ll [actually] question why someone even wants to look for a trend.\u201d Like the denizens of her adopted home, Stokes doesn\u2019t fuss about much with what\u2019s in vogue at any given moment in time, but she does however labor intently over finding solutions to common fashion conundrums because for her that is the very essence of style. In her STOKX collection which debuted in 1998, Stokes decidedly focuses on form over flash. So much so, in fact, that it is hard to fully appreciate the necessity for, or the intricate structure of, one of her garments until you\u2019ve had the pleasure of trying one on. Then and only then can the wearer fully comprehend how the garment turns expectation on its head by adding features that they had perhaps never considered prior. A pocket belt, for example, was born out of both Stokes\u2019 personal disdain for handbags as well as her desire to answer the question of how a women could carry all the things she needed without being encumbered by a purse. Likewise, her staple Lieblings shirt, which boasts uncommon fluidity and reinforced pockets deep enough to carry a full bottle of wine, was an outgrowth of the designer\u2019s desire to offer her male customers a more comfortable and practical shirt silhouette. Even men\u2019s trousers from STOKX are cut asymmetrically in the seat to offer a wider range of movement than one might normally expect from a pair of pants. All of which points to the bald-faced fearlessness of Stokes\u2019 designs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really interested in reinventing the wheel,\u201d Stokes offers with a hint of mischief in her voice. \u201cFor example, a lot men\u2019s jackets haven\u2019t changed since the beginning of the 20th<\/sup> century or even before that. Their basic shape is beautiful but in a lot of them you can\u2019t move your arms any more than a penguin. There\u2019s a certain idea that a jacket needs to look this way because people want to look like the picture. And what I want to put out there is that you don\u2019t have to look like the picture because maybe if you let go of the picture what you can achieve is actually much better than the picture. So if you\u2019ve got a lot more movement, then maybe the garment looks different.\u201d<\/p>\n