SPOTLIGHT: JULIA HEUSE (JULIAANDBEN)
Being JULIAANDBEN requires nitrogen stamina and a maverick’s agenda. Creative director and label principle Julia Heuse together with designer/artist Ben Klunker have birthed a new fashion category, amplifying the mood and look of post-party glam.
This year they’ve already gone large with a five-star catwalk at Berlin’s prestigious Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week last month. The look which breathes storytelling comes to life in their distinct materials and runway collection “I Know That You Want Me.” The two fashion school grads (ESMOD) started rocking a Berlin warehouse with cliffhanger ideas in 2009 (official opening of their Berlin flagship store), daring fashion folk to break their molds. It was after a lineup of exhibits throughout Paris and Berlin, and a riveting collaboration with photographer Fumi Nagasaka, when the pair reached eponymous label status in global sales and press (Vogue.it, Flux, Nylon, Interview Magazine, and the red carpet list goes on).
“10 years ago there was hardly any German fashion, except Jil Sander, Wolfgang Joop, and so on. But there was a lack of fashion infrastructure, no fashion week, no fairs. Germany used to be a bit slow and conservative when it came to fashion. It tends to be underrated in Germany… However, fashion is an important indicator for cultural streams and tendencies, just as literature or music. I believe fashion actually belongs in the cultural section of newspapers, like theatre or film. This is probably a global problem, but in Germany, “country of the poets and thinkers”, it is very significant. “ – Julia Heuse
Perfecting the art of moon-washing is a stylistic trademark increasingly popular throughout fashion and apart of the Juliaandben family. “Broken and dirty inspires me” says the creative devotee. Together with an attitude of defiance and a grace for form, the rockstar incognito pokes through high voltage cuts and tampered materials. Both their menswear and womenswear collections are saturated with coils of distressed fabrics, tie-dyed or bleached. The brand image stretches into an atmosphere of romantic destruction bred in street savvy couture as a polished team – including the creative influence and stylings of rising designer Ms. Angela Strabone comes together for an eclectic compilation of garments in their debut collection.
Renaissance and debonair, Julia captures the essence of this new born label in its infancy of Berlin fashion stardom. This close-up with Julia is as intellectually stimulating as it is invigorating as she touches on the seams of deep design culture, globally, and at the heart of a gestural Germany.
