Getting A Good Picture Of German Fashion- Part Two

Picking up where I left off, I realized that I haven't told you what inspired me. It wasn't one thing or another, it was an overall visual thing.

One of the things that inspired me was seeing many different types of men, dressed very practical but fashionable. All of them had worn something with color or print to it. Most New York men live in black, brown, or navy. The fashionable men will experiment with color, but will sometimes go overboard. German men will use the right amount of color to make the whole look work. They may not experiment as much, but when they do, they know that it works for them. What also inspired me is that the men here know their sizes and dress accordingly. The guys here wear things that are fitted to their body, not tight and not oversized. Their look is cleaner and leaner. I like that!!

It has got the picture in my mind of a more British styled kind of look. A very mod styled kind of look with nice clean lines that can be casual or dressy, but always in great taste and workable with practically everything. I will be trying to incorporate crazy prints and stripes into all of this, as most mod looks are very structured around black, brown or navy. I will also incorporate two of my many style influences, David Bowie and Bryan Ferry. The looks of both of these men are always sharp, but with a twist.

I wish I had pictures of both of them, so you can see what I mean, but alas, I couldn't find any at this time. I will try to describe how they dressed which will influence my first set of sketches for my menswear line.

Bryan Ferry and David Bowie really kicked things off for me when it came to fashion. Their look was always sharp, classy and cutting edge. They always managed to meld the classic with the contemporary styles. In the book "One Hundred Years Of Menswear" (page 251)there is a picture of David Bowie in a yellow suit and a yellow and white striped shirt. The pic was taken in 1974, but he looked amazing in the suit. He was wearing a color that most pimps would wear, but doing it in a classy way. He wasn't wearing a tie, but the suit still looked elegant. In the same book (page 253), Bryan Ferry was wearing a tailored suit by a London designer named Antony Price. Antony's signature was sharp, padded shoulders and a sharp, sleek cut. It was an ode to the way suits were done in the 1940's (wide in the shoulder, fitted to the body, sharp cuts and clean lines). These two pics are the inspirations for my first set of sketches for my menswear line.

Right now I'm looking through a few other books and seeing what jumps out at me. I'm also hitting the streets and looking at what everyone is wearing. Who knows? Something that you may be wearing, or buying may inspire one of my designs.

Getting A Good Picture of German Fashion

Hey there, everyone!!!!

I'm the kind of designer who gets inspiration from many things, so to get some inspiration for my first set of designs for my line, I decided to hit the streets of Berlin. I'm also making a big leap from doing womenswear to menswear, even though my line will consist of womenswear and menswear. I got some pretty good inspirations to start my sketches.

I was walking around Wittenberg Platz earlier and I looked at all the different store windows (KaDaWe, Puma, Adidas, H&M, Desigual, and others). I started things off by looking in the windows, seeing what was in there that could jump out at me. Being that I used to do visual merchandising (that's another story for another entry), I was always looking for something that I can work another way, like seeing something (like a top) in an interesting color and deciding to create something totally left of center(like furry legwarmers, for instance) but workable with what I saw in the window. A lot of the stuff in those windows were pretty safe, but they were looks that you would always see. I started looking for some interesting stores (H&M can be pretty interesting sometimes) and checked out what was there. I liked what I saw there and got inspired with a few different color combinations. The one thing that I would say about some of the windows I saw is that men will wear it the way they see it in the window. I want to inspire men to take a chance on something crazy and making it work in his everyday wardrobe.

I got on the bus to make my way home and as I was riding along, I checked out the guys on the bus, checked out what they were wearing and how they were wearing it. I also checked out guys out the windows, walking the street. Most of the guys were either dressed in work clothes (very blue collar and sexy) or very dressy (office workers or sales associates from KaDaWe). There were even guys that were very casual in jeans and sneakers. Everyone looked amazing, with really hot, trendy haircuts. That got me started in sketching out a few things once I got home. Hopefully, one of the sketches will start the process of shaping the line.

It was a pretty interesting ride today. Let's see what happens tomorrow.

Hey there, everyone!!!

Hey there, everyone!!!!

Thanks for checking out my blog!!!

I'm posting this to let you know that I'm always checking here and updating things as they go along. I'll be on the streets, in the stores, in the clubs and bars and all throughout different parts of Germany, checking out the fashion here. Some of the things I see will influence some of my designs, others I will think about in terms of styling. I'm also gonna be putting my New York club kid spin on all of the things I do. Either way, I'm gonna have fun with it. If you see something that I haven't saw and you think that I should give it a spin, just let me know by posting it.

I'm heading out the door now to see what Berlin's got for me. Chat with you all soon!!!!

Eric

Greetings To All Fashion Lovers!!

Hi there!!! My name is Eric Farr and I am a fashion designer from New York. I moved here to Berlin a year ago to focus on being a designer. As much as I love designing fashion, I love to read about it and talk about it. This blog will be the sounding board of what I see in German fashion, what I like and don't like and what may be completely missing from fashion on this side of the world.

I don't want to only push my view of fashion, but I also want to hear what the other lovers of fashion think of what they see or don't see in Berlin. I also want to use this blog to answer any questions that you may have about fashion.

This blog is gonna be all about fun, so let's have a blast!! Grab a cocktail and take a seat. We're gonna make fashion fun.

Eric Farr