NECK & HEART WARMING ❤

Ahh, Christmas - wrap up & feel the LOVE ❤ Just in time for the festive season my friend and designer Martina Lewe launched the A/W 2014 collection for her label Mein Frollein featuring gorgeous scarves and hats spun from super soft Merino wool and with thoughts of charity.  Every season she picks a different project to support children in need with 3-5 € from each sale of her colourful cozyness.  This year she's helping to fund a traineeship program for young adults in Timisoara, Romania.  To add to the label's meaningful approach, she produces all her accessories locally right here in Germany. The only thing missing now is snow!

DIY CHRISTMAS CARDS

 

I love the giving Christmas cards tradition and since it's December 1st today,  I'm in the mood for some 'basteling' (sorry - the German term beats any translation)

If you, like me, have difficulties to throw out nice paper or card board you'll be happy to see it turned into some stunning DIY Christmas cards ❤

SKIM YOUR RECYCLING BIN

I had a few old calendars lying around made from brilliantly smooth card which inspired the snowy backdrop for my bauble motif cards.  Just dig through your cupboards as all fashion catalogs / look books, add pages in glossies or even carton carrier bags make excellent card material.
For the baubles I've upcycled old gift wrap in different colours and textures - it's good to have a mix of plain and patterns if you go for a contrast design . To add a bit of detailing to the patterns I've sprinkled on some sequins from the local craft shop.

STEP BY STEP

I love this spire shaped bauble design as it totally vin-tages me... Dazzling & swinging, try it out.  Happy first advent!

GREEN PASSION

Just your usual Friday night hang out I found myself sitting at the house of Representatives in Berlin next to an impressive set of stairs forming the centre piece of a lush catwalk.  As a finale to GREEN PASSION DAY the hosts, members of Germany's Green Party teamed up with Lette - Verein's fashion design class and staged a dazzling runway show featuring key aspects of low-impact fashion.
Designers sensationally mastered their different objectives ranging from using GOTS certified fabrics via upcycling preluved men's coats/ jackets to questioning the demand for fast fashion and creating timeless & effortlessly chic pieces. Follow their tracks & feel the passion ❤

Also massive congratulations to upcyclists Carina Bischoff and Arianna Nicoletti from UFS Berlin for their involvement at Green passion day discussion panels and for being a driving force for sustainable fashion in Berlin!

UPCYCLED T-SHIRT

The upcycled Tee is my latest ROHstoff project. I went to London for fashion week and stopped by at Eden studios where I was lucky to pick up a bag of beautiful silk scraps. The colours and inky prints instantly got my imagination running.  

I cut front panels & sleeves out of the back of preluved mens Tshirts.

V for Volta T-shirts are available at Water To Wine

Auguststr. 82, Berlin

WATER TO WINE BERLIN

Forget Zara&Co and open your mind/heart for a new fashion aesthetic.  Step inside 'Water To Wine' and be amazed by the imagination & mindful approach of the designer labels sold here.  As promised in my previous post about the new upcycling fashion boutique on Auguststrasse 82 in Berlin-Mitte the shop opened for the first time last week. 

At the opening party last Thursday Sarah, the manager gave me a little tour navigating through white painted retro shelves & chairs hanging on the wall stocked with cool customized denim jackets by Wilfried Pletzinger, bottle top bags from Portuguese label Há de Haver, gorgeous sturdy totes made from old tents by Margarete Häusler and some beautiful one off vintage skirts.  I've put out a couple of upcycled panelled Tshirts for ROHstoff as well as the pieces I made for Berlin Stadtmission fashion show two months ago - yeyh! 

To shop here is rewarding for your conscience too as some of the money from the purchases goes back to Berliner Stadtmission and will be used for their charity projects. The accessories label Beliya is topping that by offering children in developing countries school education for a year if you buy one of their creations made from upcycled sofa leathers!
 This is what I love about low-impact fashion, it's set out to ponder where a product comes from, how it is made and what will happen to it once it's served its purpose.
Check it out!

INSIDE 'WATER TO WINE'

Upcycling designers Luise Barsch & Sarah Schwesig take the lead in breaking 'fast fashion' barriers with Berliner Stadtmission's latest project - the new Upcycling Boutique & Label 'Water to Wine'

The first of its kind and located in Mitte's happening Auguststraße 'Water to Wine' is planned to open its doors for the first time on 14/10/2013!

 So I popped by on Monday to take a few teaser snaps of the prep works for the shop's cool interior.

The boutique's stock will include selected vintage garments from the charity initiative... The girls also invited other upcycling designers to collaborate with the label to produce some high quality & extremely wearable accessories and one-off garments.

I don't think the concept of upcycled fashion has been pushed to this level of accessibility before!

Watch this space!!!

❤

'Water to Wine'
Auguststraße 82,
Berlin 10117

ACNE ARCHIVE JEANS

 

 

 

 

It's not that often I buy new clothes. I tend to wear them to death...literally!

Even when they break I try to fix / upcycle them as every piece that made it in into my wardrobe has been given a considerable amount of thought upon purchase...

Please don't get me wrong - I am no saint & compulsive shopping is my second nature.  It took a lot of refunds, returns & ebay sells to sort through my closet.

One of my greatest pleasures is to combine the small collection that I have in new ways! 

When I saw this beauty at the Acne Archive store on my recent trip to Copenhagen I knew it would complete a lot of my outfits ;)

The store's superfriendly sales advisor Cecilie dug out this amazing pair of super soft denims which fit like a glove.

The best thing about them tho is that they have a fault in the material.

As an upcyclist I embrace the beauty in what's natural, flaws and all.  These jeans are desirable because of (not in spite of) their imperfection plus they’re half the price – bonus! 

UPCYCLED DENIM NECKLACE

Hey fellow upcyclists - here's a little weekend treat for you. It's predicted to be wet so why not stay in with a hot cuppa & make yourself a new necklace from just a few denim scraps & vintage trims! 

Just follow the steps below.  

You never know, your new creation might shift the cloudy mood plus you'll have something cool to wear out on Saturday night 

❤

SKIM YOUR TEXTILE BIN

Tear a few denim strips of an old pair of jeans / skirt.  I prefer to take material from along the seams because I like the stitching detail. 

STEP BY STEP

You will also need something to decorate your necklace with, I used some vintage earrings which I bought at Das Neue Schwarz a button from my Nan's sewing box & some safety pins which I collect of garment labels.

Check here for the step by step tutorial.

ROHstoff ❤ CPH

For the last week end of Summer my man took me to Copenhagen for our anniversary.  What a fabulous idea that was!  I was instantly hooked by the laid back charm of this amazing city and its friendly and truly individual inhabitants... 

I always liked Danish design with its classic-with-a-little-twist take on fashion which makes you look instantly cool - well the Copenhagen girls on the streets did anyway.

My first stop was the Acne Archive on Elmegade, it's their outlet store where you can get out of season samples or imperfect sales stock that didn't make it to the store for half the price or less! I treated myself to a gorgeous pair of skinny jeans which I'm soo excited to show you in my next post.

After that we grabbed coffee just around the corner at the Laundromat Cafe.  It's a launderette turned coffee shop turned library with fresh & immensely tasty brunch treats. LOVE!

In the evening we had a reservation at Fiskebar, a buzzing restaurant in the very cool meatpacking district (Kodbyen) with a strong opinion on taste, local produce quality & sustainability.  Shortly we were giddy with contentment...

IN WITH THE 'OLD'

 

 

When flicking through my rails this morning trying to find some inspiration for something to wear that I can feel excited about I rediscovered this in the corner of my wardrobe: a sheer & flowing Egyptian printed 70's blouse. 

I bought it last Summer, on one of my first shopping trips in B...when I first discovered a fabulous store called 'Das Neue Schwarz' on Berlin-Mitte's uebercool Mulackstrasse filled with preluved designer treasures.

I loved the whimsical print and the movement of the bell sleeves but it was only when I tucked the blouse in a waist-ed pair of trousers held by a wide belt & paired it with some supersized Edie-earrings that I felt ready to take on a new day ❤

ROHstoff #1 - RUNWAY RUN UP

When I agreed to take part in this year's Berliner Stadtmission runway show alongside other upcyclist designers I was confident I would at least get three outfits if not even four outfits together. Reality hit me when I realised I had literally two weeks to get it all done...get working!!!

>> the inspiration

Obsessed with clean shapes and boxy silhouettes the collection had to be bauhaus-inspired - bridging the gap between textile art, fashion design and urbanity.

Luckily the bauhaus-archive museum of design with its amazing library is just around the corner, it was the perfect place to get some visual inspiration...

>> the fabrics 

With upcycling being the main focus of this project I was sorting through my rails and picked my beloved nan's pillow case as well as a preloved shirt from Berliner Stadtmission 'Komm & Sieh' charity shop. Both are made from a lovely cotton quality that was ideal for making shirts. To mix it up & soften the look I paired it with some beautiful chiffon & leopard printed silk remnants from London designer Catharina Eden.

>> the look

I was aiming for a modern Edie Sedgwick type of girl...the stripey Tee being replaced by a classic high collared shirt with a hint of sparkle worn over only a pair of silver tights ❤

ROHstoff #1 - IN THE MAKING

@ Rafael Poschmann

The essence of a good garment design is its fit & with me striving for perfection it was not easy to stick to my tight deadline. But once I had found my models one of which also happened to be a whizz with the sewing machine progress resumed... I really felt the sparks from the people around me whom without I wouldn't have ended up with two well made garments, a rocking show performance & sleek graphics...

big love to you 

(you know who you are) 

❤

ROHstoff #1 - SHOW TIME

@Eckart Berchner

@Rafael Poschmann

@Rafael Poschmann

@Rafael Poschmann

To be honest the last 72 hours before the show felt a bit of a blur...highlights included my mum turning up just when I had a minor panic attack volunteering to sew on buttons & beads together with my sister, the beautiful tunes of Jamie Woon who got me through the long nights & my man's love & full support...  But it was well worth the sweat & I met some wonderful & gifted people...I was feeling very lucky when standing close to the stage witnessing the magic unfurl. 

Massive thanks to Berliner Stadtmission for providing the venue, to Rafael Poschmann & Eckart Berchner for stunning moments on film & the amazing girls from the Upcycling Fashion Store Berlin who made all this possible in their spare time and with no funds available!

We had a blast!!!

ROHstoff AT BERLINER STADTMISSION SOMMERFEST

graphics @ Maria Bahlmann

Sunday is my new favourite day ❤

 ROHstoff designs will be featured at a fashion show held as part of the Berliner Stadtmission Sommerfest

Come for some runway fun! ;)))

when: Sunday, 25th August 2013, 2.30pm, BIG stage

where: Berliner Stadtmission headquarters, Lehrter Str. 68, 10557 Berlin 

REMIX YOUR HOLIDAY WARDROBE - PART II

My sister gave me this old pair of denims a little while ago - they came in handy when I realised I didn't have enough bottoms to take on hols, especially as I had fancied some denim bermudas for quite some time now. I decided on a good length for me (inside leg: 13cm), cut off the legs and trimmed & hemmed the edges. To finish off I cut away the button guard as I wanted to show off the metal button stand which really boosts that fab high-waisted look especially with a classic oversized shirt tucked into it ❤

REMIX YOUR HOLIDAY WARDROBE - PART I

I had a slight panic attack when it came to packing my suitcase for this year's Croatia trip... my Summer wardrobe was literally non existent! Because of my increasing upcycling activities I haven't been to the shops as much. So I decided to head down to 'Colours' on Bergmannstrasse (❤) for some preluved shopping....One of my finds was this gorgeous leopard print vest. 

I decided to give it a little twist by cutting down the middle, getting rid of the button panel & replacing it with a black chiffon panel (width: 5cm) at the centre front. Adding a dart on either side of the centre front shifted its shape from flared to oversized-blouson which makes for an effortless cool look over a pair of denim bermudas.

ETHICAL FASHION WEEK BERLIN - PART III

To tie up the end of my reporting from EFS - here is my latest discovery for upcycled accessories.

I instantly fell in love with this chunky silver metal bracelet by Finnish brand Mifuko which I spotted at the exhibition's E-werk site. The label's products combine traditional African workmanship with Scandinavian design. For their cast aluminium & brass jewellery collection made from recycled metal scraps they collaborated with Kenyan artisan Steve Kine who lives & works in the Kibera slum in Nairobi. Watch his amazing story here...

It's brilliant to see jewellery being approached this way with the ultimate aesthetic upcycling challenge to create something desirable from waste.  I think Mifuko totally pulled it off, so much so that immediately after the show I went to buy the bracelet for myself.  If you live in Berlin you can purchase the bracelet & more Mifuko jewellery here...

ROHstoff ❤ Mifuko

ETHICAL FASHION WEEK BERLIN - PART II

@ Elsien Gringhuis

@ Elsien Gringhuis

@ Aliki van der Kruijs

@ Elsien Gringhuis

Straight after I finished my facebook post about the british upcycling showroom I went down to check out the green showroom at Adlon hotel which showcased sustainable luxury & high-end labels.  Here I revisited label Elsien Gringhuis which I had already discovered at last season's fashion week. The unusual but rather glamorous venue provided the perfect contrast to the designer's sleek & modern designs. Aiming for low environmental impact from minimal waste pattern drafts to conscious choice of natural materials Elsien's creations have a timeless quality to it which makes them credible long time wardrobe classics.  The beautifully tailored trousers & boxy jacket for their S/S14 collection are the results of collaborating with textile designer Aliki van der Kruijs who creates prints through a technique called hydrography which allows her to capture water movement - in this case rain!   I also got to try on this amazing hooded cape made from beeswax coated cotton. I love the unexpected texture and sculptur-like silhouette, with a little tuck you can change your entire look....❤

Check out Elsien Gringhuis' recent collection here!